The first thing that the Money Girl book suggested in dealing was debt was to take care of 'dangerous short-term debt' like taxes. I hadn't mentioned it lately, but if you've read for awhile, you know that I've had trouble with not having enough taxes taken out the last few years because my W4s were messed up and it took awhile to iron out, leaving me with tax bills I've struggled to pay over the last few years. It's been so overwhelming that I tended to fall back on my old habits of losing the information and pretending it wasn't the sword of Damocles hanging over my head.
Last year the state of Kentucky took what I owed out of my bank account and I found out on my birthday, which was not the birthday surprise I preferred. This year they attached my wages, which was not so much a surprise except that they took it out all at once. So this past paycheque almost $500 came out, which didn't leave a lot, so I've got to juggle some bills to not get far behind on anything else. The good news is that I'm paid up with the state and although I do have to pay this year for 2010, it will be much less. Plus I have one job and I've gotten my W4s squared away, so I might be looking at a refund next year.
But that left the IRS, which frankly gets a bad rap; I can't complain because any time I've dealt with them they've bent over backwards with good customer service. Plus they didn't just take the money or try to put me in gaol. Kentucky has been much more aggressive. But the thing with my paycheque reminded me of that hanging sword.
I went online to try to find out how much I owed (I haven't gotten a notice in a very long time, and never for the full amount.) That wasn't helpful beyond giving me the contact phone and hours to call. Tonight I called and once I got through the almost interminable computerised menu that was terribly not helpful when you don't have a number from a notice to type in (try all 0s), I spoke with a man with a somewhat funny name who was very, very helpful. I found out that I owe taxes back to 2006 (I didn't for 2007 because of those stimulus cheques. Mine went straight to my tax bill, although it was apparently applied to one year instead of back further). Basically, I've had trouble ever since I started working at the gas station. But that was still a surprise, because I had made payments and there was that stimulus, so I didn't realise there was still a balance from that far back, and the last notice was for the current year. Turns out I owe just over $2000. So once I got over that shock we set up an agreement for a monthly debit, which is a somewhat convoluted process, but he explained it very well. I also have to make sure I pay my 2010 taxes on time to keep the agreement in place, but I think I'm going to owe about $125, and I have time to budget between now and then.
I also got a free credit report from all three bureaus last night so I could tell what I had to deal with on that. I've taken care of several things over the last few years, so that's in my favour. The good news is most of it (other than my student loans) is small. I have one medical bill I didn't even know existed for $42, for example. The largest is $600. There are a couple of other larger accounts in collections, but they are not on my credit reports and are very, very old (almost 20 years) and they want to settle, so I'll work on prioritising everything and figure out whom I can pay and what to repair my credit. But right now I'm concentrating on the IRS.
Next step is to get a budget together. I'm full-time at a job for the first time (I've worked over 40 hours at up to three jobs at a time, of course, but this is the first time I'm full-time at one place.) I'm not sure that will continue, because the data entry job was meant to be six months to a year to possibly longer. July will be a year. I have a performance appraisal tomorrow for that job, and I'm going to ask about it then so I'll have something to base my budget on before I make too many plans. If it's not going to last, I need to start looking for another part-time job, since the store closed, and the closest is not good for walking from to my home at night.
The good news (at least from what I can tell with my library performance appraisal) is that we're actually getting a raise this year. Last year we didn't. So that'll help a little, too.
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