I just wanted to archive a great blog post that details how to get ahold of the IRS for future reference:
https://www.savingtoinvest.com/how-can-i-actually-speak-to-a-real-person-or-agent-at-the-irs-phone-numbers-that-work/
I used one of the tips to make a phone call and it worked, with a little ingenuity. I made a comment on the post, see below:
Saturday, August 03, 2019
Friday, August 02, 2019
July 2019 Money
Apologies for the lack of posts. I've started many, published none. They always devolve into me ranting and complaining about how my life turned out, and how I can't seem to get out of my funk, even though I am really trying. What can I say? I am depressed and that is what I am feeling right now. The anonymous nature of the blog brings it out of me. I don't feel like my depressive rants are appropriate to publish, however. I usually scrap them because no one else can change those things for me, but writing it out helps to relieve pressure on some of the deeper sadness.
Anyway, on to happier subjects.
In July, I had a major employment snafu. It is becoming clearer to me that I need to consider moving on from my job. I'm going nowhere and I won't be able to realize any of my dreams if I stayed in Auckland and in this job. I have no idea what else I would do, though.
The upshot is that I fought really hard to get raises in both of my part-time salaries. If upward mobility/promotions are not possible, all I have to show for my hard work is money. I received raises for two of my salaries:
1. The University has increased the yearly stipend for doctoral students since I started, and I was able to get a tiny raise to that amount for the last year of my PhD.
2. For my part time job, I got a small raise there as well. However, I increased my Kiwisaver contributions to 10%, which is a new contribution option. This effectively negates my job raise.
All told, the changes amount to a total increase of $101.19 per paycheck. I now make $1,495.98 per paycheck rather than $1,394.79. The only changes I've made to my budget is to increase my savings to $600/month (up from $550/mo). It will be nice to have an extra ~$150 cushion. It will almost pay for one extra therapy session (they are $185 for one hour).
Another weird thing about July money: the University made a mistake with my contract and were very very mad that they had to pay out for my accrued vacation time. My income is ridiculously high as a consequence:
July Income: $4,409.29
Leave accrual and last paycheck: $2,653.30; first paycheck of my new contract: $1,405.99; garage rent: $350 because it had 5 Mondays ($70 pw rent)
Total Spent: $3,167.53
The high salary was combined with two work trips that ended up paying for food and cutting back on other costs that I normally indulge in.
Items of note:
Rent: $950 (rent is paid every Friday, so there were only 4 rental payments due in July)
Groceries and Eating Out were lower than usual due to my work trips.
Misc was over by quite a bit. I knew I had extra $$ to play with this month, and I reached a major milestone in my PhD and had a birthday, so I pampered myself a little bit more than usual:
Entertainment: $39 (visited the Sculptureum for my birthday)
Self care: $559 ($200 of this is a gym membership, good for 8 months; $320 for my weekly massages; $30 from eye lash tinting and brow waxing and tinting. I got a free $30 facial complimentary b/c of my birthday)
Gifts: $20 (a friend at work had a baby; I contributed to a new parent gift)
Shopping/Goods and Wants: $183.98 (I've gained 15 lbs and my pants don't fit anymore, even though I am not overindulging; I needed something other than sweatpants that I could wear as bottoms. Also, landlord bought us a new couch set. I am inspired to redecorate the whole house! I bought a new blanket for the couch and new duvet cover for my bed)
Transportation: $290.38 (this was mostly from a 3 day road trip I took in June to see friends using the cityhop car; a lime scooter trip; a taxi to/from an eye appt where they dilated my eyes and I couldn't drive myself)
I was able to save around $1,200 towards my goals this month. Yay! I've now reached > 75% for my 2020 US Trip Fund and am at 94% for my $50K House Down Payment Fund (which is not nearly enough for a house in Auckland, but...hey, I have to start somewhere!).
How did you do this month?
Anyway, on to happier subjects.
In July, I had a major employment snafu. It is becoming clearer to me that I need to consider moving on from my job. I'm going nowhere and I won't be able to realize any of my dreams if I stayed in Auckland and in this job. I have no idea what else I would do, though.
