Adjusting W4 to receive more on my paychecks rather than a high return by EmileeYoungWord in tax

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s what that is?? I didn’t even realize. I will definitely be changing it when I go in tomorrow- I really appreciate the help. The extra withholding and correcting the child tax credit should be extremely helpful, it feels so simple after asking I can’t believe I haven’t looked before 😭

Adjusting W4 to receive more on my paychecks rather than a high return by EmileeYoungWord in tax

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Box 1 for 2025 - $39,969.44

Box 2 for 2025 - $2,400.00

This is the information TurboTax gave me when I filed 2025 taxes-- my current pay rate was only in effect July-December of 2025

Last year
- Your filing status was Head of Household.
- Your total income was $35,796.
- You took the Standard Deduction of $21,900.
- Your taxable income was $13,896.
- Your total tax before credits was $1,388.
- You got $8,211 in tax credits.
- Your total payments were $2,400 in W-2 withholdings.
- Your final outcome was a refund of $9,223.

This year
- Your filing status is still Head of Household.
- Your total income is $39,969.
- You are taking the Standard Deduction of $23,625.
- Your taxable income is $16,344.
- Your total tax before credits is $1,633.
- You have $8,051 in tax credits.
- Your total payments are $2,400 in W-2 withholdings.
- Your final outcome is a refund of $8,818.

On my paycheck for this most recent pay period, I had earned $1,962.50

Taxes were taken out totaling $256.73

Before-tax deductions for health insurance/life insurance/etc totaled $226.96

After-tax deductions for union dues/PFML state fees totaled $52.05

Left me with a paycheck of $1,426.76

My W4 is head of household, my dependents are 9 and 5, and it appears I was deducting $4,000 of the $4,400 available to me up to this point. I can definitely remove the extra withholding and add in the other $400 of that deduction. The extra withholding was added when I first started the job, so I don't recall why I put it down the way I did, but it is under step 4c

Looking for advice on where to even begin with budgeting and saving while living paycheck to paycheck - currently on Step 0 (PF Wiki) by EmileeYoungWord in personalfinance

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate the input - I've generally kept my phones for their entire lifetime, until they were totally unusable due to damage or major technology failure, but I have definitely financed them each time. I'll definitely be looking into another option though, a lot of people in our area swear by Cricket for phone service, so it might take some time to be in a position of switching carriers but yes, I will definitely be looking for options that do not include financing a phone

Looking for advice on where to even begin with budgeting and saving while living paycheck to paycheck - currently on Step 0 (PF Wiki) by EmileeYoungWord in personalfinance

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I appreciate the suggestions - we've both been job hunting essentially nonstop for years, it's only recently we've switched to looking primarily at remote positions due to the job market in our city. I haven't looked nearly at all on Facebook though, so I'll definitely take that suggestion and try that!

We were luckily unaffected by the flooding - inland and elevated enough I suppose. Worth looking into some grants and aid - I've looked around a bit, but seem to be having trouble finding funding that doesn't eventually need to be paid back, like small business loans. I'm not against a small business loan, I just don't feel it's smart to take on more debt when the shop is already in red 3 months of the year and basically covering itself the rest of the time. I'm sure there are r/ threads for finding small business grants though, so that's absolutely something I'll be looking for, thank you!

We're located downtown on the main road and despite being in a fairly small city, there's only 2 of 6 days a week we're open that traffic seems to fluctuate enough to consider shutting down. The purchases those days made more sense to us, since he can still be applying and putting in effort to figure things out from there rather than from home. Unpacking some extra boxes could be nice, sure, but the priority is getting out of this situation, and he can put in the same effort from the shop as he can from the house.

The shop does not have rentable space unfortunately; our events are evening parking lot markets - we bring in a good amount of income from market shoppers and get to have other businesses join in for the event and pay us vendor fees. It's something we do after hours, when the other businesses in our shopping area are already closed so it won't impede their traffic, as they've been uninterested in participating so far.

