Taxes!

I should not be so excited about that subject, but we are still poor enough that we benefit greatly from credits, and we still get wonderful refunds. This year is no exception! Our federal return is over $12,000 because we bought a house, have a kid, and oh yeah, Obama likes to give out lots of money to "stimulate the economy." I don't know if our refund will stimulate the economy or not, but we are thankful for it!

I have used Turbo Tax online for three years now, and even though I don't qualify for the free edition any more, it is still really worth it because it only takes me a few hours to do my taxes (got them done during nap time today), and the questions are really easy to figure out and answer. Because of the house credit we don't get the e-file, so I have my fingers crossed that it will still come relatively quickly because we have goals for this money: 1) pay off all debt except house and student loans 2) save at least $5,000 3) do a couple minor projects on the house like gravel for the driveway and pavers in the backyard and 4) possibly one small splurge item like a new computer.

We'll see if I'm still so excited about taxes next year!