Got my electric & gas bills. Signed up online for balanced billing a couple of weeks back and already in effect. Bills will be $90/month between the 2. About $35 gas & $55 electric. $6 of our electric bill is a voluntary "green energy" charge. But I was looking at the bill and we also pay bout $15 in taxes and $5/month "service charge." I was worried maybe that was for the balanced billing, but it's not just always been there.

Anyway, my electric bill would have been $106 but I only have to pay $55 this month. Sweet. But I am pleased it was down overall from last month. It has been HOT... September/October/November should be months of little a/c use and we will probably pay more than the monthly usage bills would have been.

Um, since we have turned way down the water heater our gas bill would have been $7. They don't charge fees and the taxes are pennies. But we paid $36. I think that will adjust down next quarter. Though we will turn the water heater back up in the next month or 2 I am sure (maybe not so much though).

Either way it made a high electric month a much easier month. I like it.

I can still feel some of the joy of getting a "$7 bill." I think that's a record!

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In other news I was popping my estimated tax position into my work software yesterday trying to figure out if my ROTH conversion tax estimate still stands. my portfolio has gone down and haven't done one yet. Because I do have an estimate for that due 9/15. Was getting it ready. Anyway, popped my #s in and $100 in AMT popped up. What the foo???????? I then remembered that it is already September and Congress has not done the AMT quick fix for 2007 yet. WOW! I Am sure they will, but they are certainly dragging.

For those of you who have no idea what AMT, it is a tax that was meant for the wealthy to avoid certain tax breaks. It was put together in the 60s and has never been indexed for inflation. It hits coastal states like CAli and NY hard because it completely disallows all state and local tax deductions (which are very high in these states. High property values mean high property taxes and high state and local income taxes means lots of taxes in that regard as well. Why these states are hit the most. Oh yes and higher wages because of higher COL. People rely on these tax breaks to afford their insane mortgages. Plus they aren't exactly "breaks."). BAsically they are predicting if this is not fixed almost everyone with kids and a $75k income will be hit in the next few years. IF you live in Kansas, "so what?" you think. But you can hardly live out here without that kind of income. & also, for those who don't care, just wait until it hits everyone making $30k. If no one does anything about it, it will. Wealth used to be measured in millions. Now it is $75k a few decades later. Gah. Just a couple of more decades before everyone pays AMT.

Of course the reason Congress has done nothing is they have no tax revenues with the current tax code (10%/15% tax rates for most people), but they sure get a lot with AMT. Makes the whole Bush Tax cuts a joke, for many.

In the meantime, we are squarely in the 15% tax bracket. I could do a $20k ROTH conversion and still be squarely in the 15% tax bracket. & yet I am also in AMT. Make up your mind Congress. Am I rich or poor? Blech!!!!

$100 AMT. You got to be frigging kidding me.

What are my crazy wealthy tax breaks? I lose all of our personal exemptions (4 exemptions, around $13k total). & I lose our state tax deduction. $4k property taxes & $600 or so state taxes. (We don't make enough to pay the big nasty state taxes. They are big and nasty - up to 10%). I still get to keep my $2k child tax credits (between the 2 kids). YEah, makes a lot of sense. Well thank goodness for that.

For us it isn't so bad. I know too many people in the Bay with $10k property taxes and who make more (obviously to afford the million dollar modest crappy homes) and so pay tons in state income taxes. All disallowed. For one, it is not going to help the ARM disaster for these people to be hit by AMT. But they will be the ones hit the hardest. Congress will make a quick fix this year and next, and then blame the whole AMT mess on the next president or something, though it has been an annoyance for years for the tax profession. This is why I pay money to my our political action committees. To get crap like this fixed. Most of the populace is blissfully unaware how ugly AMT is. They'll complain soon enough. I am guessing in 3-4 years there will be some public outrage.

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BM is $75 richer today. I set up automatic investments - $50 every other month (easiest for me since if I do it with each kid it is a steady $50/month. Vanguard does not take $25 contributions). I also had $25 of his birthday money left - I figured I would just deposit it with this.

Kids' college - automatic. BM will be $75 richer than his brother for 1 month. Next month is LM's turn. Then the whole $50/month thing. Of course they may have a deposit for Christmas. Hmmm. Hadn't thought about that. Yeah, they are doing well. I am glad I decided to throw then the $25/month bone. It's little enough not to make much difference but it can grow to a lot of money in the long haul. I have never been good at small savings, so it is an experiment. I feel so all or nothing. I still don't want to hit our retirement hard (though I am doing $50/month for now) until our efund is back up. It's like I can only do one thing at a time. But I know this $50/month to the kids and the $50 I currently have going to retirement make a big difference in the long run.