Well, I had a bit of a chance to catch up this past week. The pile on top of my desk which has to be done before I get to the folder of things to do, is down to scanning in articles from various issues of a magazine related to reenacting that I convinced my husband that we don’t need to keep in full. Much of these magazines are ads for items related to “the hobby”. There seems to be 3-5 articles of varying length that he wants to keep. He has gone through the magazines and circled in the table of contents those articles he wants. I am scanning in the articles here and there as I get a chance - luckily they are not in color so they scan a lot faster.
We did go away for the day last Saturday to the state sheep and wool festival. We have never been there before. It went as our trips go. The ride there was suppose to be 2 hours. Husband printed the directions from Googlemaps. He also turned on the GPS app in his cell phone. They did not always agree. The road both sent us on for most of the trip is a picturesque limited access road that curves around and through mountains. It was so curvy that husband was getting motion sickness, even though he was driving. We were pretty sure we could not go home the same way as he could not deal with the curves again - especially in the dark with no street lights. When we were towards the end of the trip there the two sets of directions varied from each other. The Googlemaps version had us get off the main road sooner than the GPS. We decided to go with the GPS and stayed on the road. All of a sudden the GPS froze. (We eventually figured out that there was no cell service there!) Now we had a problem. As we kept driving and tried to remember where the GPS said to get off the road, I saw a sign to the fairgrounds we had to go to and we exited the road. 10 miles to the fairgrounds and no further signs appeared. I had out the Googlemaps directions and kept looking for roads that were listed on it. We were approaching one and I had to calculate quickly - turn right or left? Luckily I guessed correctly and we turned right and not much further on came to the road the fairgrounds were on. Fair was okay - not a worth a trip back in the future. (Very limited weaving related items - other than wool, of course, which we could not afford - and weaving items were why husband wanted to go.) Talk about disorganized - I noticed that people had a small booklet with map and vendors in it. I walked back to the gate and asked for one - I was told that they hard run out “3 hours ago”. This means that 3 hours into the first of two days of the event (which ran 9 hours the first day) they were out of their handouts - not good planning to me. After we drove to a, yes, another Golden Corral about an hour from the fairgrounds and vaguely on the way home. Dinner was another bust and I will not bother you with the details unless someone writes and asks. Now we had to get home. I looked at the (paper) map and found that an Interstate road near the restaurant headed in the general direction of home, that connected to another major road and that just left figuring out how to get to one of 3 bridges after those two roads to get us home. I have a mapping/GPS program in my other laptop (the good one) which I had brought with me (I generally take it on trips for something just like this) and I am able to find a place by looking at and moving the map and then adding a start, end, or via point there. I did that with several points so that the route would stay where I wanted it and it had no problem getting us home. It was much a quicker trip home than the one getting to the area and straight road - no curve after curve.
Just for fun - and my luck, I did get a mailing from Equifax that I am, of course, included in their latest security breach. I tried to find out how to do all the things I need to do with them as a result, by mail as I will not put my information online and don’t trust doing it by phone. I sort of got an answer from their recorded info phone line and have sent in to them about this. Now I will also send in a request for husband as our credit info is mostly joint. Then I will be calling Trans Union and Experian to do the same with them. And I have such a unique name that I have been sure that I am the only one with it in the world - now there may be many of me if my identity is being used by others. What will happen to my 843-850 (it varies some months) credit rating now?
I wrote the newsletter for my embroidery chapter in only one afternoon - first time since we changed to this new format I was able to do so, it was common before. One member’s email is suddenly bouncing back and she did not return my phone message, so I mailed her a printed copy and asked for her new email.
I am packed, my laptop is charging, and I am going to a client tomorrow. I have written checks for bills to go out in the mail on Friday. I have calculated how much I need to transfer from savings to checking to pay the bills and have cash for a trip next week (we hope). The needed papers are in my “Friday errands” envelope. I have a deposit slip with these papers as I am due to get a check from my client tomorrow and will deposit it Friday also.
Laundry is in washer. First load about to go to the dryer when my cell phone alarm rings that it is time to go down again.
I did so well that rather than take a shower tonight in a rush at the last minute and go to bed with wet hair, I was able to take a leisurely shower before dinner. Ahhhh.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Work at what is piled up little by little, try to keep more from being added and there will be less left in your “pile” of todos.
I know my stack of todos will be piled up again soon - especially if we take a short trip next week - but sooner or later it is gone again.
