The Most Expensive Free Trip Ever - TR Link is Up! Pg. 164

[All7OfUs]

So, did the tax man suck every last hoped for return dollar out of you?? Finished with a good or crappy bottom line??

 

[glennbo123]

So, did the tax man suck every last hoped for return dollar out of you?? Finished with a good or crappy bottom line??

Getting a small refund from Federal, and some nice refunds from Delaware and PA. I saw on the TourGuideMike forums that a lot of people were getting surprised that the owed money for Federal and it was hurting their vacation plans. Part-way through last year the Federal government changed the witholding structure to put more money in paychecks, and I think you were all right if you were a single earner, but for two-earner families the tables could cause you to not have enough withheld. I saw it coming and changed my exemptions and even had some additional withheld in December. I felt very lucky to come out with a small refund for Federal -- I was afraid we'd owe....and we would have if I hadn't made changes through the year.

 

[Tribilín]

Hey glennbo123... how are you doing?

 

[All7OfUs]

Glad you saw it coming! Good thing your a finance kinda guy; that way you weren't too terribly disappointed like a lot of other folks this year!!

 

[eandesmom]

Getting a small refund from Federal, and some nice refunds from Delaware and PA. I saw on the TourGuideMike forums that a lot of people were getting surprised that the owed money for Federal and it was hurting their vacation plans. Part-way through last year the Federal government changed the witholding structure to put more money in paychecks, and I think you were all right if you were a single earner, but for two-earner families the tables could cause you to not have enough withheld. I saw it coming and changed my exemptions and even had some additional withheld in December. I felt very lucky to come out with a small refund for Federal -- I was afraid we'd owe....and we would have if I hadn't made changes through the year.

That's exactly what hit us. We assumed since I've basically been unemployed since July that we'd be ok but the changes that were made washed that out and it is really hurting us. Our fault, we knew about it and just kind of forgot. Absolutely no excuse. We were counting on a small refund so it is a bit of a double whammy.

 

[glennbo123]

Hey glennbo123... how are you doing?

When I hear from Mr. T, it must be time for a trip post. I do have a little bit of trip news, but won't have time to post tonight...I hope to soon though.

(I'm doing great, by the way.)

Glad you saw it coming! Good thing your a finance kinda guy; that way you weren't too terribly disappointed like a lot of other folks this year!!

I have to keep my eye on it with the variable income that Judy has.

That's exactly what hit us. We assumed since I've basically been unemployed since July that we'd be ok but the changes that were made washed that out and it is really hurting us. Our fault, we knew about it and just kind of forgot. Absolutely no excuse. We were counting on a small refund so it is a bit of a double whammy.

Sorry to hear about that Cynthia. We always count on a refund too. My changes to the number of exemptions just weren't having much effect. Fortunately, I saw that my PA withholding was way too high so in December I cut that back and basically swung it to Federal so there wasn't an impact on my take home pay.

 

[All7OfUs]

See... you all need to have 5 kids- HUGE extra child credit there. We've gotten a wad back every time.

 

[eandesmom]

Sorry to hear about that Cynthia. We always count on a refund too. My changes to the number of exemptions just weren't having much effect. Fortunately, I saw that my PA withholding was way too high so in December I cut that back and basically swung it to Federal so there wasn't an impact on my take home pay.

I can't say we always count on a refund, we've owed more often than not since we married so you'd think we'd be better about it but situations have swung so drastically we just didn't adjust appropriately.

Oh well. It will all work out, it always does.

 

[Flossbolna]

It's interesting how tax issues appear to be similar in different countries... They have changed the withholding here at the start of January as well and there has been some advise in the media about looking into it as it might cause people to owe at the end of the year. While it is nice to have more on a monthly basis, I rather get a refund than that I have to pay.

Looking forward to trip news!!

 

[Tribilín]

(I'm doing great, by the way.)

