less of a funk

Still meh, but I got up without trouble. Yesterday was a struggle.
Wife has been moody. Not sure if it's me or what.
I mowed the back yard, though the high was maybe 49 degrees.
COVID-19 check was deposited into our bank account.
My boss called said the hope was that we'll have jobs waiting for us when the stay at home order ends. He asked how I thought Monday went, I told him I guess okay. Told him I applied for the other opening as well. He said he let everyone he knew qualified for the opening know it posted.
I am not the typical GS-4. 
Skinwalker Ranch is a spooky place.

taxes or how to make $ for nothing

I think about taxes year-round. I have $ deferred towards HSA and 401(k) based on getting the most money back when it comes to refund time.
Not sure why it's called "refund" when I don't have any federal taxes taken from my paycheck. I had J resubmit her W-4 when she got back from maternity leave, so SHE had some to be refunded.
Otherwise, our refund is pure earnings... money for nothing because we are technically poor. I'm sure there are ways to manipulate one's cash flow to be poorer on paper, but certain things do need to be available as earned income since money needs to be made for house, car, student loan, and most utility payments. If we had less debt, I'd max out my 401(k) and we'd be able to get an additional payout  roughly to 30% of the deferred money. I would be audited, no doubt.
Now, I happen to have decent credit with ample credit cards and offers available that I could borrow said amount of money to offset the deferred money to bank the 30% profit which is significantly more than the 2%-4% in transaction fees I'd incur. Of course that assumes that I'm able to pay back the borrowed principle in full without further interest charges.
Most 0% credit card transfers have a 12 month grace period with 1%-2% due as minimum monthly payment.
Let's assume $10k is the amount allotted. Upfront transaction cost would be between $200-$400 and a monthly payment of $102-$208, leaving roughly $9,132-$8,328 in principle if said minimum payments are for a 12 month period. $3k in extra refund means $6,132-$5,328 needs paid or financed. Of course the latter suggests doing the process again, which seems a bit like robbing Peter to pay Paul, but the money being deferred into the 401(k) is real money that will be available upon retirement in greater quantity if everything Clark Howard says is accurate.

$115 question

So I work at a place that has a customer centric bonus system, which since am not around customers disqualifies me from bonuses. I get paid a flat hourly rate and time and a half on observed holidays.
Anyways a guy isn't around anymore so rather than give him his bonus, I got it. Wasn't expected an Amazon gift card, and I am not going to turn down $.
Think we'll use it towards new phones. I'm not sure I really want a smart phone given I don't want to be like those people at parks absorbed into their phones, but peer pressure dictates a change. I'm not going to spend much more on a plan until I feel comfortable with my finances, so I'm really just putting my toe into the smartphone realm.

Tax return, pay check

Today, our Fed 1040 return was deposited without incident, and I received my first paycheck from the new gig.
Financially, we needed both seeing that my unemployment ceased at the end of December, and we need to know how to plan purchases.
Still takes me longer to do my job than I'd like. Tonight I kept having to flush my eye after it became irritated. Still stings but I can see fine. It should be fine when I awake in the morning, I hope.

If I had a $1,000,000...

HR Block has their Dreamfund contest going on where you enter for a chance at $20K. It's nothing to enter, and you can do so daily as long as you state what you'd do with the winnings. That said, I've been entering to get some "easy money," and I've been giving the mythical $20K sincere thought.

Much like the BNL song, one gets crazy ideas when the prospect of easy money is floated. My crazy thought would be to go to Disney World again, then pay off some debts or fix up things around the house like the deck and bathroom.

Debt's not going anywhere, for there's always something that pops up to set us back.

I'm at the point where I don't think too deeply about tomorrow. I just plot for the next few days, weeks, and set up potential for good things down the road. I think of it like golf. I swing towards the hole and try to avoid the traps and rough. Just like golf, it's easier said than done.

Life is filled with variables, and being able to dream big is one thing that makes life great. Living paycheck to pay check is a drag, and life is too short to let such things to become stumbling blocks on the road to happiness. Good intentions mean little when nothing is done to support the effort. Being too conservative limits your pursuit to within your comfort zone. If you are not happy with your life, then, obviously, your comfort zone has FAILED you. Sometimes you have to have faith and let external forces guide you to where you will find happiness.

Living Well in a Down Economy

Going to the dentist is a pain to some, but I like going for it gives me a chance to talk with people.

Our regular hygienist has two girls  and a husband that has been between jobs a bit. Her husband has a temp job now but its 90 miles away. Rather than commuting daily, he has an apartment.

This situation is a scenario J and I have discussed. You do what you have to do, and sometimes situations makes sense to change your mindset.

Just being open-minded doesn't mean an opportunity will present itself.

Just have to stay positive and think about the things that we have control over.

In the grand scheme of things, happiness is obtainable if you want to be happy. Worrying gives rise to preparation, but worrying for the sake of worrying is senseless. If Plan A doesn't work then go with Plan B. As long as contingency plans are based on reality and are goal oriented towards the same general result then progress will happen regardless of the small episodes of failure along the way through the process of elimination.

