This is Friday in Misouri, with ice all over the place and my car frozen shut. I'm not going anywhere, but at least I am warm and cozy in the RV. I'm coasting a bit right now because I managed to make it through the whole day without e-mails and botheration. I should have turned in my software project, but as long as nobodies' asking, I'm coasting.
The tax forms for 2003-2006 were sent to the kind folks at the IRS on Tuesday. I owe about $15,000. In all the chaos of recovering from the accident and dealing with financial problems and being homeless, I knew I needed to look at my paperwork and take care of this. I honestly didn't think I owed more than a few grand. It was the self-employment taxes that got me, plus losing the house and all those deductions, that I didn't realize how the mortgage shielded me from so many of the realitie of life. Also in the back of my mind I was praying for the accident case to turn out in my favor sooner, and provide the funds to handle everything.
Now I'm working with one of those tv tax relief firms to help me work out a payment plan. If I can do that, I can keep this job. If the IRS garnishe me, I'll lose the work. If that happens, I will follow Plan B. Plan A was living in a van, which is now put to rest anyway. I sold Henry to have enough cash for this issue, or to run. Plan B is to run. Perhaps with no car and no driver's license, a bus ticket or a thumb will take me away from here. So I'm thinking about putting all my belongings in storage, what few are left, and taking my cash and hitting the road. I think I can get to a place where I can room with somebody via Craigslist, in a college sort of town. They don't ask too many questions there. Then I'm one petsitting business away from living completely off the grid. Or, something. The point is that I don't have to live in fear unless I just want to.
One of the things that weighed heavily on me for the last several years was fear. Fear that I needed to do things a certain way to "survive." I've done the math and the emotional work and the given deep thought to "why" life has happened this way for me. I could blame myself, I could blame others, and I could ask "Why me?" But, it is what it is. As I read articles about homelessness I see both sides. Homefull people point out concrete reasons "why" others are homeless, because they don't understand and because they think they can keep the "reasons" at bay. But you have no control over circumstances. Have a couple of bad things happen in a row, go through your savings, run out of options, and then you too can be counted as one of the unfortunates of the world. The serious fact is that if I didn't have money, friends, family, or a brain, I'd be homeless right now. As it is, I'm merely contemplating the possibility.
At one point I bought Henry the van with the thought of fixing him up as a mobile bedroom on wheels. For a woman my age, a van is safer than being on the street in any way, heck for a woman period. The plan was to keep making jewelry and selling it, and the van was necessary for transporting all my stuff. But as long as I have cash I can land in a city with public transportation and get lodging easily enough. I don't need stuff. If I can manage with very little money. The business ideas were in case I needed to make money along the way. So I still have Plan A, but am prepared to go to Plan B.
Here's my one rant and whine, because I'm only human. My sister lives in our mother's house. My mother passed away and the house came to my brother, sister, and me. I have $20,000 equity in that house, the same as they do. My sister knew how bad thing had gotten for me, but refuses to either buy the house or sell the house or pay her fair share of the rent. If I was like her I'd sic the IRS on that house. But, I think I'm not like that. I can't do that to my family. So, I get to handle this bad situation alone, as usual.
Whinge over!
This blog is all about what one 51 year old grandmother will do to survive and get through the bad times. That means that I'm going to get up off my lazy butt and hook up the cable from my friend next door so I can be snowed in and relax with TV until they come hook it back up. When my friend got her cable turned on the technician accidentally turned mine off. Sheesh!
Then I'm going to finish two more items on my software to do list. Then I'm going to get my tiny little home organized again. Then I'm having a real night's sleep and I'm not getting up until I have to! I've been living on four-five hours of sleep at a time for the past two weeks, trying to make the work people happy while trying to make the IRS and attorney people happy, while trying to help my friend move into her hoopty trailer.
I'm beat!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Details
I got to the finish line with the software project! The tax forms were mailed out yesterday. Today the plan is to get the details finalized by around 10 am, then to use the rest of the day to clean up and get organized. My roommate here in the RV is getting her new place ready next door. If all goes well she could be completely moved into the trailer and out of mine by the weekend after this coming weekend.
She picked up a one bedroom trailer that is just tiny cute, for $2000. It needs cosmetic work inside, and some plumbing updates. The plumbing inside works well enough, but one day a new vanity and a sink in the bathroom would be a cheap and easy update. The tub could use a new faucet and some pipes behind the wall, which is easily reached from outside the trailer. As the resident engineer I'm pushing to have all the pipes heat taped and wrapped. My friend is really good at the cosmetic stuff and I'd say she has taken on a lifetime project with this. But it is a well-insulated trailer and has never been moved from its quiet spot in a sleepy retirement style mobile home park. We are all about the alternative living styles.
