Part of it, I’m sure, is that I was putting things off until we were out of credit card debt. Still, it seems like, wherever I turn, we’re spending serious money.
Case in point: Both my workout shoes and a pair of casual shoes are getting seriously worn out. The latter more than the former. But it’s still worrisome. We went to Famous Footwear so I could find some styles I like, then order through Mr. Rebates and get 11 percent cash back. (I was counting on their Buy One, Get One Half Off deal. It doesn’t seem to be running on the website, though.)
When Tim saw the Skecher Shape Ups, he insisted I try some on. I was perfectly happy with the pair of $40 New Balance shoes I found, but nooooo. He just had to go and point out all sorts of logical reasons why the Shape Ups should at least be tried on.
Damn it but they were comfortable. And $100. Did I mention the $100 price tag?
They’re also excluded from the BOGOHO sale, even when it’s available. So there’s no chance of getting two pairs for $150.
Shoebuy.com has a 10 percent off coupon, but they’re not good on Skechers either. At least through Shoebuy, though, I can get 13 percent back – plus I skip the 8.3 percent sales tax.
So I’ll probably go ahead and invest — good shoes are important. But I try to wear my workout shoes only for workouts (makes them last longer), so I’ll still need at least one pair of shoes.
This is all on top of a whole bunch of other expenses. First, the car has started getting awfully close to overheating. We’re going to check the coolant levels today. But if that’s not the problem, we’ll need to take it in (unless my masterful Internet skills can turn something up).
Also, I need to hire a CPA to help me become an S-corporation for tax purposes. That’ll be a couple hundred, easily. Probably significantly more. But I need to get it done soon, so that my self-employment tax liability can go way, way down.
Patches is, hopefully, finally getting that damn cone off today, Tim’s mom needed some medical-related equipment that totaled about $120, our insurance is coming up here in August (it’s like they want us to pay for the whole year or something — rude!) and we just spent a ton on skincare stuff for Tim to keep him more comfortable. More on that in a whole separate post.
Also, I chose to do another month of Nutrisystem — though I’m happy to say I’m down about 10 lbs from the first month.
I will say it’s really a relief to know that, even as these expenses pile up, I know we can keep a $0 balance each month. That’s a nice change of pace.
Still… Don’t we get any breathing room? Sometimes, life just seems relentlessly expensive!
Any of you being hit hard by life’s costs?
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I hate when expenses pile up too. I don't know if this helps or not, but Bath and Body Works has a sale on fitflops and clogs that work similarly to the sketchers shape ups. The fit flops are on sale for $39.75 and the clogs I think for $69.75 or $79.75. There is also a $10 off $40 email coupon floating around and there were some shipping coupon codes available from retailmenot. You don't get quite as much cash back from Mr. Rebates (last I saw was 3%), but at least that is something. Good luck with everything!
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Abigail Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Millie, thanks for the heads up. I'll definitely have to take a look! (And I'd rather pay less and get less back than the other end of the spectrum…)
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Abigail Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Millie, thanks for the heads up. I'll definitely have to take a look! (And I'd rather pay less and get less back than the other end of the spectrum…)
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The good thing about expenses piling up though is that they’re better than debts piling up.
How will the S-Corp save you money on self-employment taxes? I looked into it a while back and it seemed like it would only do so on monies the corp kept back. Since I would likely be paying myself everything at this point, it didn’t seem to make sense. But maybe I’ve overlooked something? I’d like to do it if I did…
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Abigail Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Funny About Money has an S-corp so she can, at least for now, explain it better than I can. But essentially, the corp pays you a salary and then the rest is given to you as dividends. You don't owe self-employment taxes on dividends.
And apparently, you can pay yourself a decently small amount (like, less than half!) and so it makes sense, money-wise.
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Jackie Reply:
June 16th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Huh, I will have to look into it again.
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Jackie Reply:
June 16th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Huh, I will have to look into it again.
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Abigail Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Funny About Money has an S-corp so she can, at least for now, explain it better than I can. But essentially, the corp pays you a salary and then the rest is given to you as dividends. You don't owe self-employment taxes on dividends.
And apparently, you can pay yourself a decently small amount (like, less than half!) and so it makes sense, money-wise.
