About Me

Denise T.

Denise is a freelance journalist and crafter who dreams of starting her own business-- a hometown Tiki bar. She is a former New Orleans Bourbon Street bartender.

The challenge: I can't use my primary income to fund the tiki bar. I can only use money I earn in other ways. Part of the challenge will be to develop new, creative revenue sources. It's like a pumped-up,long-term $20 challenge.

***2008 Tiki Fund goal: $1,500***
$990.56 in fund, $509.44 to go

***Monthly Tiki Fund Total***

June: $2.21
$2.21 interest on tiki saving act.
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May 2008: $98.70
$9.00 Web sales
$87.61 Google Adsense
$2.09 Tiki savings interest

For a full breakdown of Tiki fund money, visit my $20 challenge page.

***Personal Savings Goals for 2008***
$5,000 into my IRA
$2,000 into hubby's Roth IRA
$2,000 into 529 plan
$6,000 into savings account
$3,600 into brokerage account
$650 into new car fund
Total: $19,250

***Progress Report***
$4,199 in my IRA, $801 to go
$1459 to Roth, $541 to go
$1100 to 529 plan, $900 to go
$5200 to savings, $800 to go
$1995 to brokerage, $1605 to go
$357.25 in car fund, $292.75 to go
Total: $14,310

***
Debt to pay off:
Student Loan: $14,841.42
(Down from $40,000 in 2001)

***
No Drive Days (where me AND the hubby don't drive! Since May 15):2

New car fund balance: $285
For a Hybrid Honda Fit!!

***
All of these goals will be a little harder to reach this year because I am now a self-employed journalist and the hubby and I had our first baby in April. Last year, I was a staff reporter at a major metro newspaper so saving was easy.

We have always lived on one salary only. But we aren't quite sure how a new baby is going to affect our finances.

***The Big Picture***
Me 33, Hubby 35
-No credit card debt
-No car loan
-House paid off because we moved to a cheaper city

My Pages

$20 Tiki challenge

Tax rebate came today, and baby hospital bill No. 1

April 26th, 2008 at 03:23 pm

I was surprised to see that my tax rebate has arrived in my checking account already.

Of course, that spurred a heated debate about how to use the money, even though we think the whole rebate thing is a terrible idea.

We agreed that the hubby can buy a new video game, I can 'spend' an equivalent amount (I already put my $100 in the tiki fund), and then we'll figure out what to do with the rest.

We joke that since the gov't was upset that folks will use the money to pay off debt that we should put ours towards our one debt (my student loan) just to represent...

In reality, it will likely go to the bean's 529 plan or to savings because we are planning to get a new roof this summer. Not very exciting, I know.

In other news, the cost of giving birth to our bean was about $9500 for the delivery. Just got the bill. Insurance is covering all but about $336. That's much less than I thought we'd have to pay. Of course, we still need to get the bill for the two days in the hospital following birth. So we'll see. But I was bracing to pay thousands, just because you never know what insurance companies are going to foist on you, so this is a small relief.

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “Tax rebate came today, and baby hospital bill No. 1”

Petunia Says:
April 26th, 2008 at 04:55 pm

That's quick on the tax rebate. "Not exciting" is okay! We've had some discussions about how to use it, but will probably have further discussions when it arrives.
crazyliblady Says:
April 26th, 2008 at 05:45 pm

But DH and I have talked long and hard about it. The main obstacles in our finances are the debts, but we think we can make those disappear quickly if we reduce our regular expenses to free up money for debt payoff. When our stimulus check comes in June, we plan on looking at houses, etc. close to my work. If we can get something about 1 mile or less from work, I can walk to work everyday. I will have less expenses because we will spend less overall on gas and I will not need a parking permit. What is contingent on getting such a place is whether the rent is the same or less than what we are paying right now. Real estate close to my work generally rents higher, though.
Broken Arrow Says:
April 26th, 2008 at 07:36 pm

That sounds like a reasonable compromise....

Wish I could get mine early too, even if all I'm planning to do is save it.
thriftorama Says:
April 26th, 2008 at 09:10 pm

Just an update. The hubby decided the spend his rebate allotment on $60 worth of Prince CDs. We're rounding out our very eclectic CD collection and he ordered all of the albums we didn't have! So, I'm sure W will be thrilled that we actually spent $60 of our $1200 rebate... The rest? To savings! Sorry economy...
Petunia Says:
April 27th, 2008 at 07:03 am

Prince, LOL! So glad he is helping the economy and enjoying it. Happy listening!
terri77 Says:
April 27th, 2008 at 09:46 am

Cool, I'll have to check to see if I got mine. I should be somewhere in the middle of the disbursements based on the last two digits of my SS#.
managinglife Says:
April 27th, 2008 at 03:19 pm

You can never go wrong with Prince! At least Prince and record company will get some kind of commission from the $60. Which counts toward stimulating the U.S. economy!
klbb90 Says:
April 27th, 2008 at 03:27 pm

I've really been taking advantage of all the great deals out there to entice spending. LOL. As the deals end I will cut back on my spending. Probably about the time my rebate check shows up. Although I've done well at the yard sales I've gone to, there haven't been many. That has been the biggest surprise.

Thrift-o-rama and the quest for a Tiki Bar

One girl's quest to shore up her personal finances and save for her own business

Tax rebate came today, and baby hospital bill No. 1

8 Responses to “Tax rebate came today, and baby hospital bill No. 1”

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