The Newlywed Life: Filing Taxes

Many would say that Mr. Robinson and I married young.  I was 22, he was 23.  In many ways, we were both adults.  In many other ways, we were still "kids."  We never really experienced complete independence from our parents until we got hitched.  For example, neither of us have ever filed our own taxes.  Ever.  Both of us were in college and our parents had always taken care of things.   
Now, here we are...all grown up...married & clueless.

Okay, okay...we aren't completely grown up...but we are still married & clueless.  :)
  I was mildly terrified of filing taxes this year.  You see, I waited tables for the majority of 2011 and I'll be the first to tell you that I did not even come close to claiming all of the tips I made.  The less money I "claimed" in tips, the more money I got to keep.  Money I worked my butt off for, I might add.  (My behavior wasn't honest, it wasn't Christian-like, and if I was still waiting tables I would conduct myself entirely different.)  With a slightly guilty conscience, I was obviously a little bit nervous about a possible audit in our future.
Another scary thing....There are so many choices when it comes to filing taxes.  It's a little ridiculous how many choices there are, if you ask me.  I thought I'd share with y'all how The Robinson's went about filing taxes and why.  

1. We filed together because based on our financial situation, it would save us money.  Do the research and determine what will be most beneficial to you and your spouse - filing together or filing separately.  I was also very inclined for us to file together because I felt like it was the Biblically correct thing to do.  Call me crazy, but I feel like when God said a married couple is one, He meant in all areas.  Not only in certain areas or in all areas except.... you know what I'm saying?  Also, when Mary was pregnant with Jesus, her and Joseph went to be taxed.  They went together.  Mr. Robinson didn't so much agree with my Biblical reasoning, and that's okay.  We did the research and determined that we needed to file together.  Advice:  Do the research.  There are so many options out there, figure out what option works best for you.  We all want to get money back!  So Google it, ask an accountant for free advice, talk to parents and/or grandparents... 
2. We decided to have a professional tax accountant do our taxes for us instead of doing them on our own.  Like I said, we have no experience with this whole "filing taxes" thing.  We are still wet behind the ears.  I'm lucky enough to work for the family business and we already had a trusted accountant.  His private company handled our taxes this year.
3. We turned in everything.  Just to be sure.  Our W2's (we each had two), the tithes and offerings report from church, receipts from the Goodwill donations we made (even the separate donations we made before we were married), etc.  We turned in everything.  

Filing taxes can be stressful.  We certainly argued about the best thing to do and the best way to do it.  What we learned (and we are not experts by ANY means) is to do your research!  What works for your parents might not work for you.  Ask around, do internet searches, and be prepared to stay confused.  I'd (personally) recommend hiring a professional to save yourself a headache AND professionals can check both options (filing jointly or separately) and tell you which way will save money!
We just found out yesterday that we got $2,000 back!  Whoop, Whoop!! 
I hope this helps!  How'd you survive tax season?         
Don't forget to sign up for the blogger meet - up planned for October.  Click Here for details!  We'd LOVE to have you!  

Our Big Black Book

So, a while back Lauren (who just so happens to be awesome, beeteedubs) asked her followers to participate in a series about organization.  I told my husband I was going to do it and he laughed.  I'm not the most organized person in the world...but I'll share with y'all the most organized area of my/our life.  I did give her my guest post, and it was pretty successful if I do say so myself.  Since that lovely January day, that guest post has been sitting in my Draft box.  It's high time to share my sick-nasty organizational skills (I only have one, haha) with y'all, right?!  I mean...it's been three months.  

If you read my blog on the reg, you know that there is some weird gene in my body that makes me provide you with an introduction instead of just jumping into the thing I'm trying to talk blog about.  

The Introduction:

Meet my mom:

Isn't she beautiful?  I think she's the most beautiful woman in the world, and she is the person I look up to the most.  She's a wonderful person and I strive to be as good of a wife, daughter, sister, friend, and (maybe, someday) mother as she is.  Her name is Doremi.  Do-re-mi.  Do:  A deer, a female deerRe:  A drop of golden sunMi:  A name I call myself
I'm not kidding.  I can't make this stuff up.
Anyway, she is a very organized woman and taught me everything I know about organizing.  And when I say she's very organized, I mean that her spices are in alphabetical order, so are her credit cards, and everything she owns is color coordinated.  She's a freak.  I strive to have just one-tenth of her organizational skills.  Maybe it's a mom thing, but she just has a knack for always knowing exactly where everything is...and once I became an old married lady, I wanted to have that skill, too!  I wanted to never lose anything!  :)  How great that must feel.
And so the BigBlackBook was born.