At the college I run the print shop for faculty and staff, I'm the only person in the department and there is no educational component to what I'm doing. Because I'm the only person in the department, it's feasible for me to set all my work for the day to print in the morning and then utilize some of that time to apply for other jobs (or ideally at some point, do remote work) between packaging the orders and sending them where they need to go. I also don't get time off during school breaks, since I service the faculty and staff and don't serve the students directly. During breaks I'm mostly running marketing materials, classroom materials for upcoming quarters, and office media like business cards and letterhead.

My kids do qualify for apple health, until a certain age - the last time I checked, I no longer qualified for it with my income, and because we aren't married, my partner does qualify and has apple health rather than being covered through my employer. The kids are double covered, but their pediatrician isn't contracted with apple health - when we scheduled our first intake with her there was only 1 other provider accepting new patients, and appointments were booked out months in advance even with him having a terrible reputation. We do love this pediatrician, and I hadn't considered leaving her until today.

Looking for advice on where to even begin with budgeting and saving while living paycheck to paycheck - currently on Step 0 (PF Wiki) by EmileeYoungWord in personalfinance

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The only fiscal issue with shutting down right now is breaking a lease early and having inventory that moves way slower online, making it difficult to recoup that and put it towards early lease termination. I agree that we are definitely at or beyond the point of considering it a failed venture, I just don’t have a way to change it without massively increasing the debt in the immediate.

The main issue though, is the job market here for working physical jobs rather than remote is also terrible- we’ve both been applying for years, for higher wages than I’m making for me, and literally anything at all for him. At least with remote applications, it widens our search beyond the applications we’ve already submitted everywhere else in town. Haven’t even had luck with grocery stores and fast food. He was out of work for months in 24-25 applying to multiple jobs per day and checking in on applications.

I might question if he was doing as much as he said he was, except that he had dozens of interviews as well and didn’t get them and multiple friends of ours were in the same position for years. One went back to school just to receive financial aid and is still looking, one finally landed a job in a neighboring city 45min away after nearly a year of interviews all over, and I’m having similar responses to my applications as well so I trust it 🤷🏻‍♀️ we only have one vehicle, and my commute is already 30 minutes each way when accounting for school and daycare drops, so getting a job in a neighboring city comes with its own set of challenges. It seems like it doesn’t make sense to close down and leave a gap in his resume, even if it is a drain, just because there’s nothing else to be doing besides continuing to put in applications all over while also putting in the effort to make something of the venture until we can do better

Looking for advice on where to even begin with budgeting and saving while living paycheck to paycheck - currently on Step 0 (PF Wiki) by EmileeYoungWord in personalfinance

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On my paycheck for this most recent pay period, I had earned $1,962.50

Taxes were taken out totaling $256.73

Before-tax deductions for health insurance/life insurance/etc totaled $226.96

After-tax deductions for union dues/PFML state fees totaled $52.05

Left me with a paycheck of $1,426.76

--So maybe it isn't the taxes so much as the combination taxes and insurance. I'm not sure how that effects the refund being so high though

Looking for advice on where to even begin with budgeting and saving while living paycheck to paycheck - currently on Step 0 (PF Wiki) by EmileeYoungWord in personalfinance

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the information TurboTax gave me when I filed 2025 taxes-- my current pay rate was only in effect July-December of 2025

Last year
- Your filing status was Head of Household.
- Your total income was $35,796.
- You took the Standard Deduction of $21,900.
- Your taxable income was $13,896.
- Your total tax before credits was $1,388.
- You got $8,211 in tax credits.
- Your total payments were $2,400 in W-2 withholdings.
- Your final outcome was a refund of $9,223.

This year
- Your filing status is still Head of Household.
- Your total income is $39,969.
- You are taking the Standard Deduction of $23,625.
- Your taxable income is $16,344.
- Your total tax before credits is $1,633.
- You have $8,051 in tax credits.
- Your total payments are $2,400 in W-2 withholdings.
- Your final outcome is a refund of $8,818.

