As the new year rolls in, I looked over last year’s new year resolutions and to check off the ones I have accomplished. I am not sure if it is accomplished if I have looked into something but it was better than not doing anything at all. The only one that I can check off is getting pregnant.
As this year starts, I have another list (only 5 this year). And I have started on 4 of the 5 on the list.
Selling the property is one of our resolutions this year. We had a low offer on the second week after we listed our property on the MLS. After many considerations, I have decided not to go through with it because the buyer did not qualify for a conventional loan. They wanted a FHA loan which I thought it was a hassle and it might take longer than necessary to complete the transaction.
And then came the snow storms. We practically have one every few days. We hire a landscape guy who looks after the property when it snows. We send him a money order and a little extra fee to cover the fee when he cashes the money order or check. So far it’s going well. I hope the storm stops soon and we’ll sell the house as soon as possible to cut our costs. Even thought it’s an investment property and all expenses are tax deductible but they are still out of pocket money for now.
When I started looking into our financials, I looked into my 401-k which I left at one of the companies that I worked. I no longer work there for 4 years but my 401-k is still there. I didn’t touch it at all. When the recession came in 2008, my portfolio lost half of it’s value and now it finally caught up to what it once was. That’s when I got a wake up call and realized I should’ve looked into my financials more closely. I rolled over my 401-k to an IRA last month.
One of the few things that I have been procrastinating to do is setup Quickbooks (an accounting software) and keep track of our expenses. I spent most the day yesterday putting in our expenses for the month of January. First I jot down all the expenses in a piece of accounting paper as the days go by. After I setup the chart of account in Quickbooks, I entered those charges into Quickbooks. There are some looking and digging but I finally did it in one day. And January is one of our bigger expense months. It has Chinese New Year expenses, property taxes, and some after Christmas shopping. I used to keep some of our expenses in a spreadsheet but it is much better to use an accounting software to keep track of expenses. You can see all the details that make up the amount with just one click. It’s not a complete functional company profile with assets, liabilities and income. The main purpose for us right now is keeping track of expenses. Does it count every penny we spent? No, I think I have about 95% of all the expenses. There are times when my husband buys lunch at work and he does not like to keep track of every penny he spends (which drives me crazy at times).
I think it’s a good start for now.