Glad to know, with all that snow and taxes I was starting to get worried

 

[glennbo123]

See... you all need to have 5 kids- HUGE extra child credit there. We've gotten a wad back every time.

Ain't happening!

I can't say we always count on a refund, we've owed more often than not since we married so you'd think we'd be better about it but situations have swung so drastically we just didn't adjust appropriately.

Oh well. It will all work out, it always does.

We've been blessed that it always seems to work out for us too.

It's interesting how tax issues appear to be similar in different countries... They have changed the withholding here at the start of January as well and there has been some advise in the media about looking into it as it might cause people to owe at the end of the year. While it is nice to have more on a monthly basis, I rather get a refund than that I have to pay.

Looking forward to trip news!!

That is interesting that you've got a similar situation over there. I didn't realize that.

Glad to know, with all that snow and taxes I was starting to get worried

That is a recipe for depression, isn't it!

 

[glennbo123]

As I look back on my PTR index I see we are now on chapter 21 and chapter 5 was the last time I actually posted an update on this upcoming trip. Oh well. You enjoyed the flashback TR and the snow pictures, right?

So, as I’ve titled this chapter, where are we now?

First, an airfare update. After finally breaking my habit of checking airfare every day even though I had already booked our flights (modifying my habit down to a measly every week or so), I checked the Southwest website the other day and our outbound flights had dropped in price to $80 from $120. Nobody strain your brains, I’ll do the math -- that’s a savings of $40 per person; a total of $200 for the 5 of us.

Must interject here – I just had a plan change while writing this post. (I checked the website again while writing this!) More on that in a minute.

By the way, Southwest has a made a handy upgrade to their website for people like me. When looking for airfare info., I used to have to type in all of the trip details, like dates and airports, every time. Now, there’s a dropdown of “Recent Searches”, so I can just select what I’ve entered before. Cool! Their website has a picture of a rollercoaster and says “Orlando on your mind?”. I’m wondering if everybody gets that or just me because I’ve been searching Orlando flights?

Where was I before those tangents? Oh yes, cheaper fares. I don’t want to make this a longer story than it needs to be, but it took me four calls to the Southwest 800 number and a lot of effort on their website. First, I didn’t know how to change it online so called to find out. Hung up. Then, when I went to do it online I didn’t get the same fares as I was seeing, I was getting the original $120 fares. I had to get a Southwest person to cancel my outbound flights while I rebooked them online at the same time (not the normal procedure). Then, while this had taken so long to occur, my particular flight went from $80 to $107! All of the other morning flights remained at $80. I think the Southwest system adjusts prices based on demand and my flight was becoming popular. Gaaa! Hung up again, then decided to rebook an earlier flight and get the savings. This wasn’t a popular decision with the girls, who aren’t looking forward to such an early morning, but was popular with James, who wants to get to Disney as soon as possible.

Now, I’ll get to the change I made in the midst of this post. While writing about the fare changes I thought, “let me check right now”. I found that our original flight was back at $80! So, without assistance from the folks at Southwest, I went on and changed our flights back to the original time. Sorry James. It still gets us into MCO before noon.

I realize we won’t get a credit on our credit card for this savings, we can just apply it to another purchase (up to a year from our original purchase). Judy can use it when she flies to Chicago for the PChef conference in July (I think…more on that coming up).

Am I buyin’ the buy-in? If you recall, the PChef trip is for 4, and we are a family of 5. So, what they do is offer a “buy-in” to the trip (must be a relative and all that good stuff, so don’t go PM’ing me). The cost is $560. Included in that is a park-hopper ticket, which according to the Disney website is worth $271. The buy-in also gets you a t-shirt, and admittance to the big PChef-exclusive shindig after-hours at Animal Kingdom on June 15th. We went to the one at MGM back in 2005, and while nice and all, it isn’t worth $289 ($560 - $271 - a $0 value t-shirt). So, I’ve been trying to think of ways to not buy-in. Judy could register herself and the kids, and I could skip the shindig. The problem is, I wouldn’t be on the Coronado Springs reservation. Hmmmm. Seems like it’d be easier just to play along and buy in, so we probably will.