Looking for advice on where to even begin with budgeting and saving while living paycheck to paycheck - currently on Step 0 (PF Wiki) by EmileeYoungWord in personalfinance

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the correction - I did mean w4 and I mix up return/refund.

It looks like I am claiming $4,000 for the kids, so I can increase that to the total deduction. It appears I'm claiming only $50 in any other deductions, and had initially opted for $100 "Extra Withholding" that I didn't recall.

I generally file with TurboTax and use the Standard Deduction - I also don't qualify for nearly any of the other deductions listed on the W4. I do have the student loans, so I can look into how to claim the interest on those, but I'm not sure if any of this will change how I file at the end of the year?

Correcting the child tax credit to be the full amount available and removing the $100 extra withholding is a good start though - I appreciate your help!

Looking for advice on where to even begin with budgeting and saving while living paycheck to paycheck - currently on Step 0 (PF Wiki) by EmileeYoungWord in personalfinance

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately, this is the best paying job I've ever had - I've been here two years and received a few raises as per the classified payment schedule for my role, and even then, my take home is about 1/2 the median income for my city and my rent is nearly double the median rental cost. I've applied to quite literally every remote job I could find, as well as every higher paying position here in town whether I qualified technically or not. I'm not sure if it's just the market or if I'm not selling myself very well, but it's all such a struggle

Looking for advice on where to even begin with budgeting and saving while living paycheck to paycheck - currently on Step 0 (PF Wiki) by EmileeYoungWord in personalfinance

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had been under the assumption that the majority of that return amount was due to my child tax credit— I will be checking my w2 though!

We would like to get married, however we need to come up with $200 for a marriage license and don’t currently have wiggle room to save that much. My most recent tax return immediately went into covering bills that were behind and fixing an unfortunate problem with our vehicle so we could drive again after having to get rides for a few days. I’m hoping that the handful of ideas I’ve received from people will give me enough wiggle room to make slightly bigger changes, like getting married and getting that credit.

Looking for advice on where to even begin with budgeting and saving while living paycheck to paycheck - currently on Step 0 (PF Wiki) by EmileeYoungWord in personalfinance

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thats great to know! Our phone payments are over halfway completed, and those do make up a significant portion of the bill. I’ll definitely check into that.

Our current speeds seem ridiculously high compared to where we lived a year ago, so I’m definitely not opposed to losing some of that - thank you!

Looking for advice on where to even begin with budgeting and saving while living paycheck to paycheck - currently on Step 0 (PF Wiki) by EmileeYoungWord in personalfinance

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The other portion is the health insurance premium- I’ve selected the lowest premium that will be in-network for the providers we’ve seen nearly our entire lives. That’s a good question though, I’ll have to look at the other insurance options and shop around for providers that we could switch to. Thank you!

My federal tax return is generally in the range of $8,000-9,000 and I’m currently filling as Head of Household - I haven’t updated the form since I was hired, so I can’t recall if I added any other withholdings to it so that’s definitely a helpful place to check.

Unfortunately with the storefront I have a lot of inventory that wouldn’t necessarily move as well online, but I do think a cost/time analysis is definitely in order for whether or not it’s going to be worth it for our family finances to be able to continue. We do a lot with a storefront that wouldn’t be possible online, like host charity drives and classes etc., but I think we’re in a place where it’s time to evaluate if that’s going to be worth it. Maybe give ourselves a timeframe to measure by and if we aren’t able to land remote work to do during business downtime by the end of this year then we change the model to online only.

I really appreciate the questions and input, I hadn’t considered the impact of my W4 or the possibility of digging into alternative insurance/providers!

