Taxes, How I Hate Them

Damn these taxes. It looks like I finally finished them today on Turbo-Tax. B/c S did not work hardly at all last year our income went down, but then so did our taxes. I'm just frustrated b/c I save every damn little receipt through the year on every last little possible deduction and this year it doesn't make much of a difference b/c the standard deduction is still higher. Damn! I am going to have to adjust my W-4 at Job #2 eventually to help out with next year's almost-certain tax blow, but I'm thinking I'll do that sometime in the early fall. I still need that extra $ to make as much of a dent in this debt as possible, right now!

BTW I HATE it when people talk about getting a tax return. I want to shake them and say, "You stupid idiot!" The 3 years I've been filing married-jointly have been ok, except for last year which sucked b/c I made all that extra $ at my 2nd job(s). The 1st year we were married we had to pay $700+, which is almost tolerable. Last year sucked and we paid $2,200--OUCH!!! This year looks like we'll be out $500+. Now that's more about the right speed, but if I adjust my W-4 hopefully we won't be pinched too bad next year again.

Budget Done thru Dec. 2009

I completed the excel spreadsheet of our household budget through Dec. 2009. Lots of cool things will happen this year, such as:

• Paying off the PT Cruiser, c. Aug-Sept.
• Paying off the Discover Card, c. Nov. or Dec.
• Although this is not the best thing in the world to happen, it may not mean much in the long run so I'll list it: we got our appraisal from HCAD and it said our home value went down, so that means our property tax bill next year is less. Hey, at least we'll save $ on that!