Uncle Sam and Taxes: It Seems So Stupid to Work So Hard for So Little

I’ve tried to do a bit of financial planning in the final days of 2006. Armed with my financial statements for the business, the most recent stub from my husband’s work (with YTD figures), and my mileage, expenses, and medical information, I began my work…

Last year, being unexpectedly surprised by the “taxes owed” column of
the 1040 form, my hubby and I decided to bump up (dramatically) the
amount he had withheld rather than doing quarterly estimated taxes. We dramatically over-estimated our tax bill for 2006 and hubby tried hard all year to not complain too loudly that he was bringing home less than 35% of his paycheck each payday.

So, I wanted to do a bit of figuring before the December 31st deadline for making any necessary purchases, etc. And what I found shocked me. We scrimped this year. We made a respectable amount of money… more than we have ever made (collectively and individually) in any year prior, too.

We both stared at the gross totals with awe. Funny, I thought, I don’t recall any fancy vacations, any extraordinary jewelry, any shiny new cars or any major investments. What I recall is us scraping so we wouldn’t have to worry about taxes this year. What I recall was an expectation of a refund at the end of the year and no worries there, even if the bills accrued for medical and standard expenses were larger than anticipated for this year.

What I did NOT expect was a figure to be missing in the “refund” slot and a LARGE figure in the “Taxes owed” box. Now, granted this was a quick calculation. Granted, I may have overlooked something (and will go through it all again, once my tears dry and I get brave again). And I pray that I’ve missed something huge — but right now I’m too disgusted to review it all. We OWE? Geeze! This is nuts!

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All My Childhood Icons Are Dying

Today, as I logged onto my computer (something I’m trying to curtail during the holidays as much as possible — although unsuccessfully), I saw the NPR top news stories on my Google home page. President Gerald Ford died.

On Christmas day, when visiting my hubby’s family, my father-in-law told me that James Brown had died.

Now, these may not seem related on any typical level, but it’s one of those times when I realize that my past is crumbling. It’s literally disintegrating from age. The icons I grew up with are no more. Continue reading

Charitable Contributions: How Much Actually Helps the Charity?

As we are winding down the old year, I thought I’d share a bit of information that a family member sent me. It’s a link that shows exactly how much of the money raised for a charity is actually reaching the charity, and how much is being sucked up by the fundraising company and the professional solicitor.

For example, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the American Diabetes Association have 99% of the funds raised going to help the actual cause, and only 1% being used to pay the fundraising engine. That’s a percentage I can get behind!

On the other hand, just the opposite is true for the American Institute for Cancer Research (1% to charity, 99% to solicitor) and the Arthritis Foundation (1% for charitable work, 99% to pay off the fundraisers).

If you want to see the “big” picture on your favorite charities before making those end-of-year contributions, read on!

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Jedi Sock Monkey "Rules" for the 12 Days of Christmas

I love eBay. It’s like “the world is my oyster” online and all cool and easy-to-access. I decided this year to do a 12 days of Christmas for my hubby. He complained to me recently that he’s the only one in the family that never gets the cool stuff in the mail — all he gets is bills and “resident” mail. We (the kids and I) get all the cool boxes, packages and personal letters.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that if he:

  • Bought things online
  • Wrote letters to others
  • Subscribed to a magazine

That he, too, could have mail that wasn’t sent to “resident” and didn’t involve utility companies. I should have, I guess, but I didn’t. Instead, I decided to buy him some stuff online and have it shipped to him for Christmas.

So, he got 12 days of Christmas… scattered over the course of the first two weeks of December and then continuing into the third (and possibly fourth) week because his wife can’t count and there was so much cool stuff to have delivered to a man that gets so excited about getting mail.

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