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!"

Why Didn't I Call Sooner?

We've been in this house 8-1/2 years, and the shower fixtures in our only bathroom have leaked since day one. First it was just a small leak, 90% of the water coming out of the shower, 10% out of the faucet, but that slowly increased until recently when probably 70% of the water was going down the drain and not out of the showerhead. I had a couple guys in to look at it and see what it would take to repair it, and the concensus was that they would have to rip out part of the shower surround to fix the problem. I had been hoping to wait to do that until I was ready to pay cash to replace the surround, something that is definitely in my bathroom remodel plans, probably next year or 2012. Then last week, my son asked if he could take his showers at his grandpa's from now on due to the low water pressure from the showerhead. Gulp. Guess it's time to get it fixed.

So I called a fellow from church, and he came over last Friday. He tried replacing washers and a new pipe from the faucet to the water line, but that didn't work. The old fixtures were just worn out. So he was able to get new fixtures, install them, and that did it! We now have 99.9% of the water going through the showerhead when we take a shower! It's heaven, I tell you! :-) Our showers are shorter, use less water and definitely use less hot water. (It was the hot water that was going down the drain.) He didn't have to go through the surround; he was able to go in through the access panel in my son's closet. I didn't have to pay for a new surround before I was ready, and should I decide to wait longer to replace the surround, I don't have to worry about the fixtures or water damage from them leaking. (I can't even begin to explain how badly the old fixtures were installed and how ill-fitting they were. Even I know not to use a gas line pipe for a water fixture!!) Anyhow, I'm thrilled that we have a normally working shower again. And as you can see, it doesn't take much to make me happy. haha I just wish I would have called him sooner.