Chickens! Using your tax return to invest in chickens is not only a good way to spend your money but also a well timed venture, what with summer being right around the corner. While it's certainly possible to spend a lot of money getting into raising chickens, it's just as easy to do it for cheap. If you're halfway handy with a hammer you can use plans from the Internet to build a backyard coop using scavenged materials, and the birds themselves can be purchased for just a few dollars each. Once they've grown out of being chicks they'll find part of their own meal in your yard, serving double duty as eliminators of bugs. You can serve them kitchen scraps to help cut down further on your feed bills and laugh your way all the way to the egg bank.

 

OK, so maybe you won't save all that much money by not having to buy your eggs, but with a little hustle you could earn some extra scratch by selling your leftover eggs to neighbors who would be crowing with excitement over their farm-fresh omelets. Chickens also create great compost that you can use to boost your gardens, helping to further cut down on your food bill.