I could pick up the trailer I'm in for $2500, and it needs no work at all. I'm considering it just to have a permanent place next door to a friend who'd look out for the place while I travel. But I'd be tied to a $950 per month lot rent, plus about $50 in electric, and $100 for propane. Not bad compared to the east coast. I have gotten my head wrapped around the fact that I may be spending a year and a half on the east coast, working and helping out with my new grandchild while my son is in Iraq. I have a place to stay on the east coast that will be very inexpensive during that time. If I'm working as planned, I'll be able to afford both places for less than $1000 a month in total living expenses on a salary of about $8000 take home. I "could" rent this place out for about $400 a month. I'm thinking about this. The decision does not have to be made until June 2008. By then I should have the accident case finished (hopefully settled) and the tax situation under control. I may have to sell Henry the van to ensure that the tax man is happy. But, it will give me a chance to work out the van dwelling logistics again so that I can have what I want when I pick the next vehicle, rather than having to build it into a used van. That was getting to be way too time-consuming and I was getting nowhere.
One of the sneaky ways that my friend and I are going to save on expenses is to have one telephone line between us, at her new place. I'll pay for the DSL portion for her and use a wireless router to send the signal my way, with a code of course! That way we don't have to duplicate service all over the place. I can have a handset here for making calls. It's doable.
Back to the details of building a software installation CD. Ugh!
The job's not done until the paperwork is finished.
She picked up a one bedroom trailer that is just tiny cute, for $2000. It needs cosmetic work inside, and some plumbing updates. The plumbing inside works well enough, but one day a new vanity and a sink in the bathroom would be a cheap and easy update. The tub could use a new faucet and some pipes behind the wall, which is easily reached from outside the trailer. As the resident engineer I'm pushing to have all the pipes heat taped and wrapped. My friend is really good at the cosmetic stuff and I'd say she has taken on a lifetime project with this. But it is a well-insulated trailer and has never been moved from its quiet spot in a sleepy retirement style mobile home park. We are all about the alternative living styles.
I could pick up the trailer I'm in for $2500, and it needs no work at all. I'm considering it just to have a permanent place next door to a friend who'd look out for the place while I travel. But I'd be tied to a $950 per month lot rent, plus about $50 in electric, and $100 for propane. Not bad compared to the east coast. I have gotten my head wrapped around the fact that I may be spending a year and a half on the east coast, working and helping out with my new grandchild while my son is in Iraq. I have a place to stay on the east coast that will be very inexpensive during that time. If I'm working as planned, I'll be able to afford both places for less than $1000 a month in total living expenses on a salary of about $8000 take home. I "could" rent this place out for about $400 a month. I'm thinking about this. The decision does not have to be made until June 2008. By then I should have the accident case finished (hopefully settled) and the tax situation under control. I may have to sell Henry the van to ensure that the tax man is happy. But, it will give me a chance to work out the van dwelling logistics again so that I can have what I want when I pick the next vehicle, rather than having to build it into a used van. That was getting to be way too time-consuming and I was getting nowhere.
One of the sneaky ways that my friend and I are going to save on expenses is to have one telephone line between us, at her new place. I'll pay for the DSL portion for her and use a wireless router to send the signal my way, with a code of course! That way we don't have to duplicate service all over the place. I can have a handset here for making calls. It's doable.
Back to the details of building a software installation CD. Ugh!
The job's not done until the paperwork is finished.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Ebay Sellers Up In Arms
It's still very busy here. That convergence of due dates should ease up today, provided I complete all of my tasks, or at least look like I did. >^;^<
I took a chill pill after working on software for a few hours, and looked at my ebay account. I've had an account there for ten years which I just cancelled. The paypal account is going next. The reason I am cancelling after so many years is due to the changes ebay is making in their fee structure and in the buyer feedback system. After routinely forking out over $400 a month in fees, only to clear about a thousand dollars a month, I am voting on the new policies with my feet. As soon as I get to a quiet point with my software project, I will work on my new website to sell handcrafted jewelry and doll sized miniatures. I'm sure I can live without that tiny bit of money from ebay. Gee thanks, Meg! I needed that! The final and last straw that would get me to quit the beast!
I took a chill pill after working on software for a few hours, and looked at my ebay account. I've had an account there for ten years which I just cancelled. The paypal account is going next. The reason I am cancelling after so many years is due to the changes ebay is making in their fee structure and in the buyer feedback system. After routinely forking out over $400 a month in fees, only to clear about a thousand dollars a month, I am voting on the new policies with my feet. As soon as I get to a quiet point with my software project, I will work on my new website to sell handcrafted jewelry and doll sized miniatures. I'm sure I can live without that tiny bit of money from ebay. Gee thanks, Meg! I needed that! The final and last straw that would get me to quit the beast!
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