Silent long enough.....

So I have resisted comment on the current debt debacle going on in D.C. because honestly I am so disgusted with politics in general lately that I have had no idea what to say. I think that once again those elected are not actually listening to the people. "Cut, Cap, and Balance" has some pretty good points. Mega cuts are needed and a cap is a great idea. Balancing the budget and requiring a super-majority vote for certain changes is a good thing. We fall into a tax bracket where hubby paid in a hefty % last year much to our shock. Despite looking froward to that return I honestly think that if it improved the economy and the entitlements were reformed as well as some immigration crack downs we both would feel comfortable paying more. I have been looking at the "Gang of Six" and their new plan today. If it does what they claim I think this plan looks very promising. Part of the problem has been the total complication of things. You get this tax break but that tax so you actually pay this....... blah, blah, WTF? I swear tax law is it's own language. I do the taxes for a few people besides us and I swear it boggles my mind. Hubby paid in XX amount but only got back a small chunk despite owning a home and 2 kids. A SIL made not even a 1/3, has one child and rents, paid in far less, and received quite a bit more back. It boggled my mind. Heck my MIL didn't even pay in because she made so little but she received a return? Really? Makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Simplification would be nice. I think reforming entitlements (SSI to me is not entitlement as you pay in you should get back.) so that citizenship requirements are more thoroughly checked and credit checks are ran to see if those applying have crazy amounts of credit and such would be good. I was in Wal-mart yesterday and we are trying to save so I can see the first niece born to my side of the family be blessed in a couple weeks and so we can visit other family in Utah for a family tradition of Derby weekend. I kept telling the girls "No" when they asked for the usual weird kid requests and finally said we were trying to not spend money. I got such nasty looks from a few people and one of them ended up behind us in line to check out. Should have seen the shock when I handed over my debit card and not a food stamps card. I think because I seemed frustrated and I said we didn't have the money he assumed we were on food stamps yet my cart was very full. Um no, just teaching my kids about budget. Back to the plan. Major cuts is a very good thing. Yes times are tough and things need to be done but we don't have the money and we need to stop spending more than we have. We borrow from John to pay Jim and ignore our own needs and it has to stop. Hopefully they figure something out soon. I don't like where things are headed but I think some people are trying to do the right thing. They just might be in the minority still.

My New Years Resolutions

Personal:
1. Spend more time with the Boy having fun, and less time yelling.
2. Get back in some sort of decent shape.

3. Quit smoking (again).

Personal Stuff:
4. I would really like to get a hand grinder, but considering the price of the ones I like, this is more of a hope then a resolution.

5. Also, I want to co-op with a friend's family this year for a garden. The Boy is old enough to help out, they have the land, and then have school-age kids who are willing to help out. I love fresh fruits and veggies, we just don't have the space. Also start a small herb garden at the house.

Financial:
6. Start an emergency home-stash of cash.
7. Rebuild saving to 3 months of expenses.
8. Continue using Mint.com to better track/save expenses.
9. Continue to not make stupid choices.

Skills:
10. Go shooting at least once a month.
11. Take knitting or quilting class.

12. Enroll the Boy in Swimming classes.

Preparedness Stuff :
13. Add a stock of various Batteries.
14. Purchase some lighting setups. I.e.: various lanterns and flashlights.
15. Stock up on firewood this winter, perhaps get DNR permit.

Gun Stuff:
16. Save some money each month for a handgun. I know this sounds small, but seeing as my gun knowledge is extremely limited, I'm working with what I've got now.

Food Rotation:
17. This year, be much more realistic about what I'm canning and what amounts. Having lots of fruits and jams is nice, but realistically I should have canned much more veggies. I'm much more likely to use 10 quarts of spaghetti sauce then I am to use 10 quarts of pickles.

18. Purchase a small dehydrator to use for drying own herbs and veggies.

FML

I just got a letter from TriWest (aka the military insurance company) informing me I have a week to choose my new PCM (aka Primary doctor). Um, excuse me? I was granted my final divorce decree from ex-hole late last year. He told me he had notified the Army, which we obviously hasn't seeing as they still have me as his dependent. I called the office number I was given, and they explained to me I couldn't do jack-crap about it. Even if I fax/mail them our divorcee decree, they still have to recieve all the same information from Ex-Hole and big fat chance of that happening seeing as he gets a chunk of cash each month for having the extra person on his stuff.

Wouldn't you think that the Army would want to know this sort of thing? Maybe save themselves a couple bucks along the way?

So angry right now.

Want to help the economy? Don't work.

Now, I might be totally off on this thought, but it's something that has been swirling around my head for awhile. I have several friends who are out looking for jobs, but don't have much experience and are being beat out of minimum wage job by people who have been forced to seriously downgrade their skills. I have one friend who just lost a receptionist-type position to a women who had been a lawyer's clerk/personal secretary for more then a decade.

I'm starting to wonder how much the two-job lifestyle is hurting our country. And I don't mean in the 'traditional roles' versus 'modern roles' way. I'm not arguing about people spending time with their kids, or volunteering at charities or anything like that. I'm speaking strictly financially. People have access to lots of credit, and therefore purchase lots of stuff they can't afford. Then both parties are up to the hilt in debt, and the family cannot afford to NOT have both parents work. But now you add extra costs to the situation. You are now buying 2 lunches, filling 2 cars with gas, paying the daycare of the younger kids, and all sorts of other expenses. Both parents are busy and the amount of fast food and eating out skyrockets. Instead of helping your finances, you might actually be hurting them. In my job previous to this one, I figured out (as I was quitting) that between gas, food and daycare I was actually losing about $75 a month from working, and that doesn't even include all the pizza and take-out we ate because I was too tired to cook a real meal.

It makes me wonder how many families would actually benefit from one or the other parent quitting their job. Things like health insurance and such make it a bit more complicated, but the theory is the same. It's cheaper to cook from scratch, or even semi-homemade then to eat out. 1 tank of gas is obviously cheaper then two. No daycare/babysitter also saves a heap of cash. Not to mention, if a large chunk of the general public did this, there would be a HUGE letup of pressure on the job market.

I'd like to know what everyone else thinks on this. I know it's not realistic, but I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience to this, or thinks I'm just bat shit crazy.

Friday Funny