As soon as it comes in it goes out. My $500 freelance check cleared, so I sent

$250 to my IRA
$180 to the kids 529s
$75 extra to the car loan.

I also got $10 worth of Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks and a $25 Amazon card from my rewards credit card. I am going to try (though unsuccessfully) to amass as many credits on the Amazon account as I can, and use it toward Christmas. I know I will fail, as we are always buying something on there!

Anyway, it feels good to make progress. I am also so ready to file taxes, but am still waiting on my brokerage account forms. They are no online, and our broker has said they will not be ready until end of February.

Argh. I want that refund in my house fund! It will feel really great to put that tax refund to work, and cross a big goal off of our ambitious list. But alas, I must be patient.

The state tax refund will likely go toward upgrading our electrical box, which will need to be done before we put our house on the market, next year. Sigh. We do love our house and we will be sad to leave it. But it's also clear we will soon outgrow it. It will be time to move on.