Taxes

Since marriage, Todd and I have always filed our taxes separately.  Married filing separate, that is.  We have always made within $3,000 of one another, and we are the FEW that actually do better when filing separate versus together. 

I just completed Todd’s return, and he is getting back $1300!  I know that financial guru’s say that we need to change his withholdings because we are letting the government keep an extra $100/month with no interest.  But we haven’t changed it.  It seems like every year, there is something that comes up around this time that we need the money for.  This year is no exception.  We both need new Spring/Summer tires on our vehicles.  The tires I’ve used for Spring & Summer are hand-me-downs from an old kit-card Todd had.  They are completely bald because of the amount I drive.  The other tires before the kit-card tires were the originals.  And, of course, we have studless snow tires for Winter (we DO live in the snow belt.)  We have yet to replace these because there is no need.

We buy our tires from TireRack.com.  They have great prices and the tires are shipped right to our door.  Todd then takes them to WalMart to get them mounted and balanced on rims, and then he puts them on when the time is right.  Oh how I love my handy hubby.  He saves us so much money!

The other $500 is going toward our debt payoff.

We do not itemize.  We haven’t itemized in years, and that is perfectly fine by me!

One tax return down, one to go.  Mine is going to be a little more difficult this year due to the business expenses.  It shouldn’t be TOO bad, but it will most likely take longer than the 10 minutes it took to finish Todd’s online. 

We do our taxes FREE with a company that is registered with the IRS for those of us who make less than $58,000/year.  I love doing our taxes online because it is SO EASY, and the money is direct deposited into our account within a couple of weeks.  Cant beat it!