Just finished my taxes. We'll be getting $6000. back this year.  Here is how it is going to disappear:

1800.00 to pay off the tractor loan. That will free up $242 a month.

1500.00 to MIL ....don't ask....! grr.

1500.00 to fix van transmission

1200 to put against credit card debt.

The tractor loan has lower interest than the cc's, but I need that $242 a month freed up...either to live on if dh doesn't get work or to put against the credit cards each month.

 Wow.  If you would have adjusted your withholding you would have had an extra $500 monthly.  That's a lot of $$$$$ to let the government use for free.

We usually break even, a few dollars give or take.   

My husband and I always disagree about any refund. He wants to spend it on something we couldn't afford otherwise, I want to use it to get rid of debt or pay car insurance so we don't have the monthly payments to deal with. Usually it just goes in the bank until something breaks down, which frequently happens shortly afterwards. E 

You guys are lucky, we don't have big refunds here unless you have daycare expenses or put alot of money in a retirement fund at the last minute.  No mortgage interests write offs or donations of goods to sally ann etc.  We got $800 back last year because of homestay writeoffs so we used it on the almost $800 annual water/sewage/garbage bill.  Here it is an annual bill same for all houses. Condos/townhouse get a 400 - 500 bill.  Don't know what it will be this year.

YAY! So happy for you, Ariana, that you may only have to limp the old cars along for a few more weeks!  Do you have any idea yet about what you're looking for in a replacement car? (definitely hype the Southern car angle: )

We generally bank the refund check, too...and then something comes along that needs attention. I'm pretty happy with our new kitchen flooring, but the shower enclosure is in tough shape, so that's something I'll ask DH to consider.

Not sure yet how much we will get back (still waiting on W2's to come in) but we already know what any refund will be used for. 

Repair transmission in DH's truck.

New glasses for me, been a couple of years and I really need new lenses.

Put toward paying down balance on laptop we put on our Dell account in August.

Any leftover will go in bank.

Shellia

 ??  Why does everybody want a large tax refund?   You could adjust your withholding, get that same amount back monthly, and put it into an interest earning savings account.   For example, ING is paying 4% interest on a regular passbook savings account at this time.  NO FEES.  By getting a large refund, you are letting the government use YOUR money for free. 

www.ingdirect.com 

One size doesn't fit all when it comes to taxes. I guess it depends on if you are able to realize and save the money from adjusting your withholdings. For us, when DH adjusted his, we owed the IRS $350 the next year and the State $250. So that was hard on the budget. It is better for us to let the govt use our money for a little bit and then get a refund. We don't get $6000 back. Not even close!

I think people need to understand that financial circumstances can change during the year that will automatically change your exemptions and withholdings or your income bracket. (No tax advice given here). For example, having a baby (or having a child no longer be your dependent), losing your job or selling stock and earning capital gains. But when our family goes from a $500 refund to owing $350 and then having a baby and getting a $1200 refund to adjusting and then owing $300 again, I would rather just get my refund. Having an extra $100 a month is not enough to make me adjust withholding (guessing game) or change exemptions again and then owe the govt. For me, that's worse than letting the govt "borrow" my money for 12 to 15 months and then give it back. 

We sold some stock in 2007 so we didn't make any adjustments. We had a bigger refund in 2006 than I would have liked (not that I complained about $2200 but it all went to the credit card) because we had a baby near the end of 2006. Knowing we had to sell some stock and have capital gains plus DH got a raise when he got his master's degree in 2007, we didn't change our W4 after ds #2 birth so we would possibly break even for 2007 (or get a little back). We will see this year. My goal is to NOT OWE THE GOVT.