...off to work I go...

I did a preliminary run through our taxes today, and it looks like we're going to owe about $500 between the feds and the state.

Anyone want to lend me a kid for a week or two? :-)

And for once it was actually me!!!

A while back we started getting a flurry of junk mail with people offering to collect a government refund on our behalf (and help themselves to 35%, of course). I threw away the first several without a second glance, but when they kept coming I starting wondering if there was actually something legit behind it.

All of the junk mail mentioned a HUD refund, so I went to the HUD website, plugged in our name, and lo and behold, there it was! We were due a refund from part of the interest on our first mortgage, and they hadn't been able to locate us when we were between houses.

So I called the number listed, and after a couple of tries we got connected to a man who confirmed our refund and then gave me a list of a whole bunch of things that we would need to get together and fax in (a letter, a sales statement from the old house, etc). It honestly sounded like a pain and while I totally intended to do it, I had been procrastinating just a wee bit.

I was totally shocked to check the mail today and find a check from the US Treasury for the full amount! I guess they were able to track down the details on the first check they sent us and just re-cut it.

So now we've got a tidy little bonus and I didn't have to do hardly any work. Who says laziness doesn't have it's rewards? :-)