Yay!!! We filed our taxes and found out that we will be getting a nice sum of money back. We are going to spend it on three things.
1. van tires- Our vans tires are getting a little lower on the tread that I would like so we are replacing them before they get a chance to go bad. This is our family vehicle that carries us all regularly and that we can drive longer distances to travel. With the weather here I find that I am a little more cautious with the tires and brakes on our vehicles.
2. bank loan- We have a loan that we took out to buy our minis. This will pay this loan off and the money used to pay the payments can go towards paying off something else. They are our fun cars and great on gas for small errands especially in the towns where the streets and parking are much narrower. If we don't have to go out as a whole family these work great. The Man's mini also makes a great commuter car for him to drive back and forth to work. It is very cheap on gas costing us only about $20 every other week.
3. My mini repairs- Older cars seem to have to have work done every so often. My mini is in the shop because The Man tried to do something under the hood and knocked out all of my brake lights and signals. The shop is going to have to replace the wiring that goes to the lights. While they are in there I have also asked for them to double check that my car has been converted to unleaded gas vs. petrol. This will make life much easier when we bring these cars back to the states as I don't think I have ever seen leaded fuel and so I would have to put an additive in my gas tank every time I filled it up. They are also going to double check and make sure there are no other major engine/hose/seal problems for me. We are putting this money aside to pay the bill when it comes time and that it wont hurt our normal monthly expenses.
If there is any left after these 3 things then we will have a little fun money to spend on non necessary items. We find that getting this money in a lump sum is nice so we don't have to save it ourselves and then we can pay for larger things at one time. In the past we have used the money to pay off a car, ship our dog to England, pay off credit cards, or purchase large home furnishings. What do you do with your tax returns if you get them?
We'll be getting a refund, too. We will pay off the small amount of non-mortgage debt we have (about $400 to Sam's Club for tires) and a couple of small medical bills incurred in December that we haven't been able to pay yet.
ReplyDeleteMy husband's work is always shaky in the winter, since he works in construction, so the rest of the refund will be saved to get us over rough spots if he's laid off for a while. If there's still a chunk of it in savings by the time summer begins, we may use it to buy new carpeting for our home.