Uhg. Grrrrr. Groan. Whine.

I make a fair amount of money.  But I don't have any money. Well, I have my thrift savings plan, which is like a 401K, but that's for retirement.  And a small emergency fund.  Other than that my money just seems to go away.  Part of that is that I'm house poor - I could do with about 300 - 500 sq feet less of house and the lower mortgage that would go with it but not much I can do about that now.  Even if I were inclined to move the market crash left me with property worth way less than I paid for it.  I'm not upside down, but I'd make about $1.99 profit if I sold.  And if you add in the thousands I've put into it - paving the driveway and redoing the drainage and landscaping and - well, I don't even want to think about that.

Anyway, my church has been offering Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University periodically and this year I decided to enroll.  Because I don't have much in the way of financial peace.  Or money for the guns I want or even to stock ammo the way I should.  Or the beach vacation I need (Yes, need.  I really really need sun and sand and ocean right now.  Or at least for my nose to not be cold.).  And then there's the fact that now my family lives way further away and there's a grandbaby, so there's new expenses.

The class is fun - Ramsey can make you laugh out loud.  We were singing the theme from "The Beverly Hillbillies" the other night.  But I hate forms.  I hate details that don't have to do with history or geology or biology or, well, I hate the details of anything having to do with finances.  I hate doing things like balancing a check book.  And of course the first thing you have to do for class is come up with a 0-based budget, a cash flow plan that accounts for every penny that comes in and goes out.  I've been horrified at how many things I don't actually know my monthly costs for.  Or how many details I'm still having to add to the list.  Fortunately I finally figured Excel out enough so that it will sum for me as I jigger numbers, but YEESH.  And YUCK.  And I'm not happy to figure out that my in-office day costs me $35 in gas and parking each week.  Guess I'll have to reconsider being tied to the train again. Man I hate that.

Then I got the bright idea to save some $ by doing my own taxes for the first time in 20 years so this afternoon I pulled out last year's forms to see if I could just step through it using this years numbers.  Ummm.  Where did she get that number?  And that one?  I have no idea where the amount that she put in "Points not reported to you on Form 1098." came from.  Maybe I just pay again this year and ask lots of questions.  This sort of stuff makes me swear.