Tax Refund Spending Plan - do these numbers look ok?

[Trixie007]

Okay, I'm really going to let it all hang out there! So I just filed my taxes (e-filed) and for whatever reason was not able to stop my State return from being filed!! I said no in the interview, but my receipt came back that I paid for it... so now I have 11,600 coming in next month (assuming the Ca return gets processed prior to Feb 1) and here is how I am planning to spend the $$ prior to what now looks like a mid-April filing date...

2,226 regular liv. exp. budget shortfall
2,200 attorney, cert, filing fees
1,420 est. auto repairs (200 exhaust leak Nissan, 400 new tires Mits., 300 new tires Nissan, 120 oil changes, 250 for the 30k mile check-up on Mits., 150 registration Mits.) I haven't priced these things out, but that should be close
1,250 6 mos auto insurance
340 medical bills from last year
500 est. dental work for the 4 of us... cleaning and DS has a few cavities
750 clothing for the 4 of us - does that look like too much?

That leaves about 2,900 still to be spent!

We have our reg. grocery budget set at $1,000/mo - how much more do you think we could spend stocking up without looking rediculous? That may seem high to many, but DS is 5'11" and 150 #'s - he eats around 12,000-15,000 calories a day because he's so active and has such a high metabolism. He had the flu for 3 1/2 days recently and lost 10 pounds! He was still eating a bit, but only laying around for that long and still lost that much! He hasn't quite re-gained it all since!

I've read on here about not pre-paying rent, but I'm not sure how that works with utilities. As it is, I have April set up to pay all bills for the month prior to filing.

Any other ideas for this windfall? We don't own a home anymore, so no home repairs... I'm unsure about our ability to claim cash in the bank under the Federal wild card exemption - I know I could when it was unliquidated, but not sure about cash.

Thanks for your input!

[Over our heads]

How many cavities? I kid you not, I just had 6 filled and our dental ins was billed 860$ for it. How good is your ins? Do you have unpaid med. deductibles? Does anyone need medical checkups? Glasses, contacts? Does anyone take monthly rx's? Could you get your dr. to write you a 90 day supply rx? The way ours is 90 day supply= monthly co-pay x3.

I am unsure of how much grocery stocking you can do w/o raising eyebrows. And it is one thing I can't get a clear answer on.

[Trixie007]

How many cavities? I kid you not, I just had 6 filled and our dental ins was billed 860$ for it. How good is your ins? Do you have unpaid med. deductibles? Does anyone need medical checkups? Glasses, contacts? Does anyone take monthly rx's? Could you get your dr. to write you a 90 day supply rx? The way ours is 90 day supply= monthly co-pay x3.

I am unsure of how much grocery stocking you can do w/o raising eyebrows. And it is one thing I can't get a clear answer on.

I believe he has 2 or 3 cavities on his front teeth, so they'll need the "white" fillings. Can't remember what you call those lol. Our dental insurance is fairly minimal, but if we use a preferred provider it puts a cap on what they're allowed to charge. I hope that $500 is at the very high end for 4 check-ups, 4 cleanings and a couple cavities. I'm assuming there will also be x-ray charges.

We will have some medical deductibles, but we have the FSA Feds cafeteria plan - they hold money out of every pay-check, and when the providers bill our insurance it automatically triggers the fund to direct deposit our co-pays and deductibles back into our account. Usually I get the "reimbursement" before I get the actual bill for services! Even with my recent surgery, we won't have out of pocket expenses that are not reimbursed prior to filing... Dental and Vision are the exceptions... I think!

No one takes on-going prescriptions... but, eye exams for DD & DH for sure! Thanks, I forgot that DH is out of contacts!

***ARGHHHHH**** I just checked, and my dental bills are automatically forwarded! That means they'll reimburse me for those too! Strike that $500 off the list, now I have 3,400 to try to spend down!! Any ideas?? Anyone have an idea on how much extra for groceries??

The irony of this is killing me!

[TEW]

I believe he has 2 or 3 cavities on his front teeth, so they'll need the "white" fillings. Can't remember what you call those lol. Our dental insurance is fairly minimal, but if we use a preferred provider it puts a cap on what they're allowed to charge. I hope that $500 is at the very high end for 4 check-ups, 4 cleanings and a couple cavities. I'm assuming there will also be x-ray charges.