Don’t eat all the Halloween candy - and check what your children eat before they do. Have a safe Halloween.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Thursday, October 19, 2017
TRIP OUT OF STATE FOR DINNER
Last Thursday we finally took a trip to Golden Corral in Freehold, New Jersey. Now, if you have never heard of same, Golden Corral is a chain of family oriented reasonably priced (depending on the location around $14-$15 for adults). It is not a destination restaurant. But, there are none near us and the two restaurants here from a similar chain closed over a year ago - and this is one of the two closest ones to us. This is not a cheap trip - in addition to gas it is over $20 in tolls round trip.
I am not sure if I posted about this when it happened, but we tried this trip in July and ended up spending 5 and half hours going and coming with no dinner. We had gotten stuck in traffic and the anticipated hour and forty minute trip (per the GPS with traffic considered) ran a bit more - we had been driving for 4 hours and for the last two hours had steadily been half an hour from the end of our trip sitting in traffic. What finally turned us around and sent us home was the fact that by the time we got to the restaurant it might be too late for dinner and there were warnings that the occasional showers due late night, were now dangerous thunderstorms, hitting within the hour with two tornadoes so far and we were sitting in traffic in the open. So we had worked our way off the road and turned around and spent an hour and a half driving home.
What does this have to do with organizing? Well, in addition to having to organize everything for the week around this day and have to organize for the trip (we even over pack for a day trip), it is a loss of an afternoon and evening when other things could have been done.
I normally do our banking on Fridays - and we were short on money to pay bills and had to make a withdrawal from husband’s IRA accounts (hopefully the last of the year as it is the last of the planned money from same for the year). But, in anticipation of going away - and in need of some pocket cash for the trip, we went to the banks on Wednesday. I paid the bills on Wednesday night so they could go out on Friday (this was all the bills that were due by Sunday of the following week as I pay all bills a week before they are due). I did whatever else was sitting around waiting to be done.
I plugged in my other (smaller and a tiny bit newer) laptop to charge in the kitchen before going to bed on Wednesday night. I had our “travel zipper bag” downstairs with the laptop - this has a spare wallet with spare cash and a credit card (and some affinity cards for restaurants etc when we travel - other cards are in the car and the RV) and I add our checkbook just before a trip. Our logic in having extra cash and a credit card that neither of us is carrying is that if we were robbed or other similar problem, we would have cash and a credit card to use. I packed my old Palm Centro in its case - spare info of what is in my cell phone and easy to reach in the car to keep track of tolls paid, etc. We put out rain jackets and sweatshirts - weather was iffy. This way when we woke up Thursday all we needed to take was together in the kitchen on our way out.
Last time we had left after lunch at 3 pm and thinking that was the problem as we were traveling during evening rush hour, we planned - well I planned and he agreed - to eat lunch along the way. I was pretty sure that there were a couple of Wendys in NJ and I knew about one in Staten Island. So we set off.
In New Jersey I did see a Wendys on the road - just as we passed it. We kept going. We had a couple of basically time wasting stops along the way as we would (hopefully) otherwise be at the restaurant for dinner about 2 or 3 hours too early. Before I knew it we were at the first place to stop - there was a Costco with a gas station there and a Hobby Lobby craft store (we just got got our first Hobby Lobby here so that is still a place to stop for us). Since we had not eaten we went to Costco and had lunch and took a quick walk through - looking for some items they no longer have at the ones near us and didn’t have here either. We then gassed up the car (in New Jersey no self-serve allowed) and drove to the Hobby Lobby.
Now, the Costco is on the north bound side of the road we were headed south on. It is north of an intersection and the Hobby Lobby is on the same side, but south of the same intersection. How the roads in New Jersey are designed, one can generally not make a left turn on a main road. One gets off the right on an angle or something known locally as a “dog leg” and then turns left on the cross road to do so. So, to get back to Hobby Lobby we had to go out on the southbound main road, turn right at the next corner, then attempt to turn left onto the cross road - a four lane road with no additional traffic light to help, which we were able to do only by the kindness of a stranger who let us in. Then we had to turn left from that road onto the main road. We then had to turn right off the main road at the same place we did before and turn left - but into the right lanes - of the cross road we had turned left onto, to get to Costco. We gave up on trying to turn left onto the crossroad and turned right, then went up about a block, turned left into a parking lot, drove around in the parking lot, drove back out and turned right onto the same crossroad. We drove across the main road and about a block up turned right into the shopping center that Hobby Lobby is in. This trip from Costco to what is more or less the next shopping center took us 15-20 minutes.
We walked around awhile in Hobby Lobby - I went through their large Christmas department looking. No buying done though. And then we left. Now, to get back on the road we had to head back to the exit that led back to that same cross road and turn left onto the cross road - luckily there was a traffic light to help - and then turn left from same onto the main road headed south again.
So basically we drove in 3 circles to go to these two stores.
