The Top 3 Items For My Tax Return Money

As a dad, I am required to do a lot.  I’m ok with that, that’s what I signed up for.  Whether it’s paying the bills, putting up and taking down the christmas tree, fixing all things that need to be fixed, and
 always being expected to have an answer to all of life’s mysteries, I’m always being pulled in one direction or another.  In fact, I have very little time to myself anymore.  I can’t just sit down and do something for me.  Well, it’s tax time and I anticipate getting a huge return from Uncle Sam.  I plan on taking that money and finally putting an end to all this non “me-time,” and my first objective is to buy a brand spanking new phone with unlimited talk/text & data.

1. A New Phone 

I know – the first thing I plan on doing is buying a new phone, lame, right?  Well, maybe.  I’ve had my current phone FOREVER and it’s time for it to hit the trails.  The memory runs out as soon as I run an app, it freezes all the time, and if the memory hasn’t run out, or if it hasn’t frozen, it’s slower than molasses. The camera sucks, the 3.5mm sound jack doesn’t work any more, and I need a new device to keep track of all the shameful pictures I take of my son.

Instead of looking at someone else’s smart phone and wishing that I could be as cool as them, I finally made the decision to get one because, darn it, I deserve it.  But, aha, here’s the dad in me – where do I go and how do I spend the least amount of money?

 Honestly, I’ve looked everywhere.  Verizon? Oh my word – it’s like they are charging you for King Midas’ gold.  No way. AT&T? Just as bad.  Sprint? Now you’re getting somewhere – but there’s still a better option.

The best deal I could find for a cool smart phone was through Walmart that is right down the street from my office.  I spent to minutes finding the place, another minute getting to the desk and the kind staff member was a huge help in getting me set up with the phone.

The Walmart family plan is truly a thing of beauty.  Dad’s should rejoice everywhere because of it’s savings. It’s $29.88/ month (for the first line) and then it’s unlimited talk/text/ data with up to 500 mb  of 4G LTE data.  I was literally being charged 5 times that with my old phone from another service provider.

The other thing was trying to find the right phone.  My choice was the Samsung Galaxy Avant for $149.00.  It’s a great phone for the money, and it’s relatively cheap.  Best yet, because the plan is so cheap, my savings from my previous phone bill will more than make up the up front cost of buying a new phone within the first few months.  It’s freakin’ awesome.

But now that I’ve saved a lot of money, and still haven’t spent less than 2% of the tax return money, here’s what else I’m going to buy:

2. A New Laptop 

My computer at work is old and it’s worse than my phone in terms of performance – it’s literally 14 years old.  I can’t do my job effectively and worse yet, I am always stuck to my desktop while doing stuff for work.  It doesn’t even have an internal device to detect wi-fi!  It’s awful. So, when I get a nice laptop, I can always be on the go, do my work, and still hang out with the family when I need to because I can take work home.  It’s worth it. I’m finally getting something nice to meet the standards of today.

3. A Day Out At Gents

I never take the time to take care of myself in terms my skin, hair, or beard.  Going to the barber is a task I grudgingly do because I HAVE to. Otherwise, I look like Tom Hanks in Castaway.  But, for the first time in a long time, I am going to ask Tall Mom to take our son while I go and get a well needed straight razor shave, a haircut, and maybe even a massage over at Gents.  Gents is an old school barber shop where there’s a bar, leather chairs, tons of TV’s to watch sports or whatever I want, and it feels like I’m back in the thirties.  You know, when men were men.  It’s time to take care of me a little bit.  I like this idea….

Now I just have to convince Tall Mom to go along with that plan….Wish me luck.