Since I spent so much time bellyaching here about our cashflow problems, I thought I should at least report some recent tidbits of good news.
- We did not run out of money at the end of February. Granted, it’s a short month, but I think our austerity measures are paying off.
- I did our taxes yesterday, and despite my fears we are indeed getting a substantial refund.
- My online tax prep service (TurboTax) turned me onto Mint.com. I’d Iooked at Mint before but for some reason it never clicked. Now I see the appeal, and perhaps it will be helpful in the long term. In the short term it’s already yielded confirmation that we’ve reduced our grocery bill. It’s much easier than tabulating manually, and with nifty graphics too boot.
once you get to a point where your mortgage intrest vs your mortgage principal doesnt give you a nice refund every year think about this trick.
put the money your gonna owe the irs into a roth ira.
you get to put more in each year the older you get.
a nice chunk of money for you when you get older instead of giving it to the feds to piss away.
Had I known you used TurboTax as well, I would have sent you my copy instead of re-selling it on eBay.
Sounds like a plan for next year!
I’m happy to hear that your financial situation is starting to turn the corner!