Time and Money

A few hours ago, I got an email confirming that Missouri had accepted my state income tax form. Yay!

So, within 20 hours of starting on my taxes, I:

• Finished them


• Filed them electronically


• Received confirmation that both federal and state forms were accepted

This morning I was all pumped up about having filed by Jan. 28. Well … I apparently filed on Jan. 26 last year. And here I thought I had set a new record. What a slacker!

I did get a pleasant surprise while filling out the federal form: an addition to my standard deduction because I don’t itemize. Apparently, they are giving up to $500 for a single filer and up to $1,000 for a couple if you paid property taxes in 2008. So that pushed my refund up even higher.

Overall, I’m getting back more than I anticipated when I did a cursory calculation based on my last pay stub of 2008. BOOYAH!

It will be interesting to see what projects this money will go toward in 2009. Usually, this money, coupled with a bonus from work, dictate the bulk of our DIY budget. I’m not banking on the latter this year, so I’m not sure just how much we’ll be able to do. The mother will be kickin’ in, too, (but retirement doesn’t actually pay well and her insurance keeps going up) so we might be able to eke out other things for the kitchen including appliances, some kind of stone countertop, and ceramic flooring.

Things I know it will be used for include:

• The remainder of the materials needed for my bedroom redo. Namely, beadboard, chair rail, paint, and trim.


• A new mattress for the mother as part of her bedroom redo.


• The Michelangelo Project


• Materials to complete the exterior pimpin’ of the shed


• Shoring up the driveway. This will involve pouring concrete along the outer carport edge, jacking up and building up the foundations for the columns along that side.


• Chemicals and materials needed to clean, seal, and fill in any gaps on the porch and walkway to both maintain it and deal with efflorescence.


• The “Lawrence Fund” for the things that require his expertise or assistance (like the driveway)

I guess we’ll have to see just how far we can stretch the budget because there are several more things I would like for it to cover such as:

• Replacing the fiberglass bathtub liner (circa 1995) with ceramic tile, carried out onto the bathroom floor.


• Framing, insulating, and drywalling the cinderblock walls in the laundry room and its closets.


• New flooring in the laundryroom and its closets.

Doing all this stuff takes time and money. I’ve definitely got the time. January is on its way out and I’ve still got a whole year’s worth of vacation time! Now we’ll just have to see about the money.