goodbye to "little tan"

We said Goodbye to "Little Tan" (aka: my 1999 Toyota Camry) this week and hello to a new (well...new to me!) car!  I mentioned this week that Little Tan left me somewhat stranded and that it might be time for a replacement car.  I have been resisting getting a new car because (1) I didn't want a car payment and (2) I really didn't to see our savings reduced if we chose to pay cash for it.

So, what did we do?  After much debate between New vs. Used, and Financing vs. Paying Cash, we decided to purchase a used Toyota Camry and pay cash for it!  We found a great pre-owned car -- a 2010 Camry XLE with 17k miles on it.  It's got so many "bells and whistles" on it and I LOVE it!  And best of all?  No car payment!  Dave Ramsey would be proud!

We had planned to put our tax refund in our Retirement Account, but decided to put it towards purchasing the car.  Then, we took money out of our Emergency Fund to pay the balance of it.  We had 6+ months of expenses saved in our Emergency Fund and the withdraw brought it down to around 5 months.  But...we'll get it replenished very soon.   We sold my '99 Camry a couple of days ago and that $$ has gone back into the EF.  Between that and our regular savings, we should have it replenished in a month!

I am disappointed that we won't be getting to "Baby Step 4" this year.  My goal for 2011 was to put 15% towards Retirement (we're at 6% now...).   Once we get our EF replenished, I'll take a look at the budget for the rest of the year and see what we can do that's at least more than 6%. 

My boys were home when Little Tan was sold and my oldest was in giddy when he saw the cash!  He looked like a King counting his money!

income tax

I absolutely LOVE tax-time of year because it means my family gets back all the money our government has been holding from us throughout the year!  Because of the way my husband earns his income (more than 30% of it is commissions...), the IRS holds a huge amount of his commission checks.  We have tried and tried to adjust our Withholding, but it is never enough to break even.  This year we are getting back a nice little chunk and it's very depressing to think about how we could be investing that money if the government wasn't withholding so much more than what they need to!

So, what are we going to do with our Tax Refund?   We do have PLANS for it and I'll share with you later this week where it's going!

What about you?  Do you have to pay taxes this year or are you getting a refund?  What are your plans for your refund money if you're getting one?