Our next planned stop was a Walmart we knew about. (We come to this Golden Corral for dinner about twice a year when we go to the woodworking show and the quilt show we go to in late February and early March so we know what is around it and on the road to it. These two attempts were our only ones to go there just for dinner - I guess I cook that badly that he wanted to go.) The jeans that husband wears has been discontinued at our local Walmarts and we hoped that other ones might still have them, plus some other items we had not found in our local ones, as well as it is a larger one than the ones near us. It is off to the west of the road we were on. I knew how to get there by turning right just before we got to the restaurant, but found a shortcut to it by following the signs and, I admit, the GPS. Nothing there we were looking for, but husband did find a DVD to buy. By the time we were done it was getting late to go to dinner so we hurried off after buying the DVD.
Yes, we made it the Golden Corral. He was so happy. I don’t particularly like the chain, but he does. Dinner and then we drove home. Of course to head back north we had to drive south, turn right onto a cross road, then turn left on the cross road and then turn left onto the main road north.
Now all the time we are driving and going places, my mind was thinking “I could be cleaning the bathrooms.” “I could be scanning the magazine articles.” “I could be doing laundry.” and so on. But his happiness at having the meal was worth the trip. Then again, when we got home he told me - “Next time I say I want to go to dinner there, tell me I want to go to dinner at the Casino in Connecticut instead.”
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes time wasted is worth it if it gives happiness to someone else or to you.
I am not sure if I posted about this when it happened, but we tried this trip in July and ended up spending 5 and half hours going and coming with no dinner. We had gotten stuck in traffic and the anticipated hour and forty minute trip (per the GPS with traffic considered) ran a bit more - we had been driving for 4 hours and for the last two hours had steadily been half an hour from the end of our trip sitting in traffic. What finally turned us around and sent us home was the fact that by the time we got to the restaurant it might be too late for dinner and there were warnings that the occasional showers due late night, were now dangerous thunderstorms, hitting within the hour with two tornadoes so far and we were sitting in traffic in the open. So we had worked our way off the road and turned around and spent an hour and a half driving home.
What does this have to do with organizing? Well, in addition to having to organize everything for the week around this day and have to organize for the trip (we even over pack for a day trip), it is a loss of an afternoon and evening when other things could have been done.
I normally do our banking on Fridays - and we were short on money to pay bills and had to make a withdrawal from husband’s IRA accounts (hopefully the last of the year as it is the last of the planned money from same for the year). But, in anticipation of going away - and in need of some pocket cash for the trip, we went to the banks on Wednesday. I paid the bills on Wednesday night so they could go out on Friday (this was all the bills that were due by Sunday of the following week as I pay all bills a week before they are due). I did whatever else was sitting around waiting to be done.
I plugged in my other (smaller and a tiny bit newer) laptop to charge in the kitchen before going to bed on Wednesday night. I had our “travel zipper bag” downstairs with the laptop - this has a spare wallet with spare cash and a credit card (and some affinity cards for restaurants etc when we travel - other cards are in the car and the RV) and I add our checkbook just before a trip. Our logic in having extra cash and a credit card that neither of us is carrying is that if we were robbed or other similar problem, we would have cash and a credit card to use. I packed my old Palm Centro in its case - spare info of what is in my cell phone and easy to reach in the car to keep track of tolls paid, etc. We put out rain jackets and sweatshirts - weather was iffy. This way when we woke up Thursday all we needed to take was together in the kitchen on our way out.
Last time we had left after lunch at 3 pm and thinking that was the problem as we were traveling during evening rush hour, we planned - well I planned and he agreed - to eat lunch along the way. I was pretty sure that there were a couple of Wendys in NJ and I knew about one in Staten Island. So we set off.
In New Jersey I did see a Wendys on the road - just as we passed it. We kept going. We had a couple of basically time wasting stops along the way as we would (hopefully) otherwise be at the restaurant for dinner about 2 or 3 hours too early. Before I knew it we were at the first place to stop - there was a Costco with a gas station there and a Hobby Lobby craft store (we just got got our first Hobby Lobby here so that is still a place to stop for us). Since we had not eaten we went to Costco and had lunch and took a quick walk through - looking for some items they no longer have at the ones near us and didn’t have here either. We then gassed up the car (in New Jersey no self-serve allowed) and drove to the Hobby Lobby.
