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Home > Archive: November, 2022

Archive for November, 2022

Social security & IRS

November 30th, 2022 at 11:52 pm

Just got a letter in from US social security the other day requesting updated information, this one came from the US which is weird as everything we do we have to go through the phillipines...so we moved 1.8 years ago and have send 3 change of address to social security and loand behold the one we got went to our last address...it was redirected to us thankgod we received it as we have 45 days to respond or no longer get paid....I really wish the irs and social security would have access to online for those living overseas, it would make things so much easier....we have no access online due to not having a US address...they really need to get stuff caught up and updated...almost 11 months and nothing on taxes...and now almost 2 years and still haven't changed our address and we were lucky that we got the mail...such a frustrating process...so we sent it in and I requested that it be signed for...my hubby said they won't sign for it..but that way I know whether or not they get it...I still can't get through to the IRS...so when I do next years taxes will send in this years again and do the same thing so I know that they actually get them...if they don't sign for them then at least we will get them back.

2023 budget...any ideas??

November 27th, 2022 at 02:55 am

Well this year has been pretty much a bust on our budget so much has gone on and health wise not so great so I just didn't stick to it like I should have and we will end the year with no savings and owing on the CC (which was hacked, so sorting it out), but we did use it and owe on it...so I have done our 2023 budget and I'm going to stick to it no matter what...

Our CC is the only debt we have but it is big (big for me anyways) I hate CC but keep it as we are retired we can no longer get loans, but that is okay I don't like owing anyways. I monthly bills are always paid early or on time and we have great credit history. 

So as it stands our

CC will be paid off in feb

ice Acct will have $2000 in it march (we will then $100 a month to it to build it up)

We will be putting $100 a month away for christmas

any extra money we have will be put into our savings account to buy a house..only done budget till July next year but as it stands we should have $13,500 saved...about 1/5 of what we need for a deposit but we will be getting there slowly but surely.

We have several accounts

everyday

both have our own mad money accts

ins

car

christmas

savings (house)

POM

ice

We think that is enough accounts for us....it should work out and then if anything comes up we should be able to cover it....I have underestimated our income so we could potentially save more but I don't do it to the penny as some of our income is in US $ and that will depend on the exchange rate which also affects our income over here...also doesn't include any tax returns etc...just our base income...I also try to inflate our bills as they keep going up. 

If there is anything you think I may have missed then let me know...and no we don't do a retirement fund like you guys do...we do if we are working...but it is different here.

 

personal info hacks

November 22nd, 2022 at 01:05 am

Not sure if anyone knows but we have had some pretty bad hacks(by russians) into a couple of systems over here that they have released many peoples private information...we were in 1 group but not another...not sure how much of our info has been hacked or sold...no-one does but we were able to put a hold on our credit information...so if anyone tries to open things or buy things under our names and whoever they are trying to go through tries to access our credit info it will block them out..so if they can't get the info they won't give the person what they want...and we don't get masses of debt in our name...we have a code so we can unlock anytime we want to but we can also keep it on there as long as we want to and its free (for now)...so that is what we are doing..hoping it works...and hoping that someone really starts messing with russia just like they are doing with the rest of the world....teach them a few lessons....anyway here's hoping we don't have any more hacks over here

does anyone play games at christmas??

November 22nd, 2022 at 12:57 am

We don't have any kids in our family right now...just adults..we do with extended family but we don't spend the holidays with that side of the family as we don't really get along with a few of them...and it becomes really hard to buy things for adults who basically work and buy what they want anyways...so this year they are getting a gift each (their choosing) and then I got a bunch of silly gifts for us to play lucky dip with...its just a fun way to spend the day with family and have some laughs...does anyone else do things like this??

Why so cold!!

November 21st, 2022 at 01:20 am

So we are coming up to summer here and yet we have only had like 3 days of spring weather..I think the highest warm day we have had is aroumd 66 degrees...but it has been way colder than that...so cold and wet and our vegies are not growing very well at all as they don't get enough sun and the winds and rain have been horrendous and we live near the beach which doesn't help....so in 9 days it will be summer and I'm just wondering if we will get our spring weather or whether it will be hot...which I'm hoping not as everything in the bush has grown so much which means if it gets hot then we will be in for some bad bushfires this season...but I am just wanting some warmer weather...and some sun...glad I had 3 months of taking 100,000mg of vit D this spring as I would be completely depleted as I am always so low in vit D....hope you guys are enjoying your weather...other than that I am finally getting some of my christmas shopping done

304 days

November 16th, 2022 at 11:55 pm

That is how long it has been since we sent in our taxes....304 days 😧 we haven't been able to get through to them as they are so busy, so we don't even know if they have received them or if that info is just fallen into the wrong hands in the US...thats what I hate...the not knowing...they could be using our info to get loans etc and we would never know as we don't live there...just wish they had a better system in place for people living overseas...maybe we just won't do them anymore...I mean who cares right it would just us missing out on money not them and it really isn't worth the time and effort for $1000 is it?? Well I am over it and the whole IRS system...they are so incompetent!!

Maybe beause it has been a bad week for us both hubby and I are down sick, can't find my mom housing, the dog has surgery today...plus a few other things and I'm just over it

Hope everyone has has a good weekend...we have yet more thinderstorms. lightening and flooding to deal with!!

