Tax time + lifestyle creep
How I filed my taxes for free.
Hello everyone,
I wrote a couple stories about President Biden’s State of the Union address. Otherwise, I’ve been deep into researching and interviewing people for the past week for a couple of articles I’m excited about. What I love most about my job is being able to have deep conversations with interesting people, and the past week has been full of them. I can’t wait to share the stories that come from these conversations and everything they inspired.
In this week’s issue:
How I filed my taxes for free
One cool thing
Reframing ‘lifestyle creep’
Links
How I filed my taxes for free
Happy tax season, y’all. I filed this past weekend, as I was lucky to have already received all of the documents I needed. My taxes are pretty simple—I only have W2 income for last year, I’m single and don’t have kids, and I don’t have a house or anything like that which might require taking some fancy deductions or applying for credits. So I was able to get everything taken care of quite easily. I’m owed a refund this year which is nice, but I still owe the IRS from last year so it’s not that nice.
For a few years, I used Credit Karma Tax to file for free. This was extremely straight-forward and easy to navigate, and I liked that I wasn’t using TurboTax. Credit Karma Tax was purchased by Cash App Taxes at some point, so now I file with them. I have no idea if this is the best strategy or company to use, but it works for me, for now.
If you have a more complicated tax situation or a lot of freelance income, it’s probably worth it to hire an accountant to get everything squared away.
Otherwise, tax software works (mostly) fine. TurboTax and H&R Block have their problems, and there’s been a push to use anything but them to file your taxes. But to be honest, I think you should you use whatever is easiest for you to use. You struggling to get your taxes done due to inferior tax software doesn’t really help anyone.
Some things to keep in mind this year:
If you had an adjusted gross income under $73,000 last year, you can use certain tax software for free via the IRS’s free file tool. TurboTax and H&R Block used to be a part of this program but no longer are. You can surely guess why that is.
Certain states have special 2022 tax credits residents can take. A lot of these were billed as ways to help combat inflation; they mostly use leftover COVID-19 stimulus funds. Make sure if you qualify for these credits, you’re taking them! It appears that they don’t all show up in TurboTax’s software, either. So it might be worth using a different tax software this year.
One cool thing
I’m not sure this is actually “cool,” but this past weekend I finally rolled up all of the change my boyfriend and I have collected and took it the bank. It was worth over $100, and we’re using that to go out to dinner tonight.
So I guess…this is a reminder that if you have a bunch of loose change, why not ask your bank for some coin wrappers and get a “free” dinner out of it!
Reframing ‘lifestyle creep’
In the past week, I saw a tweet and a TikTok that had very similar thoughts on lifestyle creep I thought were worth sharing.
When we hear/read/think about lifestyle creep, I think it probably conjures images of people spending recklessly or irresponsibly as soon as they start making a little more money. The typical financial advice tells us to avoid this at all costs—don’t try to keep up with the Joneses, lest you your ruin your budget and spoil your long-term financial dreams.
This does happen to plenty of people—you start making more money, and you upgrade your car, maybe finally buy a house or rent in a nicer part of town, splurge on nicer dinners and clothing (I'm not innocent). But I appreciate the reframe: For many, a little more money means they’re catching up on the things they would have been doing before but couldn’t afford, like dental work, home repairs, debt payoff, etc. Even healthier (and therefore more expensive) groceries are treated as indulgent and superfluous, not necessary when cheaper options are available.
The thing about putting essential stuff off when you can’t afford it is that will catch up with you, and often costs many times more. I put off going to the dentist when I was in my early 20s because I didn’t have extra money to spend on whatever they charged me (even with dental “insurance”). It saved me in the short term but led to long-term problems that cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars over multiple years to fix.
Like the TikTok joked, one of the biggest (and best) changes I’ve been able to make as I earn more money is being able to buy super plush toilet paper instead of 1-ply. I suppose that’s a form of lifestyle creep, but we’re not asking for much over here. Rather than shaming people for “lifestyle creep,” I think it’s more useful to recognize many of us are simply trying to improve our quality of life.
Links
“Shouldn’t my projects reflect the worthiness of my attention?” Loved this interview with author Min Jin Lee.
This gets at a core tension I felt while writing my piece about de-influencing: “Don’t treat influencers/creators like a Google search bar.”
What is “funny” about this is that it’s being positioned as “finally workers will have to WORK” but the company established these jobs for what they currently are: Meta is “flattening” its workforce.
The federal government is cracking down on the crypto industry.
That’s it for now. Have a great week,
A
P.S. If you know someone who would like this newsletter, please forward it along!
P.S.S. Thanks Christopher Skinner for the illustrations!