For the past 10 years, my husband and I have received an income tax refund. In 2009, I went back to work as a nurse. I adjusted my withholdings so that I was married withholding as single, and my husband increased his withholdings as well. Since then, we've received between $500-1000 refund annually. That's as big as our refunds have ever been. I consider that breaking even.

This year, I increased my hours (busted my you-know-what) to pay for my daughter's college tuition. I also went back to school and created some tuition bills of my own. In essence, I made approximately $34k more, but when completing my tax return, I'm seeing that we owe 92% of that in taxes, leaving me with a whopping tax bill of almost $13k. While the government apparently thinks we are wealthy, this tax bill will represent a paycheck a month for me for the next year. I'm in shock... I feel like I would have been better off not working the extra hours!

We don't qualify for credits for educational expenses, nor deductions for IRAs. I'm just wondering if there are any tips or tricks for preventing this from ever happening again? I can no longer afford the Kleenex that I'm using to dry my tears!