The waiting is the hardest part

Since the government announced the economic stimulus package, I've had this date circled. By May 9, my wife and I were expecting our $1,500 rebate to be directly deposited into our bank account. On May 10, we planned to do our part to help stimulate the economy.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the electronics store -- the Department of Treasury forgot to give us our money.

We do our taxes online and had them completed and accepted by the Internal Revenue Service in early April, nearly 10 days before the April 15 deadline. The tax program we use even asked if we wanted our rebate directly deposited into our bank account.

But apparently we didn't read the fine print about the stimulus package. You know the part -- the one that says if you paid in, your check would come in the mail.

We owed the IRS a few dollars from 2007, but I still thought we'd receive our stimulus check by the target date of May 9. Heck, those that paid in should be the ones who get the rebate first -- not those who are already getting money back from the government.

So if the release dates are correct, our rebate check won't come in the mail until the middle of June. By then, I might be stimulated to just keep the $1,500 in my savings account.