What's Going On

It's been a while since my last update. I've got a few things to post about, and I'll get to them eventually, but a busy beginning to 2005 at work has given me little free time to write during the day, and when I come home at night I just don't have the energy.

I did want to mention one thing that I've got going currenly, and that's a 0.00% balance transfer offer I've taken advantage of in order to pay part or all of my taxes due April 15th. After a bit of help from Jonathan at MyMoneyBlog, I decided to give the trick a shot. It looks like it's going to work, but I'm still in the middle of working it out. I've received the new card, the balance was transferred to a card I already had with a $0.00 balance, and I've requested a refund of the Credit Balance. Looking pretty good, but I won't consider it a success until I've got the check in my hand. The only downside is I wasn't granted a high enough credit limit on the new card to transfer over as much as I would have liked. But if this first attempt is successful, I may try it again with another offer to get the rest. I'll post more once I've received my refund check.

February 2005 Status

Been a busy beginning to 2005, thus the lack of updates the past few weeks. I'm posting my numbers for February 1st now. I plan to post later about the progress I'm making, what I'm learning, what I've read, and what adjustments I plan to make to my overall plan. For now, just the numbers. Though negative, Net Worth increased about $1K. Slowly but surely. Stay the course.

Citi Checking: $265.26
Citi Daily Savings: $16.11
ING Savings: $6,079.82
Vanguard: $4,068.30

Citi Platinum Appreciation Plus: $7,312.09
Chase Cash Builder: $686.93
Student Loan: $8,108.69

Net Worth: -$5,678.22

Taxes

I know very little about income taxes. The extent of my past experience is getting my W2 from an employer, punching in my numbers over the phone or through H&R Block, and then collecting the refunds.

Well, my 2004 return is going to be a bit different. The first 6 months of the year I spent freelancing and as a result I've got self employment tax to pay. I also had no idea I was supposed to be estimating tax and sending in quarterly payments, so I assume I'll have to pay a penalty as well. The second half of 2004 I was employed full time and so I have a W2 for that.

I have some student loan interest it looks like I'll be able to deduct, and I want to make sure I take any other deductions I can without itemizing. I'm under the impression I can deduct at least some amount of my state and local taxes without itemizing, though I really have no idea. Hopefully I can get this all figured out and get my taxable income as low as possible because right now the bill the online tax estimators I've been working with tell me I owe somewhere around $7,000.