I've bounced back a bit today. Thank you for the kind words of encouragement.

Mr. A and I talked last night about money we have coming in and we should be able to pay our income taxes as soon as his client cuts a check. So I should be able to do our taxes this weekend, and I'll get one more thing marked off my “to-do” list. I came up with more things to be grateful for and am feeling less bummed out. Sometimes when I get bummed out, it helps to come up with worst case scenarios, which helps me feel a lot better. Here are a few things I thought about:

• At least we have money coming in to cover the amount. We won't be reduced to doing something like get a payday loan or go further into credit card debt.
• We both have an income.
• We aren't reduced to eating only beans for weeks at a time (something I experienced as a child when we were on welfare).
• We needed the money last year.

There are a few things that happened last year that made our taxes higher.

• I started working more hours which increased my pay and I didn't change my deductions. Every year since I've worked since 2000, I've gotten back between $2000 and $4000 from earned income credit.
• Mr. A and I got married, so our income combined, and bumped us into a higher tax bracket.
• We are no longer eligible for earned income credit at this higher tax rate.
• I would have to say 2007 was one of the most stressful years in my entire life, and I was barely making it through day by day, let alone being on top of making sure I had enough taxes coming from my check.
• Our youngest son turned 18, so we can no longer claim him as a child, but we can claim him as a dependent.
• We pay him to “babysit” our oldest son, who has Down Syndrome. The IRS will not allow us to claim the money we pay to our youngest son for watching his brother, because he is under the age of 19.

And last but not least, I've started a new poll, please cast your vote. How much money do you spend on gasoline each month?