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I checked our checking account the other day and it looks like the DH household got our tax refund (state AND federal) in already.  It amazes me how quickly they were able to process our refund.  I wasn't expecting it for another week or so at best.

What did I do with it?  The mass majority (about 90%) went directly into our emergency fund.  The rest is sitting in our ING checking for now.

As expected, we're scheduled to get a large (to us) sum of money back for our tax refunds.  I had a figure in my head that I was hoping for and thankfully it ended up being about $1100 higher than that figure.  This should give us a nice boost in our emergency and savings funds.

Update to: "Tax Time!"

Just after the new year, I found myself drawn into the website: fiftydollarhouse.com. 

My wife and I have been talking about getting rid of our house in hopes for something bigger.  Unfortunately, given that we bought at the peak of the market back in 2006, we're now upside-down in our mortgage.  This, coupled with the VERY low rent rates, leaves us with very little options.

This is what made the website so intriguing.  For $50 (and who can't come up with $50?), I could own my dream home in a great location.  So what could it hurt?  Thankfully, I didn't make any quick decisions and instead, played a quick numbers game.

The house is valued at: $1,250,000

Guessing my gift tax would be roughly 40% (or $500,000)

Annual Property Taxes (in 2008): $4499 (or  $375 a month)

Roughly Upside-down in our current mortgage by: $50,000

equals...

A guaranteed mortgage I'd have to take out immediately for my $50 house.  And best of all, I wouldn't be able to afford repayment on such a high mortgage.  So, my only option would be to immediately unload the house - which is not something I'd want to be forced to do in a buyers market. While I'm sure I'd still come out ahead, it wouldn't be close to turning $50 into $1.25 million.

I gave the computer screen a quick grin and closed my web browser.

Note: looks like the winners are trying to unload the house - though for different reasons.

1. Wage Earners & the Self-Employed
2. First-Time Homebuyers - Unfortunately, that $15,000 credit was dropped from the final package.  I am in no way an economist, but I think this would have gone a long way to get folks buying houses again.  But in any case, there's still an $8,000 credit if you're buying your first house (as always, restrictions apply).  Hopefully this will make a difference.  I'm tired of seeing houses for sale in my neighborhood for months and months.  I'm tired of seeing the eviction stickers.  I'm tired of seeing the foreclosures and subsequent housing auctions.
3. Home-Owners Looking to Improve Home Energy-Efficiency - Here's one that looks like it'll apply directly to me.  I've been putting off replacing the weather stripping around the front door (it's quite drafty).  And I'd LOVE to put in one of those on-demand water heaters - but I'll have to do a cost-benefit analysis on that one.  When all is said and done, I probably won't get much money back in the form of tax credits, but hey.. it's better than nothing.
4. Vehicle Buyers - I definitely won't fall into this bucket.  It'll be awhile before my wife or I buy a new car again.  But for those who do, being able to deduct all of those taxes will certainly be a nice help come next year.
5. Students - I'm happy to see some nice credits to help bring down the cost of college.  I know I'll be paying off student loans for MANY years to come.
6. The Unemployed - All I can say, is that I'm unbelievably greatful that I'm in a VERY secure position at work.  I just don't know what I'd do otherwise.  I'm not to the point where my emergency fund will float us for any lengthy period of time should I have to look for a new job.  And I'm not planning on building that up too high until I can get some debts paid down.
7. Middle Classers Scheduled to Get an AMT Tax Hit

[Source: mint.com]

Not surprisingly, I completely put off gathering my tax documents this past weekend.  It's a bad character flaw of mine.  If I know I have more time to complete a task, chances are, I'll use up that time.  Regardless of how much or little needs to be done in any given time frame.

Fortunately, the nature of my job requires everything to be done almost immediately after it's assigned (and sometimes before!), so I don't run into this problem there.  Ohwell, hopefully I'll become motivated enough to gather everything this week.