The key to a happy marriage, never-ending youth, and perfection is all inside the BBB.  
Not.
But we do depend on this book to keep our home a happy one.  We keep it locked in our fire-proof, flood-proof, locked gun-safe.  At. All. Times.  We are so hardcore.  :)

Source: d3uwin5q170wpc.cloudfront.net via Anastasiya on Pinterest

About The Big Black Book
Well, it's really very simple.  We purchased a 2" black 3-ring binder from Wal-Mart.  We also purchased one pack of paper, two packs of subject dividers, and one pack of clear page protectors.  We loaded all of our supplies into the binder and there it sat for a while.  We didn't use it at first.  I have a little secret....I'm never going to be my mom.  I hate organizing.  However, it seems like a kind of necessary evil if we want all of our bills paid on time.  So, eventually we bought a huge heavy-duty hole-puncher and got to work.
TIP:  If you have certain documents that are important, don't punch holes in them.  Just slip the special papers into a clear page protector.  (Ex:  Car Titles, Marriage License, Official Documents)    
The very first page of the book is a clear page protector that holds our marriage license.  The South Carolina ML is not very attractive, so it is not displayed anywhere in our home.  We also want to make sure it never burns up or gets ruined on accident.  So, it lives in the BBB, who lives in the armegeddon-proof safe.    
Then, we have all of our pay stubs.  There is a page divider labeled as Mr. Robinson's pay stubs and a page divider labeled as Mrs. Robinson's pay stubs.  We punch holes in the pay stubs and load them into the book in ascending order so that our most recent pay stubs are always on top.  This will come in handy if we ever get audited or if there is a mistake at the bank.  It's also good for helping us figure out our budget.  
After our pay stubs, we have our bank account information.  Mr. Robinson and I have a joint checking account and a joint savings account, so all of our bank statements are under one tab.  We also have the information needed to log into our bank account online, like the user name, password, and security questions.  If you and your husband have a different system (like separate accounts), it could still be helpful to keep your banking information in a common place.  What happens if you tragically and suddenly die?  Your spouse might need access to your financial information.  Some couples choose to create financial folders with this information in them, sealed and handed over to an attorney.  This is just another alternative. 
Behind our bank account information, we have a tab for each of our bills.  

• satellite television
• internet
• telephone
• cell phones
• health insurance
• car insurance 
• We keep our car titles and property tax information in clear page protectors under this tab.
• credit card
• We only have one credit card, and the only reason we have it is to earn sky miles.  So in this tab, we keep all of the statements we receive as record of spending but we also keep track of the miles we earn.
• leases
• When we got married, we moved into a house.  However, we were both still under leases for one bedroom apartments at the time.  My lease ended in November, and Mr. Robinson's will end in February.  We keep all of that payment information and records of the leases in separate tabs, organized by real estate companies.
• We have a tab where we store the credit reports and mortgage information we received when we applied (and were denied) for our first mortgage on a home in the city.  

Each tab is labeled according to what the bill is for.  Information in each section includes account information, account history, bills, payment information, and receipts.  Also in each tab is the information needed to log into the respective account online (user name, password, and security questions).  
So, this is just one way that we stay organized.  I'll be honest with you, though.  We do not pull this thing out every day.  We do not spend our nights punching holes and organizing things.  We are newlyweds, ya know.  ;)  So....what actually and usually happens is.....when stuff comes in the mail, we either throw it away because it's junk or put it in this basket in the kitchen.  

 When the basket is full, we pull out the BBB and file everything away.

The book really does help us out, because when we are looking for something, we know exactly where to find it, whatever "it" may be.  If you decide to do this, make sure to keep your BBB in a very safe place.  A book like this would be every identity thief's dream.  Which is why, like I said, we keep ours in a fireproof, flood proof, bad-guy-proof, locked gun safe with all of our our loaded weapons.  :)  
Don't forget to come back Wednesday ~ in two days ~ for a really awesome, blogger-meet-up-opportunity + linky-party AND all of the amazing details!  =) 

“Live a great life—not big—and be inspired to share it with others.”

Hey!  I already published a Pinterest post earlier today, so make sure you check it out.  =)  BUT this is super important!  I came across this quote this morning:  “Live a great life—not big—and be inspired to share it with others.”

