Monday, July 27, 2009

Tax Assessment

So I received a nice (meaning: horribly complicated) letter in the mail saying my property taxes were going to go up significantly. They said my property, in one year (and a down turn economy), increased in value over $20k! I am going through the appeals process because it IS NOT worth that.
One of the options for the appeal is to send in a copy of the final HUD statement and a copy of the appraisal. I hope they decide to re-evaluate my taxes. I don’t want to be paying for something that sounds OUTRAGEOUS! Yeah, it’s nice if my home increases in value, but this is just absurd!

Friday, July 17, 2009

It's been a while

I know it's been a while since I last published a post. I've been hard at work sprucing up my condo and then I realized that I needed to stop due to funding. I have filed an amended tax return to get my $8000, but they have to mail checks for amended returns and it hasn't arrived yet. That being the case, the funds I did have for updates and improvements dried up quickly. I essentially have everything painted that needs paint now. I have also been able to update light fixtures and a few other odds and ends. I took some time yesterday to make a detailed to do list for each room. I'm a bit of a stickler for details so I put even minor things on the list. I hope to slowly be able to cross things off. The items that don't cost much, or any money will come first. The things that are more expensive will of course need to wait awile.
Since money has gotten tight I've been trying to come up with ways to save a little here and a litte there. I love reading the newspaper, but I know that I don't have time to read it every day so I subscribe to the Sunday only edition. This allows me to get all the adds with all the deal and coupons and of course the news updates. I go through all the coupons and cut out all the products that I use, even if I don't need them that week. Then I put them all together and go through them before I go to the grocery store. On my last trip to the grocery store I spent about $13 and my savings was $8.50. I thought that was phenomenal. I only purchased the items on my list and now I've got food for a week. I sure do love saving money!!!
I've got plans to go to a Bees Baseball game soon and I was able to get free tickets. In one of those advertising mailers there was a coupon for 2 for 1 entree at a restaruant I enjoy. Now I'll be going to the restaruant and then to the game. What a perfect date.
I know these tips don't work for everyone, but I just thought I'd share what I've been able to do.
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