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Christmas be gone
Jan. 1st, 2026 13:05Lights are down and packed back into their box with the extension cord and the two smart plugs. All ready for next year.
I spend the morning mostly going over financials. I'm using a new system, Monarch, that is really a great set up with so much of the work already done. Our finances are such that I could do it mostly in my head but it is nice to see all the transactions go by and I'm getting things set up so it is green when we're making more money than we're spending and the reverse when things are not going well. Once I get it right I'll hand off reports to Dana so she can see it too. Having a tracking system that is on my phone and on my PC is really so much nicer. If I'm sitting in a waiting room with nothing to do I can look at the finance app and tweak a bit.
This is the first month I've started a more disciplined subscription tracking system. I created a Google spreadsheet and linked it to the first day of each month. So I go over any subscriptions that are not required to actually survive. The recurring expenses that are absolutely necessary are already in Monarch so this is an ancilliary system. It is in my calendar and I can go over the coming month and be sure nothing needs to be cancelled. I save the cancelled entries at the bottom so I can remember what I did in the past. It will help.
And I at least logged into TurboTax. Not that I can do anything with it. Likely more than a month before I can do that. Last year I had filed and THEN got another report of income. I can't remember what it was but it was a small one so I just ignored it rather than submit an amended return. I'm ready to file today if only everyone else were ready.
It looks like I'm in the same tax bracket. Zero change for all the noise about how much things are changed this year. We'll see how it goes but I suspect I'll break even, or close.
Other than that it is time for a nap. My brain is full.
I spend the morning mostly going over financials. I'm using a new system, Monarch, that is really a great set up with so much of the work already done. Our finances are such that I could do it mostly in my head but it is nice to see all the transactions go by and I'm getting things set up so it is green when we're making more money than we're spending and the reverse when things are not going well. Once I get it right I'll hand off reports to Dana so she can see it too. Having a tracking system that is on my phone and on my PC is really so much nicer. If I'm sitting in a waiting room with nothing to do I can look at the finance app and tweak a bit.
This is the first month I've started a more disciplined subscription tracking system. I created a Google spreadsheet and linked it to the first day of each month. So I go over any subscriptions that are not required to actually survive. The recurring expenses that are absolutely necessary are already in Monarch so this is an ancilliary system. It is in my calendar and I can go over the coming month and be sure nothing needs to be cancelled. I save the cancelled entries at the bottom so I can remember what I did in the past. It will help.
And I at least logged into TurboTax. Not that I can do anything with it. Likely more than a month before I can do that. Last year I had filed and THEN got another report of income. I can't remember what it was but it was a small one so I just ignored it rather than submit an amended return. I'm ready to file today if only everyone else were ready.
It looks like I'm in the same tax bracket. Zero change for all the noise about how much things are changed this year. We'll see how it goes but I suspect I'll break even, or close.
Other than that it is time for a nap. My brain is full.