i'm beginning to think it would have been easier to live in an apartment for the rest of our lives. but after researching how much money was going down the drain in rent, my husband decided we needed to buy a house. so here we are, the house is nice, love the neighborhood, but i'm unhappy/ depressed. we just moved in mid- September, so the property taxes for the first 9 months should have been taken care of, right? not in our case. husband did not want an escrow, so 1400 went to closing. yay <sarcasm intended>. so guess who has to chalk 2000 plus by Feb. 1?

on top of this, i get people x-mas gifts, we're broke. we go into debt (yes, we have a lot of company, but i was really hoping to stay out of the always- owing- someone crowd). if i don't, everyone thinks we're mooching. we make a lot more money than the rest of the family, but i was hoping to have money for a car, so i wouldn't have to stand at the bus stop late at night (and pray i am not attacked) and i am going to have to pay $1600 for next semester's tuition. i know it's stupid and this is just the crazy me talking, but maybe i should just not go to school, so people don't give me a hard time about the whole gift- giving thing.

well, anyone have any tips on how we can save money like mad over the next couple of months? i already know we need to stop eating out.... and we don't have cable, just internet.....

Maybe your husband will see that maybe taxes should have been escrowed into your mortage and you can do that so this will not happen again. I'm not sure if you have kids, but is there any way one or both of you can pick up an extra part time job? Instead of buyng gifts for people offer "certificates" like you offer to watch kids for a night, offer to wash someone's car, clean a house, mow a lawn. People will appreciate those kinds of things. You could also offer to do those things for money to save. Is there any room to cut your grocery budget down? Sounds like you already only have one vehicle. Can you raise a deductible on car ins. or drop full coverage? Have a garage sale depending on the weather where you live. Take some things to a consignment shop. That's all I can think of for now. I hope you can get the money you need to pay that.

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Loving wife to Matthew 6/26/04
SAHM to Jacob Matthew 4/19/03 & Evelyn Grace 2/15/06
Baby #3 due 3/14/09

We don't escrow our taxes ot insurance either. We keep a sperate savings account that is not tied to checking for those items and save all year. If you closed in September, then the seller should have given you a credit for the taxes through the day of closing. (I think that's how it works)

At least you have till Feb. Both our City and County are due in December!

How much are your property taxes? $4000 a year? If so, that means you have to set aside over $350 a month to make your property taxes and insurance payment (you'll have to do the math for yourself.) To save up the $2K by Feb 1st, you have to come up with over $630 a month. Maybe an escrow account would have been a better option for you.

Since your property taxes are so high I have to ask, have you re-examined your tax situation? You may either be able to drastically reduce your withholding between now and the end of the year and/or file for a refund quickly. Even you do file for a refund on Jan 1st and it turns out all your information isn't correct, you can file an amendment before 04-15 and not pay any penalties if your refund was too large.

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"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."

we don't have a car. and my husband decided against an escrow b/c he wanted to be able to save money in an interest- earning account. the seller did pay their taxes, but since we didn't have an escrow it went to closing. it's just unfortunate for us. but we might file our taxes early if that's the only way we can make it. thanks for the tips.

That's great...but only if you actually save the money KWIM?

Is there anything you can sell to come up with the cash?

You got that right

For the rest of us non savers we have to go the escrow route.


I don't know about where you live but we have been two yrs behind on our taxes before ` There wasn't even any real threat then. We just got our financial life in order and made good on all our bills at that point.
And now - that we have had an escrow for many years , I saw on our last tax bill they have ez payment plans now - where you pay your taxes 4 times throughout the yrinstead of one. payment.

Post office and retail are hiring now for the holiday season. Hubby doing that would reinforce the lesson of planning ahead. It's not like he didn't know he was using the tax money to reduce his closing costs.

We will be in a similar situation when our house is completed in the spring. We will have a mortgage again and maybe even a truck payment unless I can convince my hubby that it is ok to drive an old one costing no more than $7000. I won't escrow the taxes or insurance, but I am fanatical about saving for expected bills.

There is one benefit to writing a fat painful check for your property taxes. That is an awareness of what town and county budgets really do to you. Next time you get a chance to have a say in what the town wants to do, remember that for the taxes to not go up, you have to work very hard against those who just want to "make it a better place to live".

Cathleen