Spending My Tax Refund

Mar 3, 2005

Tax season is pretty wonderful, provided you are getting a return. If you don’t, well it sucks. Trust me.

Thankfully, the wife and I fall into the former group. Like a lot of folks, a good chunk of this money was earmarked for various expenses long before the government was kind enough to return a small portion of our earnings. For example, a good portion of this year’s return went toward our home equity loan, meaning, among other things, that the camper we purchased about a year ago is now paid off.

While that fact fills me with glee and I’m anxious to get that particular loan number closer to zero, the wife and I have been building a list of smaller things around the house that are in desperate need for an upgrade. We’re hoping to use some of this cash to work on our personal “to do” list, a list that seems to do nothing but get longer and longer. Here’s what’s currently in our plans and, in some cases, already in place.

Replace the Shower Towels

The wife and I had never purchased a set of showers towels for ourselves up until a weekend or so ago, when we corrected this oversight. Our previous stock of towels were made up of castoffs from our parents and the occasional Christmas present. Some of our towels were tattered to the point that the only person in the house with no right to complain about their use was the dog. Some did a better job impersonating a wash cloth due to their small size, lack of girth, or combination of the two.

Their replacements are purposely big and fluffy due to my desire to make up for lost time. The price tag of their replacements gave me a reminder of why it took so long for us to make this purchase in the first place.

Get a Decent Bedroom Curtain

I’ve never considered my wife and I exhibitionists but you wouldn’t know that from our bedroom curtain. Somewhere along the line it got replaced with a fabric that should have the word “sheer” somewhere in its title. A brief quest to purchase an affordable set of blinds that fit the dimensions of our bedroom window was abandoned almost a year ago, with no replacement in view.

What I’m looking for is a fabric that can block both the sun and any spying eyes that might glimpse any of our nighttime activities. Some fancy curtain rods that fit the style of our relatively new bedroom furniture would be a nice complimentary upgrade as well. It will be nice to wake up in the morning without a bright reminder of just how lazy I am.

Replace the Back Door Light

Not long after I replaced the porch light of our house, the light that hangs just above the our basement door went on the fritz. It died completely, leaving bits of its final light bulb embedded in itself for good measure.

The porch light required an upgrade because it was a piece of junk. You needed to physically remove the entire mechanism from the house to change the light bulb. It’s replacement allows you to change it from the bottom without ever turning a screw, lowering the time it takes me to replace a blown bulb from a month to merely weeks. It’s high time I do the same for the back door. Lowe’s had a sale on this particular light fixture about six months ago. Surprisingly, this past weekend, I caught that same sale again.

Rest Comfortably

The bed that the wife and I currently rest our bodies on in the evening is not aging gracefully. The box spring is broken on one of the bottom corners. The wood is broken clean through. Last week, the wife noticed that one of the springs had popped through the mattress to say hello. It’s eight years of service are appreciated. It will soon rest in peace.

The bad part of this purchase is that it really can’t be considered small at all. Beds are expensive, expensive enough that salesmen are hired specifically for the purpose of selling this one item. Because of this, I’m not looking forward to the process of purchasing a new bed. However, I am happy about the idea of having less of these to sleep with. Eww.

Fix the Spigot

Our previous faucet in the kitchen leaked from its base. This probably had something it being asked to force water through a faucet mounted water filter we purchased a couple of years or so ago. This behavior used to be limited to the use of said water filter. This is no longer the case.

It’s replacement, a shiny new faucet that is one of the few items in our kitchen not made in the seventies, is complemented by an under the sink water filtration system. The act of its replacement is about as close to actual plumbing as I’ll come in a long while.

That should do a pretty good job of draining the old bank account of our funds, that were the government’s funds, that are our funds again. If not, I’ll have to get a new computer. Oh, I already did.

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One Response so far | Have Your Say!

  1. Mom
    March 7th, 2005 at 10:03 am #

    Thanks for the suggestion of what to get you and Jenn for Christmas. Towels always wear out. What are yur collor choices. Love, Mom

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