So I went to bed late last night – partly because I was too stressed from work to sleep (yet again) and partly because I wanted to finish off my tax return so I could get that sweet, sweet refund I love so much.

The money is now as good as spent. In my head, I’ve already separated it between building my emergency fund, paying off some credit card debt and adding a small amount to my vacation fund.

As I type this, I can hear some people come to a screeching halt at the “vacation fund” reference. Here are my thoughts:

Yes, I know that in the current economy I probably shouldn’t be thinking of spending money on vacations.

Yes, I realize that money may serve me better by being added to my emergency fund or debt payment – especially since I recognize that my job may be on the chopping block.

But, I need something to look forward to and when vacation does roll around, I want to make sure that it’s something I’m prepared for. And, honestly, if I need the money it’s just in another savings account growing and waiting for a use.

I love taxes (for now at least).

Thanks to my trusty overpayment to Uncle Sam. I received my Federal Tax Refund yesterday.

Most of it went to paying off a credit card – my snowball plan has changed drastically since transferring a lot of my debt to recently opened 0% cards. That’s for the next post though.

But the rest of it went to bumping my “Income Security Account” (a.k.a. Emergency Fund) to $1000 status. I will still make my small monthly contributions, since I figure it can’t hurt and I barely notice the money is being taken out of my account anyway. Frankly, I’m just relieved that my Emergency Fund is up to a decent/recommended amount. Especially considering the alarming number of people out there that don’t have any money saved up “just in case”.

For my state return, which will be around $400, I’m planning to put about half of that towards my Christmas Gift account and the rest will help me get down to Florida for my buddy’s bachelor party in a few months.

And yes…again…I know it’s probably better to not get as many refunds or as much of a refund back at the end of the year. But there’s something therapeutic about these lump sum allocations that is worth the time missed. Maybe I’m alone on that.