Tax Refund is Here

I love filing my taxes online. You get your refund back so much faster that way. In fact, I already have my refund back and half spent! I feel that God blessed me with this return, and I was able to take advantage of a couple 2009-only deductions which helped increase my refund, which was a blessing. If you own a home but don't itemize your deductions, you can claim your property taxes up to $500, which I did (use schedule L). I also was able to claim the Making Work Pay credit on my refund. I don't have federal taxes taken out, so I didn't get the increase in my paycheck that most people did, but I did recoup it in the end (use schedule M).

Now comes the fun (kinda!) part. What to do with the refund? Well, the first thing I did was transfer over my tithe to my savings. This will go in the Easter offering at our church. Second, I fully funded my emergency savings. Third, I paid my real estate taxes for the year in full, and fourth, I paid for the shower repair and a roof patch repair. And tomorrow, I will be making a huge payment on Mr. Mastercard. If it weren't for the shower repair, I could probably squeeze pennies and get it entirely paid off this month, but I'm so thrilled with the shower, I think I can wait a month or two to say good-bye to the Mastercard bill.

No, I didn't do much fun with the refund this year. I did get a new pair of jeans and a shredder and a cool mist humidifier, though. I would have gotten them eventually, but it was good to just go and buy them and not have to worry about covering them in the budget. And I'm not too upset about not being able to use some of the money for a trip or tickets to Kings Island or splurging at the cross-stitch store. This debt needs paid off, and the satisfaction I'll get from that far outweighs the "fun factor!"