Hmmm... what to do with that tax refund?

This time of year is always a little stressful as we wait to see if a year's worth of earning, spending, and donating money will result in us owing a little bit more of it our federal, state and local governments or getting a tidy little refund for the interest-free loan we gave to Uncle Sam over the year. I gave up on doing my taxes long ago when my tax preparation software told me I owed $3.6 billion dollars. Perhaps I should have made more charitable donations. If you're expecting a check or direct deposit from the U.S. Federal Government, consider fighting the temptation to blow it on $200 worth of Oreos (aka the fate of my 1998 refund) and instead use it toward your member equity. For current member-owners, this is a great way to get yourself all paid off and then not have to worry about it for the rest of your life. For not-yet member-owners, let this be the sign from above that finally gets you to visit our easy-to-use online application so that you can be counted among our 250 Founding Members and get us to the point where we can start the process of looking for a location. Of course, you can join with an initial payment as low as $25 and then have until the end of 2013 to pay off the rest. But if you're sitting on a nice refund, why pay it all off now? I know the latest technological gadget is sitting on your other shoulder whispering for you to ignore the Co-op and instead spend it on him. Don't listen to him! Join the Co-op today! Besides, why spend this year's refund on an iPad 3 when you can just wait and use next year's on the iPad 4? And hopefully by this time next year, you'll be using it to keep track of our progress as we raise the capital for a our new location!