Don't put your "Business in the Street" while you spend that "Tax Refund"

It's that time of year again and I know for some of us we are all happy to have that little extra cash to pay a few bills, stock up on groceries and household supplies. Grab the kids those much needed items to get them through the remainder of the school year. And perhaps splurge on a family night out for dinner and what's left put up for a rainy day.

Some may have been in the position to be able to take a vacation, purchase or pay off a car, make a down payment on a newer home or do some remodeling of your existing one.

All those things are great, and they also aren't the things that (I will just say) people with ill intentions are looking for.

Tax time is a lot like Christmas time when it comes to spending money. And everybody starts "Putting their Business in the street" from the moment they start spending it. Now I know everyone remembers all the warnings we hear on the news during the Christmas shopping season about leaving packages exposed in your vehicle. Let's all be diligent for the same holds true for the tax refund shopping season as well. But this is not exactly the point I am hoping to make, let’s take this one step farther

OK, hopefully you have taken care of the things that you needed to take care of or you and yours were in the position where your tax refund was yours to splurge on those latest gadgets that everyone in the family has been wanting; the new larger Flat Screen TV’s, Computers, Laptops and Tablets, Computer Gaming Systems and even the next generation Cellphone whatever the case, you are ready to go shopping. Great and that goes for me too, let’s go.

Now you have figured out how to squeeze that new larger TV in your vehicle the kids are in the back seat giggling about the new fun gadgets you just purchased for them and you head home to open up and start using your new stuff and this is where the problem begins and our business starts getting put in the street for all to see. Here’s how

It’s Monday and over the weekend you opened up all the new gadgets that you have gotten for yourselves and your family and that creates a lot of boxes, bags and trash that you don’t want cluttering up your home. So what do a lot of us do, especially those of us who do not have a garage to open up the door and throw everything in? We put the stuff out at the curb for the trash man. Unless your trash is picked up on Monday this could be a potential problem. Has anyone paid any attention to fact that your TV box is as big if not bigger than that new TV? Or the fact that that new box that computer, laptop, tablet or gaming system came in has the name and/or pictures and graphics displayed all over the box?

I don’t know about you, but as I ride around town and through neighborhoods where people set their trash out on the curb in front of their homes for pickup I am able to tell you a lot about who has possibly gotten their tax check and may have money or this house has a brand new flat screen or computer and it is all because of the trash! You can ride through some neighborhoods where people will put their business out in the street on Monday and it will sit there until trash pickup on Thursday or Friday!

Oh, and if you do have a garage that you are able to open the door and throw everything in, you leave the door up for all to see in while you wash the car or do yard work etc.

Remember those that I mentioned of ill intent? Tax season is their time of year too! The majority of them don’t have normal jobs like you and I. Their job is to canvas neighborhoods looking for you and me to let them know which house has a big expensive new television, computer or other gadgets. And then when they feel the opportunity is right, they will break into your home and walk away with everything you have. Most will target a place where they know there are things of value and most of us don’t realize we make our homes a target just by the mere act of taking out the trash.

Now I know you are saying, so what am I supposed to do? I can’t keep this stuff in my house! That is true, we can’t. But what we can do is learn to be a little more discreet with what we purchase for ourselves and our homes.

1.     Don’t put your boxes and things from major purchases out with the trash on Monday and your trash isn't picked up until Tuesday or later.
2.     Trash day is the day to drag that big TV or computer box out to the curb.
3.     Take a knife or box cutter and break down the boxes and store them for later use. Once they are broken down they slide easily behind and underneath things. I save a lot of my boxes to store clothes and other items in.

These are just a couple of ideas and you can probably thing of a couple more. But hopefully I got the point across that I was trying to make. And please keep in mind that although I mentioned Christmas and tax time we should be diligent at all times.

I don’t know about you, but even though I don’t have everything I want, the things I do have are mine and I want to keep them.

To Your Parenting Success - Nannie