The upshot is that I fought really hard to get raises in both of my part-time salaries. If upward mobility/promotions are not possible, all I have to show for my hard work is money. I received raises for two of my salaries:
1. The University has increased the yearly stipend for doctoral students since I started, and I was able to get a tiny raise to that amount for the last year of my PhD.
2. For my part time job, I got a small raise there as well. However, I increased my Kiwisaver contributions to 10%, which is a new contribution option. This effectively negates my job raise.
All told, the changes amount to a total increase of $101.19 per paycheck. I now make $1,495.98 per paycheck rather than $1,394.79. The only changes I've made to my budget is to increase my savings to $600/month (up from $550/mo). It will be nice to have an extra ~$150 cushion. It will almost pay for one extra therapy session (they are $185 for one hour).
Another weird thing about July money: the University made a mistake with my contract and were very very mad that they had to pay out for my accrued vacation time. My income is ridiculously high as a consequence:
July Income: $4,409.29
Leave accrual and last paycheck: $2,653.30; first paycheck of my new contract: $1,405.99; garage rent: $350 because it had 5 Mondays ($70 pw rent)
Total Spent: $3,167.53
| July 2019 Budget | |||
| Category | Spent | Budgeted Amount | Balance |
| Rent | $950.00 | $950.00 | $0.00 |
| Groceries | $332.62 | $450.00 | $117.38 |
| Internet | $86.46 | $92.00 | $5.54 |
| Electricity | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Eating Out | $109.09 | $175.00 | $65.91 |
| Charity | $30.00 | $50.00 | $20.00 |
| Cell phone | $17.00 | $30.00 | $13.00 |
| Medical | $0.00 | $120.00 | $120.00 |
| Misc | $1,092.36 | $500.00 | -$592.36 |
| Savings | $550.00 | $600.00 | $50.00 |
| Total | $3,167.53 | $2,967.00 | -$200.53 |
| leftover | $1,241.76 |
The high salary was combined with two work trips that ended up paying for food and cutting back on other costs that I normally indulge in.
Items of note:
Rent: $950 (rent is paid every Friday, so there were only 4 rental payments due in July)
Groceries and Eating Out were lower than usual due to my work trips.
Misc was over by quite a bit. I knew I had extra $$ to play with this month, and I reached a major milestone in my PhD and had a birthday, so I pampered myself a little bit more than usual:
Entertainment: $39 (visited the Sculptureum for my birthday)
Self care: $559 ($200 of this is a gym membership, good for 8 months; $320 for my weekly massages; $30 from eye lash tinting and brow waxing and tinting. I got a free $30 facial complimentary b/c of my birthday)
Gifts: $20 (a friend at work had a baby; I contributed to a new parent gift)
Shopping/Goods and Wants: $183.98 (I've gained 15 lbs and my pants don't fit anymore, even though I am not overindulging; I needed something other than sweatpants that I could wear as bottoms. Also, landlord bought us a new couch set. I am inspired to redecorate the whole house! I bought a new blanket for the couch and new duvet cover for my bed)
Transportation: $290.38 (this was mostly from a 3 day road trip I took in June to see friends using the cityhop car; a lime scooter trip; a taxi to/from an eye appt where they dilated my eyes and I couldn't drive myself)
I was able to save around $1,200 towards my goals this month. Yay! I've now reached > 75% for my 2020 US Trip Fund and am at 94% for my $50K House Down Payment Fund (which is not nearly enough for a house in Auckland, but...hey, I have to start somewhere!).
How did you do this month?
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I then tried the normal, domestic 1040 number, but the recording kept saying that I was calling out of office hours even when it was the middle of the work day in the US.
What did work? Your 1 800 829 0582 ext 652 number, but AFTER re-setting the time on my smartphone (or laptop if you are using Skype/Google Chat/whatever) to a US time zone.
The phone system somehow checks the device system time on your phone/computer and uses it as the local time before attempting to connecting you. If it says that you aren’t in a US time zone and between office hours, EVEN IF THE OFFICE IS OPEN, it returns the ‘Our office is closed’ message. So tricky!
I’d imagine that several of the other numbers I tried would have worked once I switched the time zone on my laptop, but I wanted to report what definitely worked for me.
I had about a 5-10 minute wait and then a nice woman came on the line to help me and verify my identity (I just needed to order my transcript from last year).
Thank you very much :)