Now, the Costco is on the north bound side of the road we were headed south on. It is north of an intersection and the Hobby Lobby is on the same side, but south of the same intersection. How the roads in New Jersey are designed, one can generally not make a left turn on a main road. One gets off the right on an angle or something known locally as a “dog leg” and then turns left on the cross road to do so. So, to get back to Hobby Lobby we had to go out on the southbound main road, turn right at the next corner, then attempt to turn left onto the cross road - a four lane road with no additional traffic light to help, which we were able to do only by the kindness of a stranger who let us in. Then we had to turn left from that road onto the main road. We then had to turn right off the main road at the same place we did before and turn left - but into the right lanes - of the cross road we had turned left onto, to get to Costco. We gave up on trying to turn left onto the crossroad and turned right, then went up about a block, turned left into a parking lot, drove around in the parking lot, drove back out and turned right onto the same crossroad. We drove across the main road and about a block up turned right into the shopping center that Hobby Lobby is in. This trip from Costco to what is more or less the next shopping center took us 15-20 minutes.
We walked around awhile in Hobby Lobby - I went through their large Christmas department looking. No buying done though. And then we left. Now, to get back on the road we had to head back to the exit that led back to that same cross road and turn left onto the cross road - luckily there was a traffic light to help - and then turn left from same onto the main road headed south again.
So basically we drove in 3 circles to go to these two stores.
Our next planned stop was a Walmart we knew about. (We come to this Golden Corral for dinner about twice a year when we go to the woodworking show and the quilt show we go to in late February and early March so we know what is around it and on the road to it. These two attempts were our only ones to go there just for dinner - I guess I cook that badly that he wanted to go.) The jeans that husband wears has been discontinued at our local Walmarts and we hoped that other ones might still have them, plus some other items we had not found in our local ones, as well as it is a larger one than the ones near us. It is off to the west of the road we were on. I knew how to get there by turning right just before we got to the restaurant, but found a shortcut to it by following the signs and, I admit, the GPS. Nothing there we were looking for, but husband did find a DVD to buy. By the time we were done it was getting late to go to dinner so we hurried off after buying the DVD.
Yes, we made it the Golden Corral. He was so happy. I don’t particularly like the chain, but he does. Dinner and then we drove home. Of course to head back north we had to drive south, turn right onto a cross road, then turn left on the cross road and then turn left onto the main road north.
Now all the time we are driving and going places, my mind was thinking “I could be cleaning the bathrooms.” “I could be scanning the magazine articles.” “I could be doing laundry.” and so on. But his happiness at having the meal was worth the trip. Then again, when we got home he told me - “Next time I say I want to go to dinner there, tell me I want to go to dinner at the Casino in Connecticut instead.”
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes time wasted is worth it if it gives happiness to someone else or to you.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
DEALING WITH COUNTY BUREAUCRACY
Last Thursday we went to an event to help us with applying for two exemptions of our real estate tax. Real estate tax here is high - we pay around $8,000 a year for our real estate taxes and we pay rather low real estate taxes. People easily pay $15,000 to over $20,000 for a subdevelopment house - more of course for fancy houses. To help “older” people stay in their houses and in recognition that they probably don’t have children in the schools, there are two kinds of exemptions that one can receive if one is over 65, has income below certain levels and the property is one’s primary residence. Since husband turned 65, we are now entitled to these exemptions.
I should also explain that our real estate taxes has two different components (well actually a lot more than two, but two sets of billing for them). One type is the “general levy”. This is billed annually in January and is paid in January and July. It consists of the county assessments, the township assessments, the fire department assessments, the police department assessments (police is one, the police stations is another...), the garbage district assessments, assessments for water pipes (we also pay for water usage monthly), sewer assessments (pipes ar one, sewage plant is another) and so on. The other type is the school taxes which also includes the library district assessment and is billed in October (yes, we got the new one today) and is payable in October and April. (So we pay each tax twice a year, but pay real estate taxes quarterly as they alternate quarters.)
Being an accountant I downloaded the forms and filled them in. I am pretty good with forms - and it seems to me that I have helped clients with them in the past. I have been unable to reach anyone with some questions I had. I thought that I posted about this, but can not find it - when I call the County Assessors office I get a message that there is no one there to take my call (not that they are busy, there is no one there) and I should call back. No matter what day of the week or time I called I received this message continually. After some days of trying there was an additional part to the message - it gave their address and told one that parking is “extremely” limited, which to be honest, is true as it is the County office building - but basically they are saying “No one is here to talk to you by phone and don’t come here either”. So we went to one of their help sessions for this paperwork. It was much emptier than a thought and one was able to meet individually with employees about one’s forms.
