I finally got my W2 in the mail today. I like to do my taxes right away and was starting to get annoyed that I couldn't do them yet. I went to the irs.gov site and clicked on the "Free File" link and then selected "Turbo Tax". It took me about 30 minutes, and lo and behold, not only did it not cost me one red cent to do my taxes or to e-file, but I got a nice little bit of $$ back from the gov! It really surprised me because last year I had made less money, but had ended up actually owing money (I watied to send that in till the last minute of course!)

As I was driving to my tennis lesson I was trying to figure out how in the world I'd managed to get a refund back when my AIG was close to 1k more than last year. Then it hit me. This past June I had changed my witholding for my 403b (similar to a 401K) to 5%. I still got a little bit more money each month (thanks to my raise) but I guess I offset it enough by putting the money in the 403b to get some money back! So, not only do I have more money in my 403b, but I'm also getting some money back! Woo HOO!!

The last time I got a return of this size, I bought a cd/tape/radio deck for my car. That was ripped out from my car in February. I still haven't replaced it. I've managed to get by with my walkman plugged into portable speakers. This money I'm getting back is totally unexpected and I'm really tempted to use it to replace my car radio/cd/tape deck. But then I'm also thinking about how I really should be saving every penny possible since I have no idea how my new career is going to go, especially with no steady paycheck after June 30. This could be a month's rent. I'll probably end up just putting it in my EF at ING.

Spending Log:
Today: $0.00
7 No Spend Days in January!

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura