It's Hard to be all Grown-Up

January has proved to be a difficult month in the life of being a new homeowner, newlywed, new year, etc...

Yes, I said "new" to both homeowner and partner in marriage; seeing as we have not even had our 2nd Anniversary for either events.

I am the designated "money person" in our marriage. Scotty's imput is necessary - as he is head of the household - however, I am the only bill-payer between the two of us. I was truly thrilled when January came around the corner this year - I had been budjeting all year long for our property and school taxes so those would not kick us in the teeth and I was excited to do our personal taxes early so we could put 1/2 towards our retirement account and use the other 1/2 to beef our savings back up (we bought a $5000 fence this year, fixed our chimney from IKE for $3000 and got trees trimmed due to IKE damage for another $500).

So, last week, I go to pay our property taxes only to find they almost doubled the amount I budgeted for! REALLY?!? Was I that careless? I thought...."It's okay...we have that amount in checking, and we are about to get our savings right back where we want it..."

Yesterday, I excitedly begin to do our personal taxes. I answer all the questions the little online touturial is asking:

Do you have kids: NO

Did you purchase a new home in 2009: NO

Did you buy any new energy effecient upgrades for your home in 2009: NO

....on and I went, until I got to the very last page to put in my bank information....

I eagerly typed in the info and clicked "CONTINUE"...

"You owe $698"

WHAT!?! We owe money??? Are you saying that even though neither Scotty nor I claim anything on our W4's and the IRS takes the maximum amount out of our paychecks each month - all year long - we STILL owe an additional $700????

I swear, I almost cried.

So, today, Sunday - our usual day of rest and relaxation - has turned into a day of hard discussions and re-budgeting for 2010. Lots more money will have to be allocated into our end-of-year property tax payment. We will have to visit the possibility of changing our W4's to include the IRS taking more than what we have already allocated, so maybe next year we won't owe, and some vacations/small trips that were on 2010's calendar will no doubt we pushed back.

Oh the joys of being all grown-up..........