Looking over the employees I noticed the attitude of one, compared to the others and knew that I did not want her. So, of course, we got her. She looks at our general levy exemption paperwork. and says to us “Your income on this one item is too high - you are not eligible!” I point out to her that we have medical expenses which can be subtracted from the income by their rules, which bring us down under the income amount. “It has to be out of pocket expenses!” (Each of these comments was said as a challenge.) Just our medical insurance premiums alone almost bring us down enough - add the prescription costs and I did not even bother get print outs from our doctors. Understand, canceled checks or other receipts is not proof of the medical expenses, one must get a print out for the year from who the money went to. “Oh! Okay”. Now I had filled in the form on their website. “This is the wrong form! It is the form from the website! We don’t use that form!” Huh? I did not ask her why then the form is on the website and one is told to download it and use it, then again, there is a link to the state to submit income information to it for the other exemption and not only does it not work, when I telephoned the state, I was told that they don’t do that - all income goes to the county - if I complained, who knows how bad this would get. She then takes the copy of our state tax return I brought with us for the other exemption, which is suppose to require it. “IT’S HANDWRITTEN!!!! We can’t accept this!” Huh? I do our own return. She then goes to someone else and comes back with our return and a page of information. I have to contact IRS and get copies of all our 1099, W2, etc forms. The page has the local number to call to get this. “You will have to take this home and wait until you get the papers from them and then send it in to us altogether with the correct form!” Okay.
Now she goes to other exemption’s paperwork. In our state we have a general exemption from part of the school taxes if one owns their home and it is their primary residence. This is called a STAR exemption. (It means school something or other I am sure.) The money for this one comes from the State, not the County. Some years it was subtracted from what one pays, other years it has come as a check back to us after we pay the taxes, basically so we “see” that the our “wonderful” state senators and representatives are “giving” us a break on our school taxes. If one qualifies for same, is over 65 (or one spouse is), has no children in school, and has income under a much higher limit than the first tax has one has their school taxes lowered much more. I prepared for another set of arguments. “Why are there three forms?” I had the County form and the State form, and another form from the State which will automatically renew this exemption. She throws the State form back at me. “You don’t need this!” I tell her the State office told me to fill it in. “No, it is unneeded!” She then looks at the form to renew it automatically. “What this!!!” She reads it, turns it over, then reads it again. “Oh you want it to renew automatically?” Well, hmmm, do I want to go through this every year for both exemptions, or would I rather get it one of them automatically. I reply, “yes”. Again, she does not ask for any of the paperwork - birth certificates, deeds, etc,that the paperwork’s instructions said to bring. She looks it over and stamps the form. Makes a copy (yes, they had copy machines and every thing - and I had brought a copy and even a stapler, just in case) and stamps the copy and hands it to me. Hopefully we really did not need the other form.
So we went home. I called the IRS number. It actually has a choice to get the printout requested. I put in my info. “There is no available information for this person.” Huh? I try husband’s info and I am able to pick which one of two printouts I want - his income tax info or adjustments made. I pick the former figuring that will give us - or at least him - the 1099, etc. copies printed out. I try again for me - again I am not available. I then see that there is also a form to request the info. I go to the IRS website and download the form and fill in a copy for me and one for husband. On this form I see a choice for the 1099 forms to be sent. Hmmm, does that mean we are not getting them from the telephone call as that item is listed separately? I don’t know, but the forms went to IRS the next day. Hopefully one way or the other we will get the information.
We have until December 31 to fill these papers. (This is an early date - most places in the state have until next March.) I am so glad that I did not wait for the last minute. If the information from IRS arrives in time there are additional sessions around the county until October 19 and we can go in again, if not we will have to either mail it in or husband will drive there and circle while I go in and deal with it.
This process is so much worse than dealing with IRS or our State about any type of taxes. Then again, perhaps despite their holding sessions to help people deal with the paperwork, they don’t want people to get the exemptions as, lets face it, it cuts down on the amount of taxes they will collect and they have to come up with the money elsewhere - including maybe raising the taxes.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK - When dealing with the government one has to have everything they want - even if they won’t want it - plus anything else one can think with. Even then something will be missing or go wrong. Never yell at the government employee or things will not come out well for you. (Sorry if any readers are government employees - but at least I am telling people not to yell at you.)
I should also explain that our real estate taxes has two different components (well actually a lot more than two, but two sets of billing for them). One type is the “general levy”. This is billed annually in January and is paid in January and July. It consists of the county assessments, the township assessments, the fire department assessments, the police department assessments (police is one, the police stations is another...), the garbage district assessments, assessments for water pipes (we also pay for water usage monthly), sewer assessments (pipes ar one, sewage plant is another) and so on. The other type is the school taxes which also includes the library district assessment and is billed in October (yes, we got the new one today) and is payable in October and April. (So we pay each tax twice a year, but pay real estate taxes quarterly as they alternate quarters.)
