Tax season has come and gone. Hopefully you were able to get your taxes filed and are able to breathe a sigh of relief until next year.

Are you one of many Americans who received a tax refund this year? We’ve all heard people get excited about getting a tax refund. What you might not realize is that receiving a tax refund means that you’re loaning the government your hard earned money. (Gasp!) Now, I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t excite me at all.

Think about it this way. If you received a $500 refund you could give yourself a raise of $10 per week over the next year. That might not sound like much to a lot of people but I’d love to have an extra $10 to put gas in my car, chunk away into my savings, or a myriad of other things.

If you’ve been receiving a refund the last few years, you can give yourself a raise by changing the withholdings on your W-4 (see human resources at your work). Your goal each year come tax time should be to break even -  to not have to pay and not get a refund. If you do change your withholdings, just remember that when tax time rolls around next year you won’t be receiving that refund check that you’re used to.

Please keep in mind that I am not a CPA. All opinions are my own.