Is there a fate worse than death? Worrying about such things surely ranks up there, which makes me wonder why there are atheists in the world. I puzzle about a number of things, but I don't worry about them enough to desire reasons based on whimsy. Regardless of the causality, things happen for a reason, and I try to go in the direction I am meant to go. Situations present themselves and circumstances dictate which path I follow. Dumb luck happens, but preparation helps nudge one to be in the right place at the right time. It's easy to regret decisions in hindsight, but regret is wasted energy unless a lesson is learned.

Val Pak

Usually, there's nothing worth much attention held within the Val Pak mailer, but we saved a cool $35 recently.

The secret to using coupons is to only pursue goods and services that you'd use normally. Just because you have a coupon doesn't mean you like something enough to use it. Coupons are good for exploring options when changes need made, but for the most part, coupons only indicate the product is over priced in the first place.

The money we saved through Val Pak was for swimming registration. As it so happens, the kids already are enrolled for swimming for the place using the coupon and annual registration was due.

Just like grilling is a luxury, swimming lessons aren't dire. Seeing that I hated water growing up due to my discomfort with swimming, I just assume having my children being adept thus allowing them to surpass me in that shortcoming.

Same could be said for Cubs Scouts. I could say some things, but I just assume not since the benefits of Cub Scouts are beyond words.

Rethinking Target Pharmacy

Disclaimer: I worked at Target at one point in my life.

For whatever reason, I have been to Target to pick up medications twice in the past week only to have to wait though they were called/faxed in hours before my coming to pick up.

I have a regular script I have refilled every 90 days, that I called in on Friday morning last week.
Supposedly, it would have been ready for pickup at 2pm that day, but I didn't get over there until Saturday.
They changed their hours since the remodeling for a produce section, so the pharmacy closed before I came to pick up.
Sorry, but 5 o'clock is early, even on a Saturday.
I made sure that I got there before 5 on Sunday, but my script wasn't ready. I had to wait a few moments for it to be filled.
A couple days ago, K had a visit to a specialist regarding issues he's had since December. Nothing seemed evident upon the doctor visit so blood work was ordered in addition to another test. Doctor sent a script for K that would help his current matters, but we were told to wait until the tests were ruled upon.
Got a call this morning at 9:15 about the blood work which showed nothing out of norm, but the second matter's results weren't in, yet. Those results were relayed at 2pm, and they were positive, so a different script was called in at our Target Pharmacy.
I was going to go to Target before J got home, but I changed my mind upon considering the last time I had K and B at Target. B wanted a toy and was not nice about leaving the toy aisle. I didn't want to relive the episode with it being a day fresh, so I waited until we had eaten dinner to go alone.
I head over there after 6, and they only had the original script ready. I said the other was called in around 2, and I was told they didn't have it in the system. The technician needed to check their voice mail.
It came via fax, and I had to wait a half hour for it to be filled.
Only half of the script was available so I didn't have to pay for it until I got the second half. I paid upfront, for I had a coupon for a $10 gift card since I was filling a new script there. The coupon expired before I needed to fill the second half of the script, and I could use $10 to off set the cost.

I like Target. I like our pharmacists at Target. I just don't care for the waiting and early closing hours.

One thing I do like, we were able to refill a script while we were in Florida without having the medication with us.

I'll stay with Target Rx for now, but there are a ton of pharmacies around that could do just as well if not better.

Cleveland, land of uninformed

From the Cleveland Plainer Dealer Online:

A myth that President Obama is giving people money to pay their bills has prompted thousands of people across the country to try to pay for utilities, phone service and loans using bogus bank routing numbers.

Saturday Night at the local Kroger

Ever go shopping because you had a coupon that you had to use by a certain date and that particular date was today?

I had a "save $6 off your next purchase of $25 or more" coupon that expired 6/30/12, so I made a dash for the store on a Saturday night.

We're Meijer's people in the sense that we shop there for food more than we do Sam's Club, Target, Walmart, Cub Food, Dot's Market, Health Foods Unlimited, Gordon Food Service or Kroger, but we buy things when they are on sale if we need something and it's convenient trip-wise.

We live in a very food-friendly shopping area, seeing that we have the above places to choose to do our shopping. We get the Sunday paper for the ads, and we comparison shop.

Kroger and Meijer double coupons and give coupons to save on your next visit a lot of the time.

Kroger generally has the best price for Very Vanilla Silk Milk with a price usually under $3 for a half-gallon. Silk soy milk runs for $3.29 at Meijer, and K drinks at least a gallon a week(K grew out of his milk allergy four years ago, but he still doesn't eat anything with cow milk in it).

Our stainless steel Frigidaire side by side refrigerator gets filled easily with the other things we get, so I don't buy more than 2 gallons of K's milk at a time. With my needing to buy an additional $13+ in food, J made a list from the ad we had and gave me appropriate coupons for my "quick" trip to Kroger.

