You are the C.E.O. of your family finances!

I spent the better part of Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday and Sunday evening working on our taxes. I am not a Turbo Tax filer. It's okay if you are in the bracket to get it processed free, but I don't see why I should pay to upload my tax return to the government when I can mail it in for a few postage stamps.

Even if you are getting a refund, there isn't a big delay in I.R.S. processing.

I learned taxes by taking the H.R. Block tax course many years ago as we had family members in the business. I actually worked a season or two doing taxes at Sears and I have been doing our personal return ever since.

This helped me learn so much about how to plan for the next tax year. I am no Suze Orman, but I do listen to Suze and Clark Howard. My husband and I each take ownership of various projects, he handles insurance and household repairs, I'm finance and groceries. I cook, he does the dishes, etc.

And we didn't agree on our family finances when we first go married. We had credit card debt and separate accounts to start and now many years later we are a great team! We tithe, save, plan and do our best to steward everything, right down to recycling most of our household trash and donating things to help others in need.

At first my husband was annoyed at all the swapping and trading and giving things back and forth that my family did. We grew up children of divorce and had to make due with less, so there is hardly a visit even today my siblings don't bring something to the other a garage sale or cleaning out their closets.

And I think family's need to embrace that they should run their households like a business and take a hard look at where they are spending and how to grow their family empire! Yes, I said empire. Look it up, it's about wealth controlled by families and businesses. It's not about greed, it's about helping your child(ren) and your children's children and beyond.

Each time I sit down to pay the bills, save on a purchase or put receipts aside for the upcoming tax year, I do so knowing I am helping our family get and stay strong. The economy has tested many, but it's also helped people pool their resources and get back to basics.

Even if you are unemployed and rebuilding your life, what is your strategy to make a "comeback"?