Turbo Tax, you are my friend!

Yes, this is a true statement! I have always been very intimidated to do my own taxes, simply because all those forms, lines, and columns make me break out into hives. Seriously, hives. For the last 10 years, my husband and I have gathered all our forms together and taken them to Collins Tax Services for our accountant Desiree.

Unfortunately, we got a letter in the mail a few weeks ago that hurt my feelings. For real. Desiree was retiring and closing up shop. I literally yelled in the car, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Josh and I debated whether or not to find a new tax preparer. Should we do one of the big companies, or should we bite the bullet and do it ourselves? I created a Turbo Tax account and did a quick practice run, just to see if I could handle all the forms, lines, and columns. To my great joy...no forms, lines, or columns.

Oh my gosh, this was so easy! Everything was mapped out for us in a simple checklist. I could see the timeline at the top of the screen that displayed my progress, and was soooo comforted by the conversational nature of each question. It was like I had an accountant right there asking me, "Now Amber, do you have a form that says 1099-INT? You do? Great! Write that number right here."

So I did. We were also very happy that the software searched for errors, found a mistake I made in entering the numbers, and helped me fix it. Once it displayed our refund amount, I compared that number to last year's refund and happily noticed that this year's was in the same ball park. Not exactly the same, but within the same time zone, if you will. I would have been scared to death if it was like $2000 more or less. That would be bad.

Anyway, 2 seconds later, our taxes were e-filed and we are currently awaiting the direct deposit of our refund. The whole process took me about an hour and a half, just because I went really slowly because I didn't want to make any mistakes. Next year should be a breeze!

This is going to allow up to pay off several of those smaller pesky bills that are just annoying. A medical bill, our computer, the sofa and loveseat we had to buy in October when our old couch broke, some savings, and then give both my husband and I a little spending money. I think I am going to get really nice haircut, a couple of things for our vacation, and put the rest onto our final credit card. I will weep for joy when that card is finally paid off. I may even sing a song of happiness...but I will warn you first.

Happy Tax Season everyone! (and the world heaves a collective sigh)