In December, our family was blessed with a wonderful surprise…The Oregon Tax Kicker check. For those of you who don’t live in Oregon, there’s a law that says if the money the state takes in from taxes is a certain percentage higher than the state budget, the money gets kicked back to the taxpayers. Personally, I think they should just cut our taxes, but that’s a whole different subject.
Anyway, back to the story. In December our tax kicker check arrived, and it was much larger than we anticipated. $641 to be almost exact! My first thought was “pay down the credit card!” Friends told me to make sure we saved a little for something fun. In all my excitement, I forgot to ask my husband what he thought.
It turns out my husband had big plans for that check, too. Our Honda CR-V was in need of a new timing belt. I thought maybe we could put it off, but apparently the timing belt is one of those car parts that destroys the whole car if you let it go too long. So I agreed that we should get it replaced. We had the timing belt replaced in another car several years ago, and I recalled it being about $300, so I figured we’d have half the check left to pay down debt.
Unfortunately, I was wrong. Apparently, though the timing belt itself is not expensive, you have to take apart the whole engine on a CR-V to get the timing belt in. Total cost of the job? $608. So much for that Citibank bill going away any sooner.
In the end, it’s OK. The work needed to be done on the car, and we didn’t have to take the money out of our emergency fund. And I recognize that we’ve come a long way in the last several years.
I’m proud that my first thought was to pay down debt, and that my husband’s first thought was to pay for a necessary car repair. Just a couple of years ago we would have been thinking “Let’s go to Disneyland! $641 is a good start, and we can charge the rest!”
Yes, we’ve grown up a lot. And I’m glad.
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I’m glad the money went to good use. Next time Citibank will be next. :D I used to have a credit card with them so I’m a little biased against them.
One year I got a bonus of $360 – I had all kinds of pland. The next week, my brakes went out and cost me $343 to repair. Tough deal, but where would we have been if I had never gotten the bonus?
God promises to meet our needs. . . but I sometimes I wish he had promised me a Chevy Silverado. . .
Good for you, it looks like you have really changed your thinking regarding money and that can make a world of difference in your life! Congrats on all you have accomplish and may more good things come your way!
Take Care
LJ
WOOT! I think Disneyland is a better option ;) JUST KIDDING! That’s awesome that you were able to get the vehicle repaired without having to break into your savings!!
Sounds like you’re a pretty responsible adult, Lynnae. :) And in this crowd that’s a good thing. ;)
I recently had a similar experience to you and rocketc. My husband got an approx. $300 bonus and we had just received our property tax bill. It was $300 more than the mortgage company had saved for us. Like you, I was just glad to not have to take it out of savings!
Good for you. Those are the sort of life-changing minds shift you need to be sucessful long term.
I think Disneyland is a huge ripoff. They even charge for parking! What in the world? How do they expect their customers to get there? Walk? Ride a bike?
Disneyland is AWESOME!!! Not that I am trying to convince you to put a car payment towards Disneyland, but if you ever do decide to go, we did it (at the time a family of 5) for under $1000 (and that included a full day at the beach and eating out and the gas to get there and back). I would be happy to share how we did it. Just send me a mail message if you ever decide to go! :)
@Paula – I love Disneyland too. I went several times as a kid (lived in CA at the time). My husband and I are planning on taking our kids someday, but we’re not going to finance the trip! I’ll email you when we get to the planning stages. :)