Pathetic at the pump

While some of you Hummer owners may have experienced this months ago, this week marks my very first pathetic "at the pump" experience: When I saw the cost to fill up my tank pass the $40 mark, I let out an audible whimper. And I may or may not have shed a tear.

I drive an extremely fuel efficient car, and I'm sure people reading this are like, "Yeah, $40. Go to hell." But, at the same time, I have an average commute of 85 miles round trip to work each day, which means I fill up every three days and it is absolutely murdering my bank account--thanks, meager journalist salary!

That being said, I came across this article that lays out some of the gas-saving myths that people may be throwing your way in these times full of fuel woes. Learn if premium gas actually gives you better gas mileage or if using your A/C is or is not eating all your gas. It won't tell you how to save money on fuel, but it will give you the knowledge to tell people they're full of something when they tell you to fill up your tank in the morning because the gas is colder.

Stimulating stimulus, yeah!

Good news for those of you expecting some free money from the government: It's on its way a few days early! whoo!

The Treasury Department announced today that the special tax rebates will arrive five days earlier than the originally scheduled May 2 release date.

Want to know how much you'll be receiving? Click here for the calculator!

Thanks to a faster than expected computer program, 800,000 tax filers daily will get rebates on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. No rebates will be distributed on Thursday, and 5 million payments will be made on Friday.

Overall, the Treasury will distribute more than $110 billion to 130 million taxpayers by July and hopes to get the first $50 billion out by the end of May.