Did I Save or Spend My 2010 Tax Refund? A Story of Good Intentions

What am I doing with my tax refund? That is the subject of this article. However in my case we will have to adjust it to read "What did I do with my tax refund?" That's right it would have to be past tense.

We can start with what I was going to do with my tax refund. It was $1,800.00 due to expenses and one college student still at home. You know, $1,800.00 is not a lot of money.

I had two plans. One was to take $1,000.00 and put it in the bank. Then I was going to take my wife on a weekend jaunt with the rest of the money.

This is the way my plan exploded in my face:

I filed my taxes and was pleased with the refund and made the aforementioned plans. I was a happy man and when I'm happy I am jovial and open to sharing my joy. In one of those moments I offered to pay a payment for one of my son's cell phone because he had changed jobs and was between checks. It cost roughly $100.00 so my "stash" which was now in the bank was down to $1,700.00

Next to happiness comes logic in the form of my wife reminding me we had a rough time at Christmas so why not put a couple hundred aside now so we won't suffer at the end of the year. Christmas Club 2011 cost me $200.00. Keeping in mind if I take it out there is a million dollar penalty. My tax money is now down to $1,500.00

I checked for hotels where I wanted to go and found that I had underestimated the cost of going on the trip. A "long weekend" turned into a weekend.

There were three things my wife and I wanted to see in the city where we were going. The cost is roughly $70.00 per place so let's round it to $200.00. Two nights at the hotel costs $180.00. Estimated food costs were $150.00 with no "upper-class" meals. An upper-class meal adds another $50.00 to the cost. I rounded the trip's costs to $600. I figured that it was not too bad.

Then I remembered fuel. This place is a ways away so fuel round trip clocks in at somewhere around $100.00. Now we're at $700.00 for the trip and an $800.00 nest egg.

Two days before the trip my youngest son borrowed the car. You know what happened don't you? While he was backing up the gear shift strap broke. It is a very odd "car injury." I think, "Of course it is odd!"

The cost of fixing it and giving the car an oil change that it needed was about $400.00. All of a sudden I had $700.00 for the trip and $400.00 in the bank.

It was time to be honest with myself. The $700.00 for the trip was kind of "skimpy." We really needed more. On the other hand we needed to be padding our savings since we are in our early sixties.

This economy dictates that the smart thing to do with your money is save and be thrifty.

On the other hand my wife and I slave every day to make ends meet and we have precious little time to be together.

While I would vote to save a tax refund; I spent mine as it turned out--all of it on a three-day weekend.

It was great!

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