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I think it's called, "the other shoe will surely fall" syndrome…just as you start "getting ahead" in one area and saving a few $, something happens in another area that will cause you to need to spend even more $$$. I hope things go well for you. About your vehicle issues, you may want to try flushing the system and replacing it with new coolant/water. If your coolant was old, or you did not have the proper mixture, or there is a clog from buildup somewhere, the increased demands of driving in summer/winter can cause it to heat. the termostat may also be sticking or defective. Thermostats are usually not expensive, you may want to go ahead and replace it when you flush the old coolant. If it still heats after this, you may, unfortunately have trouble with either the head gasket seal, or worse, a cracked head. This is major money. Usually if it is a leaking seal or cracked head you will notice white smoke from the tail pipe when you are going up a hill. Have someone follow behind you and look.
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Abigail Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Wow, that's very useful information, thank you! We're hoping it's just coolant, but it's a good point about getting it flushed if just adding more doesn't help (or if the levels look normal).
At this point, so long as it's under $300 to fix, I'll be a happy camper.
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Abigail Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Wow, that's very useful information, thank you! We're hoping it's just coolant, but it's a good point about getting it flushed if just adding more doesn't help (or if the levels look normal).
At this point, so long as it's under $300 to fix, I'll be a happy camper.
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Hey Abby, just cause I'm a worrywart, I've heard several people complaining of knee and hip pain with long term consistent wear of the shape-ups so be careful.
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Abigail Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Yeah, Tim's still lobbying for them, and I'm tempted to get a pair as ONE of my pairs of shoes. But I like to see how things fare once they've been mainstream for awhile. So it's a good reminder to keep my eye out for potential problems.
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Abigail Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Yeah, Tim's still lobbying for them, and I'm tempted to get a pair as ONE of my pairs of shoes. But I like to see how things fare once they've been mainstream for awhile. So it's a good reminder to keep my eye out for potential problems.
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Payless sells Champions version of the Shape UPs. I started with Tony Little's sandal version, then got the shape ups and now have a pair of the Champion kind. I don't think there is a $70 difference in comfort or quality in the Sketchers vs the Champions.
And YES. We have been down to 1 car for more than two weeks now – we had to buy a used car (which was from a dealer) and we did that all wrong, for the record. THEN the transmission went. The transmission is under warranty but because it is, there are all kinds of hoops to jump through to get the new to us transmission. My husband thinks we should just have figured out how to total the car – we'd probably have a second working car now. Its gotten extremely old. (And I won't regale you with the year I had 4 surgeries after my husband got laid off and took a job with a 10k annual salary reduction, after we had a house fire.)
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Abigail Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Man, Carol, your luck sounds about as bad as mine. Things come in spates, don't they? Sorry to hear about the single-car thing. For now, especially since I work from home, that's not a problem, thank goodness. Eventually, especially if we have a kid, we'll have to figure something else out.
If you total the car, won't your insurance skyrocket? Or does it balance out when you consider that you need a replacement car? It sounds like a huge headache, so I'm sorry you're having to deal with it.
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Abigail Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Man, Carol, your luck sounds about as bad as mine. Things come in spates, don't they? Sorry to hear about the single-car thing. For now, especially since I work from home, that's not a problem, thank goodness. Eventually, especially if we have a kid, we'll have to figure something else out.
If you total the car, won't your insurance skyrocket? Or does it balance out when you consider that you need a replacement car? It sounds like a huge headache, so I'm sorry you're having to deal with it.
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$100 sounds like a lot to spend on the shape-ups. While I will spend that much on a comfortable pair of shoes that I can use to walk to/from the bus, I use the New Balance Outlet to get my sneakers for much less than retail on the current models. They have some good deals. Check it out if New Balence is comfortable for you. Similar to you, I buy a new pair to workout only and use the old pair for running errands. http://www.joesnewbalanceoutlet.com/
Good luck with the car. Hopefully, its just the coolant.
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I have also noticed that the bad luck seems to pile on all at once. But we have experienced getting past it and being on an even keel again, so now I don't stress so much as I did earlier in life. We had a really bad stretch once where everything went at once. Everything. Both cars, Refrigerator died (with LOTS of food in it), Dryer died, did our taxes wrong and had a big chunk owing with interest and penalties. And more. And it seemed like there was no end to it. And we were very financially precarious. But it DID end. And we were able to bounce back and prosper and even get regular savings in place for unforeseen disasters. So really, when the cycle turns back to one thing after another needing fixed or replaced, it is not so bad because we now have the means to take care of it.
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http://www.cibcswitch.com
http://www.mthirty.com/transparency > MTHIRTY has shared a widget with you on behalf of CIBC.
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