FAFSA - Complete!

If there's one thing I know about myself, it's that I am the QUEEN of procrastination. I know that this doesn't necessarily bode well for my law school career. It's something I've been working on, especially since leaving undergrad, and hopefully I'm getting a (better) handle on it.

Luckily, I work well under pressure (as opposed to some people I know, a friend who shall remain nameless, who when the pressure mounts tends to just break down crying hysterically. Not my style.).

One thing I get a lot of flak from my friends for is preparing and filing my taxes -- namely, I don't prepare my own taxes. I know, it's easy, right? I'm not married, don't have kids, don't own property, don't have ridiculous investments or write-offs...my tax preparation should be a cinch, and something I should easily be able to handle online or with Turbotax or something, right?

Wrong. Well, maybe not wrong, but definitely not correct for ME. One year I did prepare my own taxes, if only because my dad said I should really take a stab at it. Then I took them to my dad's CPA, and asked him to look them over when he was doing my family's taxes. He "found" me an extra $1576. Since then, daddy's CPA is my go-to tax guy. I trust him, he doesn't take forever, and I used to date the receptionist's son, so I can get a meeting even at the last minute.

Speaking of the last minute, I *finally* got my taxes e-filed TODAY, the day before "tax day." Talk about under the wire! And with my taxes all prepared and e-filed, I was *finally* able to fill out and file the FAFSA with SMU.

For future FAFSA filers: even if you're independent (for tax purposes), or over the age of 24, some schools still require your parents' tax information on your FAFSA. Make sure you check with each individual school you'll be sending the FAFSA to for their requirements. SMU didn't (thankfully -- one less thing for me to worry about).

It feels so good to check one more thing off of my "To Do Before August" list!