I love a head start

I have my first meeting with the CPA that is doing my taxes for me this year. I can't tell you how excited I am to not be doing them this year. I am certain I should be able to do them myself next year, but with the move and this being the first year I'm filing seperately, I afraid I'm going to forget a bunch of deductions and, worse yet, monumentally screw up my taxes.

I am waiting on a few more items to come in the mail but am really proud of myself for keeping my info pretty much in line. I have misplaced only one or two receipts but am pleased to find 90% of them. Also, the totally anal rententive tracking of my charity mileage is a good thing. One of my goals for this year was to find a better way to file and store information so this tax prep is helping me do that.

There are two reasons I'm starting so early. First, since I am using the majority of the tax return to pay down my credit card, I want that money as soon as possible. The longer I wait to do my taxes means the more money I will pay in interest. If I get my taxes done by mid-Februray, I should be able to have the return but my birthday early March. That's perfect.

The second reason is that I am certain I am over paying my federal taxes and do not want that money going to Uncle Sam so he can gain all that interest. I want to pay down those damn cards so I don't have to pay interest. I found a calculator online that helps figure what you should take in allowances. It said I should take Single 9. I take Single 4. I want an expert to help me figure out exactly where I should be. Again, the sooner I get this down, the sooner I can adjust my paycheck and the more money I will end up with in the long term. If I find I'm over paying and can make a $25 a week increase in my take home pay beginning in March, that will mean an extra $1,000 this year.

I'm loving finding new sources of increasing the amount of money coming in by doing nothing other than evaluating how money goes out. It's important to me to think about the long term. $25 seems like a little. But, over time, every little dime adds up...