Being an accountant I downloaded the forms and filled them in. I am pretty good with forms - and it seems to me that I have helped clients with them in the past. I have been unable to reach anyone with some questions I had. I thought that I posted about this, but can not find it - when I call the County Assessors office I get a message that there is no one there to take my call (not that they are busy, there is no one there) and I should call back. No matter what day of the week or time I called I received this message continually. After some days of trying there was an additional part to the message - it gave their address and told one that parking is “extremely” limited, which to be honest, is true as it is the County office building - but basically they are saying “No one is here to talk to you by phone and don’t come here either”. So we went to one of their help sessions for this paperwork. It was much emptier than a thought and one was able to meet individually with employees about one’s forms.
Looking over the employees I noticed the attitude of one, compared to the others and knew that I did not want her. So, of course, we got her. She looks at our general levy exemption paperwork. and says to us “Your income on this one item is too high - you are not eligible!” I point out to her that we have medical expenses which can be subtracted from the income by their rules, which bring us down under the income amount. “It has to be out of pocket expenses!” (Each of these comments was said as a challenge.) Just our medical insurance premiums alone almost bring us down enough - add the prescription costs and I did not even bother get print outs from our doctors. Understand, canceled checks or other receipts is not proof of the medical expenses, one must get a print out for the year from who the money went to. “Oh! Okay”. Now I had filled in the form on their website. “This is the wrong form! It is the form from the website! We don’t use that form!” Huh? I did not ask her why then the form is on the website and one is told to download it and use it, then again, there is a link to the state to submit income information to it for the other exemption and not only does it not work, when I telephoned the state, I was told that they don’t do that - all income goes to the county - if I complained, who knows how bad this would get. She then takes the copy of our state tax return I brought with us for the other exemption, which is suppose to require it. “IT’S HANDWRITTEN!!!! We can’t accept this!” Huh? I do our own return. She then goes to someone else and comes back with our return and a page of information. I have to contact IRS and get copies of all our 1099, W2, etc forms. The page has the local number to call to get this. “You will have to take this home and wait until you get the papers from them and then send it in to us altogether with the correct form!” Okay.
Now she goes to other exemption’s paperwork. In our state we have a general exemption from part of the school taxes if one owns their home and it is their primary residence. This is called a STAR exemption. (It means school something or other I am sure.) The money for this one comes from the State, not the County. Some years it was subtracted from what one pays, other years it has come as a check back to us after we pay the taxes, basically so we “see” that the our “wonderful” state senators and representatives are “giving” us a break on our school taxes. If one qualifies for same, is over 65 (or one spouse is), has no children in school, and has income under a much higher limit than the first tax has one has their school taxes lowered much more. I prepared for another set of arguments. “Why are there three forms?” I had the County form and the State form, and another form from the State which will automatically renew this exemption. She throws the State form back at me. “You don’t need this!” I tell her the State office told me to fill it in. “No, it is unneeded!” She then looks at the form to renew it automatically. “What this!!!” She reads it, turns it over, then reads it again. “Oh you want it to renew automatically?” Well, hmmm, do I want to go through this every year for both exemptions, or would I rather get it one of them automatically. I reply, “yes”. Again, she does not ask for any of the paperwork - birth certificates, deeds, etc,that the paperwork’s instructions said to bring. She looks it over and stamps the form. Makes a copy (yes, they had copy machines and every thing - and I had brought a copy and even a stapler, just in case) and stamps the copy and hands it to me. Hopefully we really did not need the other form.
So we went home. I called the IRS number. It actually has a choice to get the printout requested. I put in my info. “There is no available information for this person.” Huh? I try husband’s info and I am able to pick which one of two printouts I want - his income tax info or adjustments made. I pick the former figuring that will give us - or at least him - the 1099, etc. copies printed out. I try again for me - again I am not available. I then see that there is also a form to request the info. I go to the IRS website and download the form and fill in a copy for me and one for husband. On this form I see a choice for the 1099 forms to be sent. Hmmm, does that mean we are not getting them from the telephone call as that item is listed separately? I don’t know, but the forms went to IRS the next day. Hopefully one way or the other we will get the information.
We have until December 31 to fill these papers. (This is an early date - most places in the state have until next March.) I am so glad that I did not wait for the last minute. If the information from IRS arrives in time there are additional sessions around the county until October 19 and we can go in again, if not we will have to either mail it in or husband will drive there and circle while I go in and deal with it.
This process is so much worse than dealing with IRS or our State about any type of taxes. Then again, perhaps despite their holding sessions to help people deal with the paperwork, they don’t want people to get the exemptions as, lets face it, it cuts down on the amount of taxes they will collect and they have to come up with the money elsewhere - including maybe raising the taxes.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK - When dealing with the government one has to have everything they want - even if they won’t want it - plus anything else one can think with. Even then something will be missing or go wrong. Never yell at the government employee or things will not come out well for you. (Sorry if any readers are government employees - but at least I am telling people not to yell at you.)
