Contributing to Society

Despite the naysayers out there, I did file for taxes today. I am officially a contributing member of society in that old-fashioned sense.

The timing couldn't be more perfect. I had checked my PO box this weekend to get a letter from KCRW to give me a breakdown of my contributions to them and the face value of the premium that I received (because I had no idea). I was glad to include that in my return, not completely expecting to get more money back from my year's charitable contributions, which I didn't. Amidst my complete inability to do math correctly, this year's contributions were not enough to constitute getting the bigger deductible since I file as single. That's not to say I shouldn't have contributed to what I did in the first place, because I got a lot out of them, knowing I've helped fund research and services for those in need, I gained membership and access to The Huntington and KCRW things, and I even got myself a date, which I haven't even officially gone out on to this day (because yes, I do have to pay money to go out on dates, whether or not I actually go out on them).

This year I filed online, thanks in part of the fact that my AGI was low enough that I could file online for free. That's a very convenient yet kind of depressing thing to know. Then again, I could technically apply for welfare with the kind of money I've made in the past two years, but it never dawned on me I could have saved the $40+ I spent on tax filing software just so I could get my return. This year, it only cost me $9.95, since I had to pay for the e-filing of my state return, and I didn't mind doing that, as all my info from my federal return was transferred over, and since I wound up getting a pretty substantial return from State this year, I thought it would be worth it.

Aside from the fact that filing a return is only 9 days away, I can chalk up another point in timing, because based on my e-file and direct deposit return status, I should be getting my money plus my next paycheck on the same day. That will make me feel better, since I was feeling a little poor this weekend after just getting my packcheck just a few days ago and remembering I had a car insurance payment this month, on top of my regular car payment. It's not that I'm broke, but after going to Hawaii and being unemployed prior to that, it is taking me longer to recover from basically having no income for a while. My savings is slowly getting up there, but I'm sure that I can definitely be a little smarter on my spending (mostly eating out and food, as I really haven't bought anything excessive for myself in a while). I owe one person a substantial amount of money and am a bit embarrassed to have not payed that debt back yet, but I really do hope with this return, I can take care of that (especially considering my Federal return can easily take care of that.

On top of that, I've qualified to get the $600 that the Government is giving away to people to help stimulate the economy. Instead of my stimulating the economy with that money, I'm taking my State refund and my $600 and put it in my account to pay for two months' worth of car payments. As Blog as my witness, I'm going to allocate this money to things I need to take care of before I start thinking I have more money to burn at this time.

At least I'm getting paid fairly well nowadays, and after my probationary period is over, I'll be getting paid more. Even with that, there's a possibility I'll be able to file online for free once again since I didn't start working at the beginning of this month, and that I've been getting paid the probationary pay for the past couple of months.

Even though I've never reached the point of destitution as I almost did back in 2004 before landing my job at FIDM, I still consider myself broke when I have a low amount of money saved in my account, and having money to help pay for my debts will help me actually save some money from my paycheck, so that I won't be so worried about things and not feel like I'm scraping by anymore.

It will be a good day once I feel as though I'm no longer on "Survival Mode."