Bills Bills Bills

Today is payday but it's already spent. Bills and more bills. January is when all those extras come due, like the car tags, the renewals on our internet security systems, the sales tax on what few sales I did have last year, not to mention the everyday bills like the gas, electric, phone, car insurance, homeowners association (which pains me to great extents every month to have to pay that waste of money). So, I've paid most of the bills today and what's left will go to all the other stuff you need for everyday living, like toilet paper and cat litter and toothpaste and soap for washing hands, bodies, and dishes. Sigh... Oh, and food, we've kind of gotten used to regular meals.

We've cut down pretty much everything that's non-essential, like the Country Living magazine renewal form that I'm sending back saying sorry, can't afford your magazine anymore, and the People magazine that I used to buy each week. Sorry, People, just can't afford to read the latest gossip anymore. I suppose I could read it surreptitiously while hanging around the newsstand though. We've never had cell phones or cable TV to shut off in the first place, so no savings there.

January is also when I start stressing about tax time coming up. For a lot of people it's a time of joy and they can't wait to file their taxes so they get that big fat refund in the mail. For us, it's a time of dread because we always, always have to pay. Not that we make that much money, it's just that some of our meager income is from sources other than regular jobs and doesn't have taxes taken out of it. Yes, we could be really smart and save that tax money up during the year but somehow that never seems to happen and tax time leaves us with an empty bank account each year. We did adjust Keith's withholding because he didn't fill it out right the first time around and not enough money was withheld, so this past year we went with the most possible money being withheld plus an extra 25.00 a pay period, so I'm just hoping hoping hoping that it's enough to at least break even. A refund would be really nice, but I think I'm stretching it a bit to expect that. Just breaking even will work for me.

And what else is going on around here other than bill paying and tax stressing?

Not much, the cats are their usual lazy selves, etsy is slow slow slow, motivation to make new stuff is hard to come by, especially when I'm trying not to spend any money on supplies. Keith is still not done with the work he is doing on the kitchen, so I've got pieces of wood laying all over the living room floor so that it doesn't get damp and warped out in the garage. I just kind of vacuum around it. The cats like to play on it.

And that's about it.