We will have some medical deductibles, but we have the FSA Feds cafeteria plan - they hold money out of every pay-check, and when the providers bill our insurance it automatically triggers the fund to direct deposit our co-pays and deductibles back into our account. Usually I get the "reimbursement" before I get the actual bill for services! Even with my recent surgery, we won't have out of pocket expenses that are not reimbursed prior to filing... Dental and Vision are the exceptions... I think!

No one takes on-going prescriptions... but, eye exams for DD & DH for sure! Thanks, I forgot that DH is out of contacts!

***ARGHHHHH**** I just checked, and my dental bills are automatically forwarded! That means they'll reimburse me for those too! Strike that $500 off the list, now I have 3,400 to try to spend down!! Any ideas?? Anyone have an idea on how much extra for groceries??

The irony of this is killing me!

I have a question
How would things be if you had another $966 a month in your take home pay?

[B65]

I had heard

That even if you went to the top of the state allowances for food they cannot question you on it..... To be honest I would stock up on as much food as I could with any spare money (i never got a chance to plan so kinda fun spending yours lol) I would buy as many clothes as I thought I would need to finish the winter season and spring and summer, stores have stocked for that now.... What about heating your house oil? gas fill it up....

If anything needs replacing like an old mattress do it, bedding anything that has a short life left..........

pets vacinations..... pay school lunches up front for the rest of the year....

[StartingOver08]

[QUOTE=TEW;237812]I have a question
How would things be if you had another $966 a month in your take home pay?[/QUOTE]


I agree with you here TEW - I always have to pay into the IRS when I file - no way would I allow them to keep $11,000 of MY money all year long!

[Trixie007]

I have a question
How would things be if you had another $966 a month in your take home pay?

This is a highly unusual tax year for us - HOPE credit for tuition paid 3k, stimulus credit $600 - then DH was on the fire in CA for 3 most last summer and they killed us with withholding on OT. Those 3 things account for all of the refund. Nice thought though!

[TEW]

This is a highly unusual tax year for us - HOPE credit for tuition paid 3k, stimulus credit $600 - then DH was on the fire in CA for 3 most last summer and they killed us with withholding on OT. Those 3 things account for all of the refund. Nice thought though!

You can change your withholds any time you should owe taxes every year if you are managing your budget.
It's just DW and I and I claim married and 5.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

[Over our heads]

Purchase enough contacts for an entire year.
I did ask about paying for school lunches for the remainder of the year and was told that was ok too.

I wonder about paying your car insurance for the year?
I would definitely get enough clothing for the rest of the year too. Heck, if your kids are due for a growth spurt, get the next size up too!

Is it reasonable to get new mattresses, and linens?

This is the part that I am sweating bullets about, I don't want to do anything wrong with the blasted tax money!

[dogbone33]

Why pay medical bills?

[auttienkassiemo]

Why pay medical bills?

I was wondering the same thing...Aren't they discharged anyway?

[TEW]

not a good idea to pay debt that can be discharged

[eddiep]

you are living my dream trixie! We have been soo broke for soo long! I haven't gotten my hair cut since July so that would be on my list of must dos. Can you do that? I know what you mean about the Dr. bills, since I plan to continue to see my doc I would like to pay rather than discharge. Enjoy!!!

[Trixie007]

Ok.... withholding allowances are good for 2009... that's a non-issue at this point. We didn't know about the HOPE tax credit til we filed, and the overtime happened rather quickly. By the time we saw how much was coming in, it was too late. They basically held 33% out for Federal taxes. It's not normal for DH to work on a fire for 3 months as he's a Fisheries Biologist!

I'm not sure there's a way around paying my medical co-pays, as we have the cafeteria plan/flex acct, whatever you call it. If I don't use their reimbursements to pay the co-pays, it just leaves that much more money in my account for the Trustee. I just had surgery last week and am waiting for the bills to start rolling in. If the co-pays are higher than what we're putting into the account, that's a separate issue.

But my real question is if anyone has an idea of how much would be too much to spend on groceries and clothes. And any other ideas of what could be done with the money? Otherwise, I would guess it's just going to go to the Trustee. Which I suppose is not the end of the world all things considered.

[Trixie007]

not a good idea to pay debt that can be discharged

Can medical bills that close to filing be discharged? Everyone took such good care of me at the hospital, I think that would really bum me out to not pay them... Incredible people doing an incredibly demanding job! I even had my own nurse assigned to me while I was in recovery - I think that's something specific to my doctor though.