I instantly fell in in love.  I think that quote sums up why I blog.  I like to think I live a great life...full of love, lessons, and lingering kisses.  However, my life is not, by any means, what I would call "big."  I have struggles that I don't always write about.  Like right now, for instance.  I'm struggling with balance.  You know, being able to find time to do everything I want to do.  I'm slowly learning that my dad's definition of a good wife isn't necessarily my husband's definition of a good wife - and that maybe striving to be the kind of wife that my mom is isn't good enough for my husband.  Sigh.  We won't go there.  I have two small-life tips that I want to share with y'all.  And mostly, have a wonderful day.  Thank you - all of you - for the comments, e-mails, and kind words that we exchange.  Sometimes they're what gets me through the day.

Anyway, I have found TWO new ways to save money and I just had to share it with y'all!

(1)  A while back, I wrote about some  mini frittatas I made with my muffin pan.  They were yummy, healthy, and made for a wholesome breakfast.  BUT, what if there was a cheaper and healthier way (not to mention, faster) to make these minis?  You'd want to know about it, right?!  Well...buy a large carton of liquid egg whites.  [If you buy the store brand, it'll save you some moolah.]  Spray your muffin pan with cooking spray, fill each muffin cup up with egg whites so that the cups are 2/3 full, and drop some toppings in.  (Onions, lowfat cheese, peppers, turkey sausage, ANYTHING!)  Salt & Pepper, bake for 30 minutes @ 350 degrees.  After they cool, put the minis in a ziplock bag and freeze them.  For breakfast, you can pull the minis out one at a time.  Microwave alone for 1 minute.  Cut an english muffin in half, top with cheese and one mini, microwave for 30 seconds and enjoy!  =) 

For this particular batch of minis, I used egg whites, diced onions, diced low fat cheddar cheese, salt & pepper.  Simple and delicious! 

(2)  You know how your mascara goes all crusty after you've had it for a while?  And it stops working like it should, so you throw it away and buy another mascara.  Well.  Cease and desist!  Instead of throwing out your mascara and buying new mascara all theee time, you can add a few drops of saline solution (aka contact solution) to the mascara tube.  Shake, shake, shake.  Let it sit over night, and the next time you go to use your mascara it will be like new again!  The reason is because mascara dries up BEFORE it runs out, and the saline solution brings it back to life.  I tried it.  It works like a charm.  And saved me from buying another bottle of my favorite $20 mascara.  Yeesh.

So, there ya are!  Get out there and save some money.  Don't forget to check out my Pinterest post.  And most importantly...

“Live a great life—not big—and be inspired to share it with others.” 

Cleaning Out The Cupboards

Mr. Robinson's last day with the company he's currently with will be next Wednesday, the 21st.  He will start his new job on March 26th, and we are VERY excited to see where this new journey will take us.  

We are absolutely confident that this is where God wants us to be.  

It's funny because late last week, we received an e-mail containing an application.  

He'd been pursuing a job particular job in town, but there were no positions available.  

Now that he's accepted a new job, the office he had been hoping to work at sends him an application. Anyway, I'm getting side tracked.  My point was...life is funny sometimes.

His new job, while we are very excited, will mean that for a little while we will be living off of my income alone.  It's not a big deal, and we know that our Lord will provide.  However, we feel like it is wise to prepare for the worst-case scenario.  List most people, we spend the majority of our money on food.  I love grocery shopping.  Truthfully, I adore it and look forward to it all the time.  I day dream about fresh produce and making delicious meals.  I can spend hours in the grocery store.  Oh, and hundreds of dollars.  No big deal, right?  

Source: google.com via Molly on Pinterest

Well, I'd love to cut back on some spending, especially since we are preparing for a pretty big change.  We are out of fresh veggies (with the exception of an onion, a few baby carrots, and three celery stalks).  We're also out of MOST of our favorite foods.  It kind of sucks, but I'm determined to stay away from the grocery story until we absolutely have run. out. of. food.  It's time for the Robinson's to clean out the cupboards!  We have tons of canned goods and foods pushed back into the backs of the freezer and cabinets and shelves.  Food hides from us at our house, and maybe at your house, too.  So the plan is to try and save money by eating the food we already have - because we have plenty.  Are we up to our ears in our favorite foods?  No....but will we go hungry without our favorites?  No.

{If you are interested in cleaning out your cupboard & saving a little money, check out this article.  *Thanks Megan!}

It'll be interested to see what I come up with, since I hate following recipes in the first place.  ;)  I won't be blogging about what we eat...you'll just have to follow along on  Twitter to watch the magic unfold!  =)  

Oh, & speaking of next Wednesday....make sure to come back.  I've got something amazing up my sleeve!  You won't want to miss it!