I get to Kroger and notice that there are a lot of people shopping for a Saturday night, but also, the sale prices quoted by J didn't jive. So I called J for a legit reason for once to see if the ad she used was current, and it wasn't.

Kroger's ad runs from Monday through Sunday, while Meijer's ad runs from Sunday to Saturday, thus ads get confusing at times.

Kroger runs crazy ads from time to time, so I bought 10 random items that I, at least, like, thus saved an additional few bucks upon check out in addition to the original $6 coupon.

Upon checking out, I prefer self-service. I really don't like waiting in line, but I had coupons and several bags worth of things, so I picked a human occupied check lane with a conveyor belt and dividers.

There were two of such lanes open. Both were at least three customers deep, but there was a person lingering kinda between them. I had to ask her in which lane she was, and she picked one that looked slower. I shop enough that I have a fairly good instinct for slow lanes. I always avoid lanes with old people because they almost never use debit/credit cards because doing such is frowned upon by certain age groups.


I get cash back rewards and always pay my monthly bill in-full, so I make money when I spend money using my BankAmericard or Chase Freedom card.

The guy in front of me paid for his $62.57 grocery bill with all fives. Who carries around 13 five dollar bills? Are five dollar bills the  current standard for tipping bartenders, strippers, waiters, and waitresses now?

Not sure what the woman behind me used to pay, but she was the same person I asked which lane she was using. She either chose poorly or she was a quantum physicist that can be in two places indiscriminately like Brian Green.


I supposedly saved over $16 using my Kroger Plus Card. My total came to $35.10 before giving coupons.  I only had to "charge" $27.15.

I say "supposedly" because I bought a few 12 count boxes of Kellog's Pop-tarts for $1.99 that are originally $2.29 when the price for an 8 count box is $2.27.

Grocery shopping is a science not meant for those shopping on an empty stomach.

Is CBW $100 friend referral a scam?

So I get another email from CBW about referring friends today, 5/18/12, and I look at the steps and notice that the "coupons" attached are already expired.


 *Referred customer must present referrer’s name and CBW account number at the point of sale when signing up for a new wireless account, for referral eligibility. $100 will be credited to the referrer’s Cincinnati Bell Wireless account for each new postpaid wireless account, regardless of the number of lines on the referred account. Credit may be reversed if referred account disconnects service within 60 days. Offer expires 4/30/12.

Unemployment, Child Care, Minimum Wage and Basic Kitchen Table Economics - All politics is local

As an Ohioan, I don't care what they do in Colorado, Arizona, California, Virgina, or Tennessee. I mind a little about things in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia because they share elements of  Ohio's economy, but they could be foreign countries as far as I'm concerned. Washington is a bubble and they seem to think they know everything.

I'm not going spout statistics I can't give a specific reference, for they can be used in a number of ways to make any argument. I can give you numbers to contemplate. Saying that 85% of library school graduates being employed sounds good until you consider that leaves 15% displaced which is nearly double the national unemployment rate which includes workers of all educational backgrounds.

Having a master's degree is required to be a librarian in an accredited school, but there's no such requirements to get a minimum wage job. Minimum wage has increased by 40% within the last 10 years, but the starting wages of professional fields like teachers and librarians haven't. Even the fields that paid a "good" wage of  $10 an hour stayed roughly the same, because $10 is greater than $7.30.

When minimum wage jumped from $5.15 to $7.30 in Ohio, I was laid off from my job in a hospital library. The hospital's payroll budget hadn't increased, so they had to find ways to staff the hospital accordingly. The professional position I held was eliminated and replaced with a paraprofessional position which on the surface paid 67% of my hourly wages.

Ironically, I didn't utilize my employer's healthcare benefit which saved them from paying me an additional 40% in benefits, thus meaning my lesser qualified replacement could be costing them 5% MORE than I was.

Healthcare costs have risen since then, so the % is far greater now, I imagine.

Anyways, I wasn't given the choice to take a pay cut, so I got unemployment that was 55% of my wages. Seeing that I was spending 23% of my wages on childcare, 1.75% of wages on local city tax,  and 7.6% on FICA/Medicare taxes, my wages on unemployment were in line with what I was making being employed.

Paying for childcare is a major hindrance in making a budget work, but finding adequate childcare is tied to the problem.

How much should you pay for childcare?

Let's just say a daycare charges $35 a day which averages out to be less than $5 an hour. $5 an hour is less than minimum wage. If someone makes minimum wage and is paying for child care, then her take home pay is eaten up mostly by child care costs. 

Mathematically speaking, there's little incentive to work in the normal sense, but yet people need to eat and keep a roof over their heads. Though the essentials of life grow on trees, we pay with money for others to harvest food, build houses, and heat our homes. Money doesn't grow on trees.

Basic Kitchen Table Economics needs to be taught to children at an early enough age for them to appreciate that having a job is for more than paying for new stuff.

Should a kid in high school make the same wages as a guy trying to support his family? Minimum wage laws dictate such occurrences.