Tax season is upon us! If you live in the US, then you might be mailing off your taxes today. Tax Day is always April 15, but if it falls on a weekend or a holiday it gets pushed to the next business day. Hopefully you’re getting a refund, if that’s what you want. And if you are, you might be wondering what to do with your refund.
Last year, I shared one major goal of ours, which was to build a new house. We successfully sold our previous house last year, found an awesome rental for the time being, found a lot, found house plans, and found a builder. Everything fell into place last year, but it wasn’t luck alone that allowed us to start building our dream house. We’ve been planning for years to build a house, and every financial decision we’ve made along the way was geared to recognizing our goal.
This year, I’ve decided to share how spent our tax refund. That’s right, we spent it. We didn’t spend all of it, but we made a really good financial decision that will put us ahead a few months from now. Both my husband and I work outside the home, so during the summer our kids attend an all-day summer camp. We are switching camps this year, and our new one lets you prepare for the entire summer. If you pay in full up front, you save one week of tuition. So, we are paying for 9 weeks but the kids are attending for 10 weeks.
That’s a pretty significant savings when you have three kids in child care year-round, and I am super happy about our decision. The rest of our tax refund is being saved for later in the year, when we’ll start making extra payments towards the mortgage on our new house. And as long as no major expenses come up next year, I can pretty much bet that we’ll be putting our tax refund towards our mortgage as an extra payment towards the principal.
My husband and I are always thinking towards the future, financially, so we can meet our goals and create the life that we want. We have come a long, long way in our 10 years of marriage. And my spending habits have changed drastically over the years (my husband might beg to differ some days :P).
In case you need some extra guidance with your tax refund this year,
check out this super handy Do’s and Don’ts of Tax Refunds. Many people
may choose to use their refund towards something to better the future or
family. Like paying down on the principal of your student loans. This
will allow you to pay them off sooner and put you in a better position
if you were interested in refinancing them. You can find more
information on refinancing and the benefits here.
Rebecca has been writing about style, beauty, and lifestyle topics since 2011. Thank you so much for reading this post! Feel free to leave any questions or comments below. I love hearing from you!
