I pay for every expense I possibly can in life with my credit cards, but I've never paid taxes with plastic. Paying the tax man is painful enough in the first place, so I simply can't come to terms with handing over a dime more than I have to for the "convenience" of using a credit card. I'd rather use whatever free method of payment still exists. In fact, e-filing and setting up a free electronic funds withdrawal from my checking account feels just as convenient to me anyway.

If you look at the Federal calendar, you won't find a holiday called "Presidents Day". This is because according to section 6103(a) of title 5 of the U.S. code, the law which defines holidays for Federal workers, today is designated as "Washington's Birthday". But, wait a minute. George Washington was born on February 22nd, 1732, so why wouldn't we celebrate his birthday on February 22nd? We used to; however, Congress decided in 1968 that it would be a good idea to create several three-day Federal holidays for the convenience of workers. Along with Washington's birthday, Memorial Day and Veteran's Day were each officially moved to Mondays in 1971. Genius.

You can't get away with skipping out on flowers for Valentine's day. So don't even try to talk yourself into believing the dinner reservation you managed to land at the fanciest restaurant in town is a good enough effort this year. Sorry—it's not. Show up to meet your date without flowers of some kind in hand, and you're special someone will most likely feel a bit slighted. Retailers are obviously in on the secret too, which is why a dozen roses can run somewhere close to $100 around Valentine's Day. Fortunately, if you whip out the right kind of rewards credit card to make your last-minute flower purchase online, you can make sure your wallet feels a bit of Valentine's Day love this year as well.

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