i love getting my taxes done early and crossing it off my list! all year long, i keep folders for things like receipts from donations to charities, goodwill drop-offs, and more. i also purchase everything that can be referenced during tax time on one credit card, so that all i have to do is print out my statements for that one card at the end of the year. i work with a woman at h&r block who helps to make it quick and painless - and each year they send me a note in january to remind me to make my appointment. can't get easier than that!

We did our taxes yesterday and it was not pretty. DH is a bartender at a restaurant that claims 100% of what he earns so he doesn't even get a paycheck and we STILL owe thousands come tax time. We're DINKs who would have been better off not marrying, frankly. My husband always tries to save enough on the side to have what's needed come April but he certainly didn't hit the mark this year. I had to put my foot down since I do the family finances. I asked him to close his separate account and I opened another savings account at the bank we do all our other banking with. I'm transferring a set amount every week from checking to that savings account so that we know we'll be all set for next year. I didn't want it confused with our vacation and emergency fund savings account. I also asked that he deposit ALL he makes daily and withdraw a set amount of spending money each week so that I can track everything through Learnvest. I do the same thing with my paychecks. I also set up a realistic budget in Learnvest and shared everything with him. I hope to "meet" with him midway through each month to see how we're doing. He behaves in a very strange way when we discuss money so I'm hoping if we make it a more routine occurrence, it will cause less stress between us in the long run.