Thursday, October 5, 2017
STARTING MY THIRD YEAR
Well this is the first post of the third year of my blog. (Imagine balloons rising, confetti falling, and triumphant music.) Understand this is probably my 4th or 5th attempt at a blog. None of the earlier ones had a second post. For a procrastinator, this is pretty good. Other than the recent post which was scheduled to post and did not (I am sure it was my fault in how I set up the scheduling) and the post that followed it and was posted a day later, I have managed to post them on time - even better for a procrastinator. I want to thank you all for reading my blog, especially those who follow me. Knowing you are out there reading the blog helps me keep writing it. (Imagine applause for you.)
So, how has being a blogger been for me? Well, I appreciate those of you who follow me, but I had expected a larger number of followers. I am not sure if the low numbers are related to lack of interest in my blog or people not finding my blog. For my personal happiness, I presume it is the latter. (Tell your friends - have them tell their friends.) But I am aware it might be the former. My original idea of telling how and where I store things (and why) seemed terribly dry to me when I read the early posts back after posting them, so I switched to more of a week by week story of what I did right, what I did wrong, and my attempts to keep everything up to date and taken care of. It reads better to me and I hope to you. I am also interested in what YOU think - please feel free to reply to the blog itself as well as any posts - do you wonder how I deal with something or other?
September is over and with it I hope I will have a chance to breathe.
I managed to get the needed information to my client from last week. Her fax has never worked and therefore I faxed the needed form to a friend of hers. His fax did not work right in accepting faxes. I tried faxing a number of times - with my husband standing there making noises about how much each attempt was costing us - our home telephone is rarely used for making calls as I have unlimited cell phone minutes, so each call was a “toll call” to NYC, plus the page that was printed each time to tell me the fax did not go through. Since doing something over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of stupidity, I called the client and told her that I would mail her the form. Friday she would not be at work as that evening would be a Jewish holiday and she is closed on the weekend. I telephoned her on Monday and she had received the form and faxed it with needed attachment to the number I had given her - hopefully it was in time for them to process before her monthly fee for minimum use was due to be debited from the account.
I also finished a tax return for another client - it was on extension so it is not late. That was promptly mailed out. I do have one client whose return I have not done - she and her husband owe me information from 3 years ago to do their returns and I keep pushing her as she will lose a sizeable refund if she does not file her 2014 return by April 15 of 2018. (If you have unfiled income tax returns - don’t let that happen to you - if you have not filed a return within 3 years of its due date you will lose any refund due you. Out to the client 2 weeks before it is due.
Last Sunday we had a reenctment event. It was the first time the unit was doing this event - it was at our headquarters, but the building itself was the focus of the event rather than the unit outside with muskets and crafts. The unit commander could not come after he set it up, so husband, who is assistant commander had to deal with everything - which of course means much work for me. I woke a half hour before the alarm was set to go off on Sunday morning - with a terribly ill stomach. Husband started to panic- what would we do? He had to go as he was in charge and he needed me. I told him that he would go to the event in our car - members get to most events 2 hours before it is to start to have everything set up - and I would come later in our van, unless my stomach did not recover. He was not happy at driving there alone, being there alone and, more important, me not being well. I went over where the turns are to get there as he is always asking me when driving there - “Is this where I turn?” at the wrong place. (“Remember, you will pass the diner your sister goes to on the right, then you turn left at the light after the Stop and Shop supermarket is on the left. Then you turn left again after the long stretch of nurseries....”) I managed to get there on time for the actual event. We had a quiet day (depending on who you ask we had 20-35 visitors from the public over the day) as there was no publicity for the event. Nice event, good idea, people need to know about it.
I spent yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) getting ready for my embroidery chapter meeting today. We are starting our projects for the year and I needed to print some things for the projects. I also packed up some items to donate - 3 dresses, 2 ladies suits, a rain coat, a Christmas Santa bowl (not even sure who gave it to us), some souvenir gifts from a friend’s travels, and 2 spare coin counting tube sets - anything gone out of the house is good. I also did my “offsite” data backups for today.
Today I had busy day - the meeting, a trip to the bank to exchange my offsite backups, a trip to Goodwill for the donation, check Post Office box, lunch alone... Then when I came home I went through and finished filling in forms and making copies of papers so we can go tomorrow to a workshop/meeting and make sure our paperwork is done and complete to get a senior discount on our real estate taxes. For once I am not procrastinating as they are due before January 1 - plenty of time to fix any problems or missing items. And now I am writing my post.
