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Archive for February, 2006

4 weeks ending 2/11/06

February 13th, 2006 at 03:20 pm

Thanks for your good wishes. Just stopping in for a quick report on my 4-week budget cycle. Gotta keep honest. Smile

A little hard to figure the debt figure this time because of the charges for my mother's computer equipment, what she already reimbursed me and what will be coming back in rebates. I'm reporting on what's actually my debt.

Everyday Expenses (groceries, take-out, pet supplies and gas) - $545. Higher than planned, and would have been even more if I hadn't taken off shopping trips on Feb. 10 and 11. I knew snow was coming, so I went marketing ahead of when I would have. Not great, but $1 less than last month and better than the $600+ and $700+ months I had some other months.

CC debt down to $3724 from $3824, for an improvement of $100. Emergency savings up to $611 from $272, for an improvement of $339.

Will be back soon

February 8th, 2006 at 02:31 pm

Lots of stuff going on. The last seven days have been really busy, and posting here was just at the bottom of my list. It's been the kind of week where what I'd usually do last Wednesday got pushed off til Thursday, the usual Thursday stuff got pushed to Friday, and so forth. I didn't get to my local library, and didn't even think to renew things online. So I had to pay almost $6 in fines this week, mostly for a movie I never even got to watch. Frown Also, I've gone over my grocery budget. But I did work a few extra hours last week,and I'm so glad things are moving along, that I don't mind spending a little extra.

The main thing is, I'm getting a computer set up for DMom. She's needed a little help with paperwork over the past few years, but has always handled her checking account just fine. I always thought if I needed to help her with that, there'd have to be a computer to use at her house because I can't function without Quicken! I figured at that point I'd even buy the computer myself if I needed to. I didn't know it til yesterday, but she did have a problem this month because of something weird Verizon is doing, which was rather confusing on her checking account statement. She had even gone to the bank to try and figure it out. So I guess it's time. I can start doing it in Quicken, she can keep doing it her way, and then we can double-check each other.

Even before that happened, though, DMom said she was ready to go ahead with a computer. I'd shop, and she'd pay. So this past week was spent shopping for the best deal.

She's been thinking about it a long time, but what spurred her on was tax season. We didn't have a great experience with H&R Block last year. $350 and we did most of the work. She's content to have me try doing it, but she's nervous about my computer being online. Someone might hack in and find her social security number, etc. She'd rather spend money on a computer at her house, with no internet access. And she's absolutely tickled about the printer I found that can also be used as a copier when the PC isn't even on. (She's big on copying articles and sending them to friends.)

So I might not be posting much for awhile, what with helping her move furniture, setting up the PC and working on both our taxes. Wish me luck, and I'll see you after April 15. (Hopefully before.)

Medicaid for nursing home care soon harder to get

February 6th, 2006 at 03:47 pm

FYI - Just heard about this on one of the podcasts I downloaded, otherwise I would have totally missed it. If anyone has been doing financial planning based on the current Medicaid rules, it's all about to change. The amount of home equity allowed is changing. And any gifts given to reduce assets will be looked at five years back instead of three.

Here's a good article; wish I could get that vB Code to work for links. (Any tips appreciated.)

Text is http://www.elderlawanswers.com/resources/article.asp?id=5221§ion=4 and Link is
http://www.elderlawanswers.com/resources/article.asp?id=5221...