July always seems a little extra crazy with kids' birthdays.  & it's MH's full summer month off work, so he's catching up on appointments.  Things like car maintenance and taking the cat to the vet.  Which is a little rough during this one-paycheck month.  But it's how the timing works out.

MM(22) is staying at the college this summer, I think I mentioned.  My Dad took him to a music camp the week of his birthday (a couple of weeks ago).  MM absolutely loved it.  Both kids were going to go at one point or another.  But were also wishy about their "maybe jobs" this summer.  In the end, MM(22) was able to manage a half week.

MM(22) told me at some point that he was thinking of going to a concert in a Bay Area city.  I said, "At the ampitheater?"  He was picturing more of a hole in the wall venue.  It turns out a couple of smaller artists/bands were opening up for AJR.  Quinn XCII also performed at this particular show.  We both were kind of, "That would be fun".  I was more interested in the bigger pop acts.  But we were also both a little "meh" about it.  A little too much out of the way for the both of us.  But I called him up on his birthday and asked, "Are we going to the concert?"  & he said yes! 

Oh yeah, he was interested in the $30 lawn seats.  I think the price and the acts were what intrigued him.  I ended up spending too much on nice seats (I refused to sit in the lawn after age 23 or 24; it was great when we were broke college students).  Between that and camp, his birthday was extravagant (again).  

If anyone ever invites you to an AJR concert, or you have kids/grandkids interested, definitely go.  I have been to a lot of concerts but this one stood out as the most fun.  The crowd was very happy and friendly.  It may have also been the most sober concert I have ever been to.  Lots of kids and families.  We happened to be sitting in a section where a lot of younger adults came with their parents.  But they put on a really good show, in addition to the amazingly positive/fun atmosphere.  Worth every penny.  Unfortunately, we didn't stay for the whole concert (it was a Sunday night).  We cut out pretty early because it was more of a, "Sure, it would be fun to hear a few AJR songs before we leave" thing.  We could have changed our minds but...  Sleep.  & jury duty.  & the 2-hour drive home, and all that.  There's always next time.  

To complicate things, MM(22) had jury duty the next day (2 hours away from the concert).  He did end up on a jury.  He had the week off work anyway, and his job is pretty flexible.  They expect to be done early next week.

DL(20) is off on an adventure, meeting some online friends.  Traveling solo.  He told me he had a $1,000 budget for this trip (at some point).  He's still using my credit card until he has a high enough limit to make his own credit card more useful.  Plus he booked the travels with my credit card.  Because it's my credit card, I get notified of every purchase.  I just looked it up and he spent $680 on hotel/airfare (before the trip).  & I only saw one $30 charge come through on the card (a meal out).  He did get a fair amount of birthday cash.  So I don't know if he is burning through that or just being uber frugal. 

$350 of the $680 was for a hotel that he abandoned.  He ended up just staying with his friend.  Long story, and he is learning a lot.  I just remembered his other friends were going to help him pitch in for airfare (he was already reimbursed by the friend he is staying with right now).  They all wanted to get together and wanted to help chip in if he had to do all the work and spend all the money to meet up.  Will see if that comes through, but I don't think he will be unhappy if he is out the $680.

Writing this down because I know I will forget otherwise.  A neighbor backed into DL(20)'s car the other night.  It is a microscopic scratch.  It was a chaotic/crazy week and this is just one of those things that I think will otherwise be forgotten (re: endless line of much bigger fish to fry). 

Other random things I will never remember...  I also bought MM(22) a bike for his birthday.  DL(20) bought a $250? bike some months ago.  From a guy who had inherited 50+ bikes and was going through them.  I checked in with that seller but he didn't have anything lower quality.  But MM(22) is super lucky.  I don't know that I've ever found a used bike in 5 minutes (before).  Found a neighbor who likes to tinker and was fixing up bikes he had laying around. 

I should back up first.  MM(22) was using a free bike that was unlikely to get stolen on his college campus.  We tested this theory out for about 1.75 years.  😁  But then his bike was broken and he insisted on fixing it but never took the time to fix it.  (He just happened to get a car on his college campus, around the time he probably would have fixed the bike).  I think he should have paid for the bike but he was balking.  In 5 minutes I found a bike that was a significant upgrade.  It's a mountain bike with new brakes.  He lives in a hilly town and I don't like how he hasn't fixed the brakes yet on the old bike.  Not only was he thrown off by the new brakes (almost literally) but he preferred the mountain bike.  That was $80 well spent.  Our best guess is that it was a 1990s era bike, so probably 10 years newer than the free bike. 

2025 TALLY:

$1,000 Capital One Venture (MH double dip)

------------

$1,000 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*

I just happened to come across this article, which had good information re: recent tax law changes:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2025/07/08/answers-to-your-individual-tax-questions-about-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-act/

I do have a couple of coworkers (one salaried) who have been giddy about the 'tax-free tips and overtime' since mid January.  I think they asked me January 20th if that had been executed yet (they seemed to think it was already a new law).  

I don't know, maybe the salaried guy is moonlighting somewhere else?  The hourly guy has a more up/down work flow and so we kept him hourly to pay him accordingly re: spurts of overtime.  But even that does not amount to much.  

Anyway, I can tell they think that they will be exempt from payroll taxes re: overtime, and probably haven't figured out that it's only the "extra 0.5 pay per hour" that will be tax-free.  I have the feeling I will bursting this employee's bubble very soon.

I've been sorting through a few financial chores with DL(19) and have a few more financial chores to get through.  

Done:

**Opened a high yield savings account

**Opened a ROTH IRA

**Opened his own credit card

For the ROTH IRA, we moved $5K over from his gifted college fund, same as his brother did during his first big income year.  

For the credit card, we skipped the intermediate step of getting a student card.  Our CU refused to ever increase MM(21)'s $500 limit, so it seemed to be more hassle than it is worth.   The only thing DL(19) needs to be concerned about is utilization, re: high credit score and paying balance off monthly.  So he will still be using my credit card for a while.  I told him to just use the new card as a gas card.  Until he gets a bump to his ($1,000) credit limit. 

Random side note:  Both kids have 780 credit scores.  I noticed a few months ago that MM(21) had been 'pre-approved' for a $60,000 car loan.  I showed DL(19) and he got a kick out of that (both the idea of spending that much on a vehicle at any age, much less at 21, and the 25% or whatever interest rate).  It's moot because MM(21) has *no income*.  Not like he could actually get any car loan.  

We went into this year deciding to utilize DL(19)'s college fund (that we had not touched yet).  I was over it.  Paying up front the tuition due in June but not getting financial aid refunds until November.  With all the political nonsense, who knows where the state grants will land.  But I was already over it, before the political uncertainty.

DL(19) Year 3 'Gifted College Fund': $21,500 (+$5K ROTH IRA)

The question is:  Will DL(19) get a $3,000 (financial aid) refund to put back into his college fund?  This $21,500 balance is what he has left after paying his Fall 2025 tuition.  He is expecting a $3,000 lower-income grant this year.  Which is really more of a lower-asset grant.  Our income was always below the threshold.  But after spending down assets to pay for college for 4 years...  Now our assets are under the threshold too.  

My best estimate is that this will be a $0 net tuition year for DL(19): $8,000 tuition/fees, minus $6,000 grant, minus $2,000 tax credit.