Wishing You a very Black Christmas!

Just because Santa is deep in red you don't have to be. This Christmas I'm doing my best to rein in my spending. It's difficult though because I truly want to embrace the spirit of giving and show my loved ones how much I appreciate them. In order to keep myself on task, I'm going to be blogging about my Christmas shopping experiences. My ideal is to actually GIVE more because I'll be on the lookout for the best ways to stretch my dollar allowing me to be creative and think BIG.

Gift #1: Groupon Gift certificate for $75 worth of wine purchased at $25. I am even more of a fan of Groupon now that the online deal delivery service offers even more through its holiday gift. A note about the fine print: shipping not included in the certificate value.

Hey Mr. Tax Man

My short history: I have debts to clear. Student loans, some to the IRS, and a little more to credit cards. How I got here is boring. But how I get out of this will not be. With faith and resilience and a lot of creativity, I know that I can overcome my debts and find the financial and emotional freedom that I'm looking for.

I get wrapped up in paralyzing fear sometimes. Money and I are not the best of friends. In fact, when money tries to talk to me I usually turn away. You don't have to be Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey to know that this needs to change.

So there I was on the eve of the unholiest of American days, April 15. I alternated between wanting to get it over with and putting it off some more. Sure I could've filed an extension but that wouldn't have helped my need to face my finances head on. I need to get rid of these things that dangle around me all the time to use the mental space for more creative projects. I managed to take a deep breath and then go to IRS.gov. And there I saw the link to free file. The program was a little clunky and outdated but I had done my own taxes enough on TurboTax and H&R Block to know how to fill in the forms. What's more, I only paid $10 for the state portion while in the past I've paid $30. And last year, I also waited til the last minute and ended up having to pay $30 to file my federal.

Cost: federal=FREE, state=$10 Savings (over last year): $50 Payoff: a HUGE sense of relief for getting things done