the tax refund...

Yes, I do.

I do the budget/money in our house. With dh's input. I like to mull over many, many ideas about how to spend the money, then finally dole it out. Once it comes to a final decision, dh usually rubber-stamps in agreement, because I've been talking to him non-stop for weeks, and he's fine with whatever I come up with.

I haven't finished mulling over the tax refund yet. LOL

But, for Christmas money, this is what we ended up with (some of it was given to us separately, but just by my family, so my "real" portion is larger, and I end up adding it together, then divvying it up as I see fit):

zoo pass for the family
money for a date (so couple money)
money for a couple of needed, boring things for the family (household)
money for dh (not that much by the time it was through, but some)
money for me (a little more, but only because I negotiated, cause I wanted a few specific things, and the equivalent for him is in our monthly budget)

So, yeah, I try to make sure that everyone gets a little piece of the pie.

i lurk here because dh is a sahp. maybe i should do more lurking, less posting, but sometimes i can't resist. i think if the financial situation allows for it, the sahp should get a bit of fun money out of the tax refund. this year, our tax refund has to go to practical needs with the exception of maybe, like, $100 for fun (total).

dh has been a sahd for five years. i don't remember what we've done every year, but i do remember one year when he had a project he wanted to do (just for fun) and we agreed that he would take $500 of our refund for that. he ended up just blowing the money on . . . whatever. i don't think i'll ever go for something like that again.

Not really. But I'm in charge of the money anyway so...most of it ends up being spent by me. Usually my "treats" are small and spread out through the year. A chocolate bar here and there, a little thrift shopping for fun.

Quote:
Well, when I say I get money for "me", I mean enough for a haircut, a new pair of (thrift store) pants, and a coke at Sonic.

Maybe that's not what the OP had in mind?

Usually we stuff all ours in savings, but this year I got a new computer.

We usually do. We typically put it toward a project (finishing our playroom) or a goal (i.e., paid off my student loans one year) -- and each receive ~$50-100 to do whatever we want, which is fun.

However, this year we decided against it since we allotted it toward the kids' tuition for next year, finishing the playroom (again this year!), and a fall vacation.

I sort of miss it. I like doing my taxes. Nowhere else can you sit down at your computer (TurboTax) for an hour and walk away knowing that you're going to have money in a few weeks. We always celebrate tax night with chips and wine.

Dh and I each took $250 to buy what we wanted with. There was a seperate amount for family activities that aren't nessesity. The rest (the majority) of it went to bills, nessesary purchases (like new tires, medical device, vetting, etc), cc debt, and a couple thousand in savings.

We haven't really bought any fun stuff or been able to go do fun things that cost money for a very long time. I think about anyone would go crazy without a little room for extras when there is a means. Dh and I both managed not to buy anything for ourselves besides $2 shampoo, bic razors, underwear and socks, and the occasional deli or bakery treat (like once a month) for a very long time (over a year I gather). We skipped our birthdays for the last couple years and christmas for 2 or 3 years as well (we were able to get our kids some things this past Christmas). Skipped anniversaries, skipped valentines day, etc, etc..... etc. So, tax time allows us a little break from skipping over ourselves and each other. I think we deserve that.

ETA: our refund was pretty substancial so the amount we allowed ourselves was in accordance with that while still allowing a couple thousand to be added to the emergency fund.