Not as bad as some weeks in the past month - at least we do not have to wake early day after day and I see an end in sight. Next week is even a bit looser - dentist tomorrow though.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
If you think that you can not do something which is a large job - then do one small bit of it - a first step, then a bit more. It will go quicker than if you just sit and think that the job is too big. I never thought that I would be able to post this regularly for 6 months, let alone 2 years, but a week’s post at a time I have and I plan to keep doing it for at least another year.
So, how has being a blogger been for me? Well, I appreciate those of you who follow me, but I had expected a larger number of followers. I am not sure if the low numbers are related to lack of interest in my blog or people not finding my blog. For my personal happiness, I presume it is the latter. (Tell your friends - have them tell their friends.) But I am aware it might be the former. My original idea of telling how and where I store things (and why) seemed terribly dry to me when I read the early posts back after posting them, so I switched to more of a week by week story of what I did right, what I did wrong, and my attempts to keep everything up to date and taken care of. It reads better to me and I hope to you. I am also interested in what YOU think - please feel free to reply to the blog itself as well as any posts - do you wonder how I deal with something or other?
September is over and with it I hope I will have a chance to breathe.
I managed to get the needed information to my client from last week. Her fax has never worked and therefore I faxed the needed form to a friend of hers. His fax did not work right in accepting faxes. I tried faxing a number of times - with my husband standing there making noises about how much each attempt was costing us - our home telephone is rarely used for making calls as I have unlimited cell phone minutes, so each call was a “toll call” to NYC, plus the page that was printed each time to tell me the fax did not go through. Since doing something over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of stupidity, I called the client and told her that I would mail her the form. Friday she would not be at work as that evening would be a Jewish holiday and she is closed on the weekend. I telephoned her on Monday and she had received the form and faxed it with needed attachment to the number I had given her - hopefully it was in time for them to process before her monthly fee for minimum use was due to be debited from the account.
I also finished a tax return for another client - it was on extension so it is not late. That was promptly mailed out. I do have one client whose return I have not done - she and her husband owe me information from 3 years ago to do their returns and I keep pushing her as she will lose a sizeable refund if she does not file her 2014 return by April 15 of 2018. (If you have unfiled income tax returns - don’t let that happen to you - if you have not filed a return within 3 years of its due date you will lose any refund due you. Out to the client 2 weeks before it is due.
Last Sunday we had a reenctment event. It was the first time the unit was doing this event - it was at our headquarters, but the building itself was the focus of the event rather than the unit outside with muskets and crafts. The unit commander could not come after he set it up, so husband, who is assistant commander had to deal with everything - which of course means much work for me. I woke a half hour before the alarm was set to go off on Sunday morning - with a terribly ill stomach. Husband started to panic- what would we do? He had to go as he was in charge and he needed me. I told him that he would go to the event in our car - members get to most events 2 hours before it is to start to have everything set up - and I would come later in our van, unless my stomach did not recover. He was not happy at driving there alone, being there alone and, more important, me not being well. I went over where the turns are to get there as he is always asking me when driving there - “Is this where I turn?” at the wrong place. (“Remember, you will pass the diner your sister goes to on the right, then you turn left at the light after the Stop and Shop supermarket is on the left. Then you turn left again after the long stretch of nurseries....”) I managed to get there on time for the actual event. We had a quiet day (depending on who you ask we had 20-35 visitors from the public over the day) as there was no publicity for the event. Nice event, good idea, people need to know about it.
I spent yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) getting ready for my embroidery chapter meeting today. We are starting our projects for the year and I needed to print some things for the projects. I also packed up some items to donate - 3 dresses, 2 ladies suits, a rain coat, a Christmas Santa bowl (not even sure who gave it to us), some souvenir gifts from a friend’s travels, and 2 spare coin counting tube sets - anything gone out of the house is good. I also did my “offsite” data backups for today.
Today I had busy day - the meeting, a trip to the bank to exchange my offsite backups, a trip to Goodwill for the donation, check Post Office box, lunch alone... Then when I came home I went through and finished filling in forms and making copies of papers so we can go tomorrow to a workshop/meeting and make sure our paperwork is done and complete to get a senior discount on our real estate taxes. For once I am not procrastinating as they are due before January 1 - plenty of time to fix any problems or missing items. And now I am writing my post.
Not as bad as some weeks in the past month - at least we do not have to wake early day after day and I see an end in sight. Next week is even a bit looser - dentist tomorrow though.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
If you think that you can not do something which is a large job - then do one small bit of it - a first step, then a bit more. It will go quicker than if you just sit and think that the job is too big. I never thought that I would be able to post this regularly for 6 months, let alone 2 years, but a week’s post at a time I have and I plan to keep doing it for at least another year.
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