Well, I have decided that with the current financial situation (hubby's layoff) that I prefer to make short term goals. So I am making a plan for the next two weeks to finish out May in the black (hopefully).

Projected income:
1.5/19 Hub Unemployment $378
2.5/23 Me FT job $982.00
3.5/27 Hub Unemployment $378
4.5/31 Me PT Job $404.00
5.Refund check Ins $459.00
Total $2601.00

Right now, my biggest worry is the payment for our COBRA insurance, which is due 6/1 and will be $1996.00. We will probably be able to squeak by, but it definitely doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room. Hub has decided to look for a part time job (he can work a certain number of hours a week and not lose is unemployment money). We will see what happens.

For those of you still unstimulated, like me....

From Yahoo News:


If you have your hopes set on a big "economic stimulus" payment arriving in your bank account any day now, you might have to wait a bit longer. The IRS has announced that a subset of taxpayers is affected by a glitch that is delaying rebates sent to them.

The issue affects people who used a service or software program to do their 2007 taxes and opted to have the fee for those services deducted from the stimulus payment and sent via direct deposit. A bug (which the IRS has not elaborated upon) means those payments will now have to be made via a check sent via postal mail.

In addition to this bug, the IRS has confessed that 1,500 checks or direct payments were sent to the wrong taxpayers. While some reports blame this problem on a computer glitch, the IRS says that it can't necessarily pin the issue on a computer problem. Check any payments received carefully to make sure they're actually yours.

If you have received a check or inaccurate (or duplicate) direct deposit, you are required by law to mail the check back to the IRS and/or report the issue to your bank. If you spent the money, you'll have to pay it back as well.

Finally, the IRS said today that 350,000 households aren't getting properly credited for children in the payments. Makeup checks will be sent out in July.

This isn't the first time the IRS has screwed up rebate payments. In 2001 it sent half a million taxpayers notices of impending rebates (in a similar stimulus/tax relief scheme to what we have this year) that they would never be receiving.

Still haven't gotten your payment? Best not to try calling the IRS, which is now dealing with a reported 2 million incoming phone calls a day. Instead, check the IRS.gov website and consult the payment schedule on this page. And be patient.

UPDATE: The IRS writes to say 1,500 taxpayers are affected, not 15,000.

Hubby's old supervisor (from 1 year back) called yesterday and asked if he is still looking for a job. He said the place he is at now is hiring and had hub send over his resume. Old supervisor says the pay is about $5K less than he was making when he got laid off but the benefits are really good, which would make up the difference. I am hopeful for this. He had two emails from places he sent out to yesterday expressing interest. We will see what happens.

Today, I am in the process of making a list of bills to pay, in order of urgency, and income I have coming in. I have been calling around tracking down refund checks I am owed for various things. I wish the tax rebate would show up--it should have been here last week according to my calculation. But it hasn't shown up yet. I tried calling the IRS but that was a complete waste of 20 minutes of my life.

An upside to hubby being home during the day is that dishes and laundry are done everyday. Plus, he makes me lunch of sandwiches or leftovers and coffee everyday. I enjoy seeing him and DS at lunchtime everyday. I live close enough to work that I can go home at lunch.

I am really anxious for him to find work so that I can start making a dent in that medical debt and start beefing up the savings. I have all these great plans waiting to be executed--as soon as we can get out of "survival" mode.

Well, hubby received his first state unemployment payment since becoming "a man of leisure". State of Texas sends debit cards, not checks, and weekly amounts are direct deposited onto it each week. So that is helpful. I am still waiting on my stimulus payment, which I thought would be direct deposited last Friday but, alas, no sign of it. I have a $440 check coming from my part time job, so all in all, we are surviving. He sent out 6 more resumes today and hopefully will get some interviews from those.
In a related note, we thought we were going to have to take DD out of gymnastics until hubby found a new job (fees for classes are $135 per month for 4 hours a week). But, her coach, who has a 6 week old baby, traded me class fees for babysitting two days a week. So DD was able to continue with classes and helps me babysit the baby. A side benefit is that she is learning to "work" to get the things she wants. A good lesson I think.
I feel optimistic that things will be looking up for us soon.