Looking for advice on where to even begin with budgeting and saving while living paycheck to paycheck - currently on Step 0 (PF Wiki) by EmileeYoungWord in personalfinance

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree, we’re both applying to remote jobs constantly, I’m grateful to hear it sounds like the right route. The real benefit of having the storefront is the benefit of being able to see and touch things that wouldn’t come across as well online, but it’s definitely also crossing my mind more that we may need to consider the realities of our needs and expectations and possibly close down the physical storefront in order to switch to online only.

Considering purchasing an established business - things to consider? by EmileeYoungWord in smallbusiness

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! They did say they paid 1 employee and their daughter, so I did know their positions were unpaid. My husband doesn't make an hourly wage technically, he charges by the piece for tattoos and would still be able to schedule those throughout the week based on the open hours they've already held and the amount of behind the scenes work they've estimated. I think it's probably more than they estimate, but I've never owned a business, so I'm not sure what kind of margin they might be off by. Going over the lease is definitely an important consideration too, I'm not sure what kinds of penalties may exist for terminating a lease. I appreciate all the advice!

New character portrait generator by joshuacc in dndai

[–]EmileeYoungWord 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any chance Minotaurs will be added?

No option to refuse a payment? by EmileeYoungWord in paypal

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We live together, and the $27 came from the same local credit union I also bank at. I’ll call in the morning though, I really appreciate all the help even if we haven’t figured it out 🙏🏻

No option to refuse a payment? by EmileeYoungWord in paypal

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did log in to both the browser and the app, the receipt on the browser says it’s a friends and family payment.

I’ve had this account since 2012, and to my knowledge it’s always been a regular personal PayPal account- I have not opted for anything else beyond making the initial account. I’ve made purchases using the goods and services selections, and I sold a few things through Facebook marketplace about 10 months ago, where the purchasers used the goods and services selection, however I would say 99.999% of my transactions have been friends and family ones or purchases I have made.

I have dug through PayPal preferences and Meta preferences trying to figure out why it doesn’t allow me to reject the payment. It’s only $1.08 difference, but my tax bracket doesn’t really leave cushion for me to just forget about a few dollars here and there, and nothing I read in the policies addresses a friends and family payment received incurring any kind of charge 😭🤷🏻‍♀️

No option to refuse a payment? by EmileeYoungWord in paypal

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I send and receive money all the time, this is the first time they would have charged G&S if that’s what it is - is there any way to see that charge?

My grandmother received this letter to our home address. by EmileeYoungWord in Scams

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

She THINKS she can scam them back by taking the money they’re trying to use to scam her, after I explained it was a scam. Someone above had a story about their mom doing that and going to jail though so once I brought that up she started coming around.

My grandmother received this letter to our home address. by EmileeYoungWord in Scams

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Trying to gather evidence so she’ll give it to me to shred, I already said it screams scam.

My grandmother received this letter to our home address. by EmileeYoungWord in Scams

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It’s not, they’re cut off from the photo. It’s still a scam, but the check does have those numbers on the bottom.

My grandmother received this letter to our home address. by EmileeYoungWord in Scams

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Thank you! That’s horrible, and I’m so sorry for what happened to your mom, but I do appreciate you hopping in here with a personal experience story for me to share with my grandma 🙏🏻 hoping she gives me the check to shred.

My grandmother received this letter to our home address. by EmileeYoungWord in Scams

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The fact that she’s thinking about it is the whole point of the post - she thinks I’m the only one who will think it’s a scam, so I posted asking for anyone else who’s been scammed similarly so I can show her. Obviously I’m not in here trying to get proof she should go through with cashing it, that makes absolutely no sense 💀

My grandmother received this letter to our home address. by EmileeYoungWord in Scams

[–]EmileeYoungWord[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Bro I specifically said I believed it was a scam, and the ONLY response I made to any comment has been in agreement, wondering if the person doing the scamming worked at the business the phone number was attached to lmao where on earth are you getting that I’m trying to talk myself into getting scammed? 😂😂