Friday, April 2, 2010

Taxing Taxes

I was determined to get my taxes filed this morning and I did it. I didn't do it the most frugal way but this was one of those times when my time was worth more than $15. I had the forms filled out on the TaxAct site already. All I had to do was check them and submit them. I finished the federal return and submitted it for free. Then TaxAct wanted $15 to submit my state forms. I usually send them in myself so I went to the fillable form on the state's tax page and attempted to fill it out. My refund amount would not come out to the same amount as TaxAct. Since the amount on the TaxAct form was $80 more than the amount that I came up with and I was frustrated and I had already spent 2 hours this morning trying to finish them, I went back to TaxAct, paid the $15 and submitted my state forms. After printing it I saw that I had made a simple error when I tried to do them myself. It was worth $15 to me to get the taxes over and done with.

So then I added up March's expenses and whoa...I did a little bit more spending than I thought. Since my parents were here to help me, I bought a lot of home improvement supplies for my mobile home, and then I bought the netbook, and some dog stuff...etc. After adding it up and subtracting what was left in my home improvement budget, I was $303 in the hole plus the netbook. My tax refund will be $310. That means I'm going to have to take the netbook back...just kidding. That means I will have to find money elsewhere. Maybe I can skim off $33 a month from my budget for the next 8 months. Perhaps I should cut back on the dog treats. My chubby puppy doesn't need them.

4 comments:

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

Not the dog treats! How much do you spend on gas going back and forth to work? Maybe you cut could that out instead? :p

Anonymous said...

I know that time and oven space are limited in your life - but I make some dog treats that last a long time and are S-I-M-P-L-E. It is 2 and 1/2 cup flour, 2 jars of baby food (my dogs can't have protein as they are overweight so they get sweet potato or green bean but you can use any [liver would be a huge hit]) or any other pureed food (plain pumpkin, squash, etc.), 1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, seasonings (like garlic, parsley, a little oregano). Mix, add water/chicken broth/apple juice if needed to make it all mix together and spread it out on a pan and bake for about 15 minutes at 350. Then, I use a pizza cutter and cut up the flat sheet into little pieces. I put some in the fridge and the rest in the freezer and take them out as needed. Total cost is about $5 for almost a month of delicious dog treats (they can eat them frozen to). Again, I know you are busy - but if you want to save a little more moola this might be one way!

Daizy said...

Over the cubicle, good idea! I have been carpooling but I could do better. Maybe I should bike to work, one guy started doing that. I would probably have to get up at 4am.

Daizy said...

Anonymous, I do want to try that. I have looked up a few recipes. When I get settled in to the mobile home maybe I can try some of these fun projects.