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Monthly Archives: December 2006
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…
Posted in journal
Tagged balance, freelance, frugal, politics, Tablet PC, voluntary simplicity
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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.
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!
Tiny Houses: Trends in "Living Small and Loving It"
I tripped across this video today that I just had to share. It highlights a lady that elected to go small with her life and her house:
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=87832a145a872a3ae7924af847009a8b.1126238&cache=1
And here’s a bit more information about the new tiny house trend…
Posted in living small
Tagged balance, frugal, tiny houses, travel, voluntary simplicity
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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.
