My husband and I happen to own 3 lovely homes all on the same street. This makes for a very tight budget. My in-laws live in the other two homes while we live in the third. The problem, ours is only a one bedroom and we have 2 daughters.

So, we remodeled a bit. We turned a room in the basement into a bedroom for our eldest and made the kitchen/dining room into one so that part of the dining room is now a bedroom for our youngest.

My husband accomplished all this as my Christmas present, which was realy nice.

He left the finishing toucheds (spakle, paint) to me. Neither one of us really has the time for such things.

We own a business and are in BNI which happened to have a painter in out group. She does faux painting and murals. When I found out what our tax return was going to be I hired her and she came out and has done a lovely job so far. We have the kitchen/diing room done with the youngests bedroom next on the list.

Now, if only I can get the floors done.

From the moment the last tax refund check is deposited, we start budgeting for the next year. Provided circumstance haven't changed significantly, we can usually count on at least a similar amount. We discuss (read haggle) over every detail and penny. A little for car expenses, a little for gifts, a little for a mini-vacation, and a bit for play. We've done it this way since we were married and it works out pretty well. I know we should re-adjust the tax amounts deducted for paychecks, but it's not a significant amount of damage and it's kind of fun getting the check instead of worrying about whether we'll owe old Uncle Sam.

I was fortunate enough to receive a decent sized tax refund this year. No, I didn't milk the government for free (read: someone else's) money... I actually overpaid. Problem corrected for next year.

With all my newfound riches (well, riches = about $2,000), I decided to splurge! Oh yeaaah! Mama's a big spender (so the kids were thinking).

Oh nooo! Kids are crying in their beds, but that hospital bill and credit card is paid off! Yes! Dave Ramsey be darned, being a responsible grown-up really stinks sometimes!

We always spend our refund every year. We usually end up paying off our credit card or other bills, then we have a little left to go on a small vacation. It works out, and its nice!

Since my tax refund was so HUGE it took me quite a while to figure out exactly what I was going to blow it on. After careful consideraton, and many hours of deliberation, I decided to go crazy and spend my..... $12 refund...... on a large pizza....WITH two extra toppings!