Ten Worst Ways to Spend Your Tax Refund

SAN FRANCISCO, April 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Since SunRun is in the business of helping families make smart financial decisions, we thought we'd offer a little tax season guidance on what NOT to do with your tax refund. Without further ado:

10.  Learn to Read a Po-Po-Po-Pokerface: This ain’t your father’s poker game. The world’s most expensive poker set is being offered up in London.  Pricetag? $7.5 million dollars. There are so many precious stones and gold involved here that the price of the set actually fluctuates with the market value.

9.  World’s Most Expensive Computer Mouse: Yes, that is the official product name. And yes, it costs over $26,000. But it does come embedded with diamonds.

8.  Cheesecake: Why spend a fortune on sweets when it’s not even chocolate? The most expensive cheesecake on the market is the “Festive Two-Stack Cheesecake” available at Saks Fifth Avenue for $300. Ten pounds of cheesiness and you have to pay extra for overnight delivery!

7.  Dining Decadence: FleurBurger 5000 is a luxury from Fleur de Lys at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay that will burn a $5K hole in your pocket. At least it comes with a bottle of 1990 Chateau Petrus and imported Ichendorf Brunello stemware.

6.  Pissed-off-Purchases (POP): About $424 billion in purchases each year come from “POP spending.” For example, a woman from Brooklyn, NY once told a financial psychologist that she went on a $500 retaliatory shopping spree after her husband gave one of her old jackets to charity without asking permission.

5.  Embrace Your Inner Bird: Always wanted to fly over that cuckoo’s nest? Now you can with the DedonNestrest. For around $14,000 you can make a nest of your own– just don’t ask us how the heck you get in it…

4.  The Birkin Bag:  Apparently, because this Hermes bag is handmade and named after actress and singer Jane Birkin it should cost $150,000 – not the wisest use of cash, especially considering it could go out of style one day.

3.  Hire Snooki for Your Kid’s Graduation: It seems that Jersey Shore’s Snooki is raking in the big bucks these days. Reports are flying that Rutgers University recently paid the infamous Italian $32,000 to speak at the school. That’s $2,000 more than they are paying author and Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison to speak at their commencement!

2.  Risque Princess Makeover:  Apparently, the way to catch a prince isn’t to kiss a frog – it’s to wear see through clothing. The “barely there” dress worn by Kate Middleton that turned Prince Williams’ head and turned her into a future princess, just sold for a whopping 78,000 UK ($125,728 US).

1.  Show Your App Off: Can you imagine spending $1,000 for an iPhone app?  I mean, it’d have to wash your car, do the dishes, pick up the kids from school, and balance your checkbook, right? Well, not this app.  The “I Am Rich” app is going for $1,000 and does…absolutely nothing. The developer designed it as a status symbol for wealthy iPhone owners to remind them: “you were able to afford this.” Seriously?

OK, OK so most of us would LOVE to have a tax return big enough to even think about some of these items.  But no matter how big or small your refund might be, don't forget you can use it to switch to an affordable solar power service without even having to purchase the panels! If it will save you money on utility bills and pad your wallet, why not switch?

SOURCE SunRun