What are you doing with your tax refunds?
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
United States
February 4, 2010 1:26pm CST
Are you getting a refund this year? Do you have plans for it?
Last year we used up all our taxes with moving and buying a car. It all went to important things.
This year, we'll need to buy another car. My van that we've had for 2 years (we bought it used for $1200) has died and we'll need to replace it. We'll also have to fix up our Durango a little bit, but that shouldn't be too much.
We'll also have to catch up on bills... as usual.
We'd like to try to save a little of our tax money to take a short trip down to New York City. We said we were going to do it last year, but then we used all the tax money and couldn't save any for the trip. This year it's even more important because in May my oldest son will turn 13, but we can't really do a party for him. We thought a trip to NY and seeing the Yankees would be a great birthday present.
Other than that we're going to spend the rest of the money on little things we need but can't always afford to buy. I need new running shoes, the ones I have were bought at Walmart and they're already falling apart. This time I'm going to get good ones, like Nike. I also need new clothes. I do not own 1 single pair of pants that actually fit me properly. They're all way too huge!! I'm also going to get a new winter coat because mine is so big.
Hubby wants to buy a new X-Box 360. We sold ours a few months ago because we needed some money, but now he misses it, and I miss playing Dance Dance Revolution (thankfully I still have that game, was never able to sell it).
With all the ideas we keep coming up with, I don't think our money will stick around very long! That's always the way it goes, isn't it?
1 person likes this
10 responses
@ayumitakashi (4462)
• United States
5 Feb 10
Wow. Well I have a whole plan if I do get mine this year. I first need to pay my grandmother back because she lent me money to buy myself a new laptop. Then I am going to give my mother some money because she is starting her bakery business again and I'm goin to give her some so that she could buy her materials and stuff. Then I want to pay off some credit card debts so I can close them. I paid off two credit cards last year by myself and I intend to do the same this year. I also have a list of stuff that I want to buy for my dog and my mother's dog. I need new clothes because like you my pants don't fit at all! And I also need to buy some programs for my computer. I think that's about all that I need to do for now.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 Feb 10
Hopefully you get enough to do all that you want to do.
@highflyingxangel (9225)
• United States
4 Feb 10
I plan on putting some of the money towards a new computer purchase. After that I'll end up putting as much of it as I possibly can towards my student loans. I really want to pay them off as fast as I possibly can. I don't want them looming over my head for years and years to come because I'd like to eventually have extra money lying around to buy a car or a house or whatever.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 Feb 10
My husband had a problem paying back his student loans, and they went into default. They took all of our tax returns for like 3 years straight, we didn't get a dime. Thankfully 2 years ago they were paid in full. It's a relief to have that huge debt off our backs, and now we actually get our refund back and can use it for what we want and need.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
4 Feb 10
I'm sure it will help a lot right now. We have a few bills we'll need to get caught up on, like cable and phone.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
4 Feb 10
I have to do a lot of little things too. I just realized I need new mixing bowls, as one of them is being held together by duct tape, lol. I also need a cutting board, my kids need socks. My daughter needs ballet shoes. It all adds up!
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
4 Feb 10
Usually we get a federal refund and have to pay the state. But last year I upped my state contribution, so maybe that won't happen. Anywho, I haven't really thought about how to spend our refund yet. But if nothing comes up, and if we can make a trip back east, I may want to put it toward that.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
4 Feb 10
We've never had to pay into taxes before, but we don't make a lot of money and we own absolutely nothing. My husband even claims 7 dependents on his w-4's, but we still get a huge return every year. He told his co-workers what we were getting back and they were all rather shocked. Most of it is from the EIC.
2 people like this
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
5 Feb 10
Is it really a year ago since you moved?
Times is flying past too fast for me. I think that you have discussed this thoroughly and it sounds like such a wonderful idea for you all to enjoy and especially your son. It would be a great birthday treat for him - totally memorable as he is into sport so much. You would certainly need new clothes too!! Have a wonderful trip when it comes - oh it is May -my month too.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 Feb 10
Yes, as of March 1 we'll have been here a year. I know, it has gone by fast. We should be getting our money a week from today! Gosh it will be so nice. The first thing we're going to do is drop the kids off at my mom's and hubby and I are having a date night. We're going to Red Lobster, we're going to have a couple drinks. We might see a movie. And, we're going to finally get my ring resized, yay!! I'm wearing my ring on my middle finger because it will fall off my ring finger... and it's even a little loose on my middle finger.
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
5 Feb 10
A date night is in order for you both and it sounds terrific. Have a great time
@danishcanadian (28955)
• Canada
5 Feb 10
I usually get a tax refund, and this year I think I am going to save it. Last year I needed to do some stuff, so I couldn't really save my money, but this year, I don't have anything that I immediately need, so the money will go right into my savings account, and hopefully stay there till next year, atleast.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 Feb 10
That's smart. I want and need too much to be able to save it. Hopefully one year I'll be able to at least start college funds for my kids.
@thrwbckjay67 (2870)
• United States
5 Feb 10
We're looking to finally get out of a lot of the debt that we have; I am just finishing Graduate school this year, and my wife is going to start nursing school very soon, so having the refund we're getting back it's gonna be good to pay off some credit cards and put some away for savings as I work to get a full-time teaching job and she transitions from working full time to being back in school full time.
We're also gonna use part of it for a trip to Puerto Rico; my aunt married a Puerto Rican man a few years ago, and their son will be turning six and my uncle's family is going to throw a party for him in Puerto Rico (cause the party is usually here in CA) so we wanted to go along. I also wanted to visit my parents, who live 3,000 in North Carolina.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
7 Feb 10
We are expecting our tax money to be direct deposited into our checking account on or around the 12th of this month. I'm looking forward to it because we are actually getting back more than we thought that we would be getting in the first place. We actually got our state return back yesterday, but that was nothing but a drop in the hat when compared to the federal return that we are getting.
We are going to pay my mother back for some appliances that she bought for us last year on her credit card (a dishwasher and microhood). Then we are planning on paying off two of our credit cards that are in the DMP right now, we are paying the two that have the highest DMP interest rate. After that we still have a few thousand dollars left so I would like to put our laminate down in our office, hallway and kitchen and then save some of it to be able to take a small vacation and also start a small savings account.