Don't stress but always drama

November 11th, 2022 at 12:28 am

My doctor tells me to cut as much stress out of my life as I possibly can...that doesn't happen in this house especially with a teen living here right now....my nephew just turned 17...a  year ago my mom left to live in another area becuase of the high cost of rent she couldn't afford to live here anymore, so nephew who she has raised from birth went to live with my sister...she always had extra people living in the house, would cook or anything so even thouh they were paying for food they would hardly eat as there was nothing to eat...he sometimes slept in a bed, then the couch and eventually the floor...there was constantly yelling in the house....and he maybe went to school 1 day a week if he was lucky...my mum was stressed to the max as she didn't live there and he didn't tell her what was going on as he didn't want to worry here...she came down and he was so skinny and sick looking and she was so upset and the stress put her in the hospital....so she talked to me about it and I said he was going to move in with us that weekend and told him he didn't have a choice...and he did...he has missed 3 days of school in 3 months due to illness, he has a room to himself so he is sleeping well...he has plenty to eat (forgot how much teens eat) and he needed it as he looked like a POw with the sunken in face etc.....he has gained 20lbs since living here and is feeling much better and has so much energy now..he was so lethargic thats why he wasn't going to school...he busted his butt and did all the worked he missed out on when he wasn't at school...and he is doing great now and really back into his school work...he loved school...no here comes the drama...the vice principle of the school who is new (about 8 months) decided that he didn't like him and has told him that he will never complete the work and that he should just quit and get a job as he is making the school look bad, he also took him out of the english class he was in and moved him to his class. My nephew handed in all the work a few weeks ago and now that he has proved the teacher worng by getting all the work completed he won't mark it and said that he will fail his class, he can alway get the other english class to mark his work but he won't, so my nephew left class nad called me so angry...so I told him to sign himself out of school and come home..which he did. I called the school and told them I wanted to talk to the principle but they said I needed to talk to the coordinator first...well they didn't say who it was..but it turned out to be the teacher in question...I told her that I wasn't going in to talk about the class and theacher with the teacher involved running the meeting that would be a complete waste of time...but I have decided that I will meet with him today as well as my nephew and my mom so we can get this sorted as we need it to be (our school year is over in 4 weeks), he also called me yesterday and was telling me his side of the story and it is different as usual, he was telling me what was said in the meeting...he was only there 5 mins and left and I was at the meeting and called him out on it saying he never said that...so he does lie to cover his butt...but I'm not one to stand back and do nothing, I have given the principle 5 days to respond to my email with a positive outcome or the education dept will step in and help resove the issue, I also think that he is racist..my nephew is aboriginal as is his friend and he picks on them constantly and not just them ...so we will see in a couple of hours what will happen a few other things he has done are

used the N word in class 3 times

suspended his friend from school for haing the wrong shorts on but a kid that has been inappropriately touching girls at school and is accused of raping a couple of girls (not at school and police are involved) and he brought mace and a hammer to school got no punishment

continually tells my nephew to quit school as he makes the school look bad

gives them extra work that no-one else has to do

So hopefully today this issue will be done and finished...sorry so long but this is just a caption of what this guy is like..so very frustrating and trying to keep my nephew calm and telling him not to give up on school as that what the guy wants so he can say I told you so has been hard...he is so frustrated....I have also talked to quite a few teachers there that don't like him either.

But on a good note I put $400 on the CC...I have more to put on but our dog has grooming and surgery next week and I'm not sure what it will cost so will wait till that is done and near end of month put more onto the CC until it is paid off...all bills are paid for the month..except food and gas...which we take out every 2 weeks (pay cycle) so things are looking up financially a bit...not like many of you but to be debt free soon and saving again with be a big win for us!!

 

november

November 4th, 2022 at 01:05 am

OMG we finally have a sunny day...seriously it has been spring for over 2 months and we have had 4 sunny days...so over this cold wet windy weather...have a few days of it so going to enjoy before the rain is back next week.

Have all the bills paid and had a little extra since the US$ is down here, that will com in handy since our dog need to get his teeth cleaned and have 2 lumps removed..so will book that in for mid month, will cost around $1000, he also needs to be groomed again which is around $70. Have been stocking our shelves a bit lately since I hate shopping and moreso around christmas....which we havent even thought of yet..need to start the shopping for that.

As for our garden...our vegies are growing so slowly...not sure we will get much from them this year as it has been so cold and wet and no sun that they just can't grow well...but we have a few sunny days so hopefully that will help.

grocery prices have gone up so much lately, but we are managing to do okay food budget has gone way up but we just adjust our budget, we don't eat take out much just cook at home.

As for the CC, we are plugging away at that slowly...figured would save what we can all month and 3rd week into the month we will put everything we can on it until it is paid off....should take a couple months but that is okay...its the only debt we have...other than that not much happening...starting to spring clean and declutter a little..I'm 2 months late but it has been like winter and just haven't felt like doing it.

My nephew has a 2 hr driving lesson tomorrow morning..its from 7.30-9.30am..hes not happy getting up that early on a sat but he has to...there is literally hardly any spaces for people to do driving lessons..everyone is booked out will cost around $180 for the 2 hours...then we will do another test in a few weeks and then he should be ready for his vort test and the same guy can do it...then he will have his licence and then he has to get a job if he wants a car so he can pay for his gas/rego & insurance