I was thinking this year would be a pretty insignificant raise because of the economy and the general state of things. I’ve been working hard at work so I figured I’d get something but was absolutely blown away to find out I got over a 9% bump. Needless to say, I was thrilled.
We won’t be spending the additional income since we really have everything we need at this point. We will be donating a bit more to the local food bank and the rest will go in to our savings account. No matter how hard we try, we are still struggling to get our savings balance to the goal we set last year. Between the excess spending and the unplanned expenses, it’s surprising how much money can go out the door each month.
On a completely separate note, my mother is thrilled with me. After she retired and started living on social security, I started looking around for any benefits that low income seniors were eligible for. It turns out that my mom is eligible for reduced property taxes in our state due to her very low income. I contacted our county government, got the forms and had my mom fill them out. She just found out that the reduction was approved and she will save $215 per month compared to last year’s tax bill. This is HUGE for her. It has created a bit of breathing room in her budget and will allow her to stay in her home as long as she wants to. When you add this $215 to the previous reductions in her bills I was able to get her, she’s saving over $300 per month simply by managing her bills more efficiently and only paying for the services she really needs. (I was able to get her cable lowered permanently and also her cel phone bill which is where the additional savings in her budget came from).