24 Reasons To Feel Great

I knew it was coming. I had read about it in the paper a couple weeks back. It said the week of May 19th. Well, sure enough, with about 40 minutes to spare in the May 19th work week, it did, in fact, arrive.

05/23/2008 4:17:42 PM

External Deposit US TREASURY 220 - TAX REFUND

$1,500.00

X

$1500 from the U.S. Treasury appeared in my bank account. It's my family's "economic stimulus" check. Six hundred bucks for both me and my wife, and then a few hundred delivered by the little man - Mr. O.

Here's the best part. Back on April 15th, Tax Day, I sent a check to those same folks in D.C. for $1700, give or take a few dollars. Then, I wrote another check for about $340 to the small accounting firm that does our taxes, so I don't mess anything up. Then, the beautiful City of Lansing asked me to send them two additional dollars in taxes, while the State of Michigan graciously sent me back $518 in a refund.

So, $1700 + $340 + $2 - $518 - $1500 = $24. Yes!

Still, even though I barely broke even, a magical $1500 appearing in one's bank account late on a Friday afternoon sure makes you feel wealthy. Which was exactly the point of the checks in the first place.