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I had a frustrating week last week with our finances.
This is not a bitch session about not having enough or anything (although more would definitely be welcomed!). We live a good life. We are no where near rich but we carefully yet comfortably make ends meet and occasionally splurge on stuff for ourselves.
Everything just came together - or rather didn't come together - to bring me to my wits end. I was ready to pull my hair out because no matter how well I figure and budget and plan lately it never seems to balance out. The especially infuriating part is that at least two 'incidents', so to speak, occurred that affected us financially and although, as with nearly everything, we were partly at fault, there was nothing we could do.
We had endless issues with our taxes from last year and the final straw was to learn that there was some filing error of a tax credit (a naive oops) that meant we had to pay the government back almost $800. I was ecstatic to learn this a mere month before Christmas and that it was due at the end of December. What choice had we? I suppose we could have not payed it and eventually ended up in prison for tax evasion or something but we opted just to pay it. The up side is that we will get the tax credit back and reapply it properly this year and end up with that money back in our pocket, but in the mean time....that money was long gone! There was much scrounging and digging and rearranging and the payment was sent off.
Then last week Trevor received word that an item he had sold on Ebay was payed for by a stolen credit card and he was put on the hook for that money. There are a bunch of steps Trevor is taking to attempt to qualify for Ebay's insurance so we may see that $200 back but at this point...more scrounging and digging and rearranging to settle the account it for now.
Sigh.
On top of that we are anxiously waiting on the return of two substantial deposits we had to make when building our house, one for architectural controls (oh we had trouble with the lady in charge of that - we were blowing a lot of steam over this but have finally won!) and one for landscaping. We were told that architectural and landscaping were lumped together when in fact that was not the case and we could have had the landscaping fee back ages ago.
More seething.
At least it is more-less on the way.
That money was planned for our basement development which is well under way, we could not wait with the baby quickly approaching. So all in all with everything,we are currently in debt and I don't like it. There's money for most of the things we're spending it on, it's just that where it needs to be when it needs to be isn't happening and it's stressing me out.
Like I said, it's not like we're broke or starving or anything remotely like that, it's just that I am such a planner and budgeter and when that gets interfered with look out! Having a baby soon to appear also compounds my anxiety.
I am really trying to look on the bright side and actually feel much better about things this week. Another recently discovered positive and stress reliever is that I qualified for more than I expected being on Canadian maternity leave. It will all work out in a couple of months, I know and I'll either be laughing at myself or stressing over some new money concern.
Such is life.
This is not a bitch session about not having enough or anything (although more would definitely be welcomed!). We live a good life. We are no where near rich but we carefully yet comfortably make ends meet and occasionally splurge on stuff for ourselves.
Everything just came together - or rather didn't come together - to bring me to my wits end. I was ready to pull my hair out because no matter how well I figure and budget and plan lately it never seems to balance out. The especially infuriating part is that at least two 'incidents', so to speak, occurred that affected us financially and although, as with nearly everything, we were partly at fault, there was nothing we could do.
We had endless issues with our taxes from last year and the final straw was to learn that there was some filing error of a tax credit (a naive oops) that meant we had to pay the government back almost $800. I was ecstatic to learn this a mere month before Christmas and that it was due at the end of December. What choice had we? I suppose we could have not payed it and eventually ended up in prison for tax evasion or something but we opted just to pay it. The up side is that we will get the tax credit back and reapply it properly this year and end up with that money back in our pocket, but in the mean time....that money was long gone! There was much scrounging and digging and rearranging and the payment was sent off.
Then last week Trevor received word that an item he had sold on Ebay was payed for by a stolen credit card and he was put on the hook for that money. There are a bunch of steps Trevor is taking to attempt to qualify for Ebay's insurance so we may see that $200 back but at this point...more scrounging and digging and rearranging to settle the account it for now.
Sigh.
On top of that we are anxiously waiting on the return of two substantial deposits we had to make when building our house, one for architectural controls (oh we had trouble with the lady in charge of that - we were blowing a lot of steam over this but have finally won!) and one for landscaping. We were told that architectural and landscaping were lumped together when in fact that was not the case and we could have had the landscaping fee back ages ago.
More seething.
At least it is more-less on the way.
That money was planned for our basement development which is well under way, we could not wait with the baby quickly approaching. So all in all with everything,we are currently in debt and I don't like it. There's money for most of the things we're spending it on, it's just that where it needs to be when it needs to be isn't happening and it's stressing me out.
Like I said, it's not like we're broke or starving or anything remotely like that, it's just that I am such a planner and budgeter and when that gets interfered with look out! Having a baby soon to appear also compounds my anxiety.
I am really trying to look on the bright side and actually feel much better about things this week. Another recently discovered positive and stress reliever is that I qualified for more than I expected being on Canadian maternity leave. It will all work out in a couple of months, I know and I'll either be laughing at myself or stressing over some new money concern.
Such is life.
2 comments:
ugh. i know money worries well. it can get so frustrating when you keep getting hit with new expenses while trying to plan it all and figure it all out.
hang in there. :)
Just remember to stop and breathe....it could always be worse.
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