What comes to mind when you hear those words? Do you think of it as free money? Do you have a list of things you want to buy?
Don't think of refunds as "free money", it's YOUR money. You earned that money. You allowed the government to hold on to that money, interest free. You overpaid, so you get it back. Simple as that. It's no different than taking a little out of every paycheck and shoving it in a savings account and pulling it all out, on one day. Well, I take that back. Banks give you interest (that you have to pay taxes on too - ugh).
As close as we try to get our taxes to be, there is always a little something coming back to us. I'm not complaining... we're glad we get the over-payments back!
What to do with it... He wants a new tv - a large screen, flat panel, HD monster. We HAVE a large screen tv. Granted it's a behemoth at about 2 feet deep, but it's in color, the screen is a decent size and it turns on when we want it. We'll get one... eventually. I want a new house and we will get that too... eventually.
Being Grown can be "not fun" sometimes. We did the responsible thing with the refund. *sigh*
- Since we are on a budget pay for the electric company, we know what the bill will be every month - 11 payments sent in. Paid off until January 2013. (I'll still be checking the balance monthly though, things DO increase.)
- My car insurance renewed in December 2011. It is now paid in full and I won't have to bother with it again until December 2012.
- His car insurance renews in June but he still had some remaining payments. They are now gone too.
- The remainder is going in to savings
Is it exciting? Not really... Knowing that if something was to happen, the lights can't be turned off - awesome.
The money that would have been sent in to pay the electric bill will be deposited in to the savings account. The money that would have gone towards the insurances will still be put aside for insurances and make a decent dent when it comes time to renew.