On the home front. It looks like Judy will be getting a teaching job for the rest of the school year. She’s been subbing for a teacher who isn’t returning. She’s really taken the reins of picking up where he left off and the school administration would be crazy not to hire her. It appears that they aren’t crazy, as they’ve given her access to the computer system, and even given her an e-mail account. She has a meeting with HR tomorrow. I’ve told her that when they offer her the job (which I’m sure they will), she needs to make it clear that she will not be available after June 11th. With the snow days we’ve had, school will extend a few days into the week we’ll be at Disney. It’s better to tell them now, while we’ve got some negotiating power, than to ask for days off later. I’m not sure if she wants to teach at this school forever, but it’ll be good to get her feet wet and the school is so close we can see it from our front door. The walk from Kidani to Jambo is farther than her commute will be. Now, on the PChef front, she won’t be able to do as many shows, so it probably guarantees that she won’t be able to earn the Hawaii trip for us. She may not even want to go to the Chicago conference in July, so the Southwest savings I just got may go unused. We’ll have to wait and see what happens there.

Link to next chapter

 

[jenbear123]

I thought I was bad on checking flights. Seems like you had to go through quite the stuggle. Glad you got what you wanted at the end of the day. Too bad that Judy is pulling back a bit from PChef - no Hawaii trip But that's great with her teaching job. Hope she gets the time off for the trip!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Well you know...if the whole Chicago trip doesn't go down, one COULD apply some fuzzy Disney math to sell the concept of a return visit.

 

[winkers]

so, what sorts of poop have I missed?

 

[glennbo123]

I thought I was bad on checking flights. Seems like you had to go through quite the stuggle. Glad you got what you wanted at the end of the day. Too bad that Judy is pulling back a bit from PChef - no Hawaii trip But that's great with her teaching job. Hope she gets the time off for the trip!

I wish she could do it all, but I know she can't. Like I said, we'll just have to see how it works out.

Well you know...if the whole Chicago trip doesn't go down, one COULD apply some fuzzy Disney math to sell the concept of a return visit.

The thought had occurred to me! I wish my AP wasn't expiring late-June. I did see something on extending....hmmmm.

so, what sorts of poop have I missed?

Funny, there hasn't been any discussion of poop while you were gone. Wait, I take that back, we did talk about dogs having trouble finding a spot to go in the deep snow we got. Dang, I thought I could blame it on you....I should have known that you are an .

 

[eandesmom]

ah the trouble we can get into when we relook!

I've been analyzing the Universal part of our trip all week! Thank heavens its mid winter break and I don't have a job. I need all this wrapped up so I don't have to think about a thing once I am gainfully employed!

It sounds good though and that the time invested paid off. Congrats to Judy on the job, that's wonderful. Bummer about Hawaii but somehow I am sure you will have fabulous vacations with, or without PChef, whatever it is that makes Judy the happiest is what she should do

 

[winkers]

Funny, there hasn't been any discussion of poop while you were gone. Wait, I take that back, we did talk about dogs having trouble finding a spot to go in the deep snow we got. Dang, I thought I could blame it on you....I should have known that you are an .

hmmm....I guess that makes me the poop-meister?

 

[All7OfUs]

Funny, there hasn't been any discussion of poop while you were gone. Wait, I take that back, we did talk about dogs having trouble finding a spot to go in the deep snow we got. Dang, I thought I could blame it on you....I should have known that you are an .

See?? I wasn't even a part of that!! I get such a bad rap!

hmmm....I guess that makes me the poop-meister?

And my NOT being a part of that, must make you POOP MEISTER!!!!!!

 

[kangaand2roos]

See?? I wasn't even a part of that!! I get such a bad rap!




And my NOT being a part of that, must make you POOP MEISTER!!!!!!

I think I was part of it...