It’s that time of year. Unfortunately, this year’s tax return looks NOTHING like last year’s. Our refund last year was 5 digits long. We had enough to pay off a student loan, credit card debt, put into Avery’s college fund, oh yeah, and build a deck!
This year, it was two. Yep, two digits long. This year we got a whopping $31 back. But because we had to pay federal, and got back from the state, we put that on our credit card since our points were getting up there, and we’ll be getting a cash back reward of $25. So our grand total after our 2012 taxes were filed, is $56.
Now, that’s much better than owing which we thought we would need to. But we found some papers we were missing and thankfully we didn’t have to pay. After last year’s giant refund, we were planning on using our refund to pay off debt and do some home renovations, like last year. Well, $56 sure won’t fund a big project like a deck, so we’ll have to get creative with this one.
Speaking of the deck, we never finished it. We still have to put a set of stairs on the other side of the back stoop down to the deck, so we don’t have to walk around on the grass to get to it.
Our building permit is good for a year (I think), so I mentioned it to my Dad that we need to finish it by end of May, and could he help? When he was here visiting last weekend, he took measurements and was going to cut pieces for the stairs and bring them down next time. When I found out we were going to get a measly tax refund, I called him and asked if the stairs would cost $31 or less, and he said yes. The advantages of having a carpenter for a father. (LOVE YOU DADDY) Free labor, and he sometimes buys the supplies without letting me pay. Especially in this case.
So there you go, our BIG plans for our BIG tax refund… a set of stairs – although I don’t know if you can technically call them stairs when there will probably be only 2-3 steps. Either way – looking forward to building the stairs with Dad next month….
Did you get a big tax refund? How are you spending it?
