Alligning Vision

Today, as we both drove home, my husband and I talked about what we should do with our tax refund. Whenever we have a windfall ($1,000 plus) I check in to see if there's anything outside of our game plan that he would like to happen with the money. I map out what I would like to happen, gather numbers, then talk to him.

The first thing- pay our state taxes was a given. Then I wanted to pay off my car and put asside the remaining funds for our 0% interest appliance fund. Depending on when we actually have the refund in our hands there will be $500-1000 left after doing those things. There are a few options:

• Extra payment on the Prius
• Rebuild the efund (used $3,000 as a car down payment)
• Home exterior fund (landscaping (HOA required)/patio furniture)

I gave the first two options and with no needling he agreed that we should rebuild the efund. If you knew my husband and/or have heard the range of financial discussions we've had over the past 2.5 years you would get how amazing that is. He gets the value of having a cushion, but given the choice would much rather pay off debt. If the economy were different or his job was different I may agree. But they're not, so having a small efund makes me happy.

Despite my efund love we're going with option 3. Our lawn is diseased in the front and a required tree is missing. We're leaning towards xeriscaping to reduce water consumption. The problem is we have no clue what this will cost. If there is no blizzard when we wake up a landscaper is coming over with a drawing and numbers. The HOA fine season and plan approval requirement make this time sensitive. So whatever is left after we pay off the debts on the top of our list will be spent on the house.

Next month I'll get a new plan together that will rebuild the efund and attack the Prius loan.