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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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. (more…)

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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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:

And here’s a bit more information about the new tiny house trend…

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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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Forgive me. It’s been two weeks since my last blog…

I suddenly feel Catholic. My husband (who actually IS Catholic) says I’d make a good one. Says I feel more guilt than most Catholics. This, apparently, is a good trait in the religion business.

Personally, I find it to be a real drag…

I was recently told that guilt is the result of feeling responsible. So, whenever I feel guilty now, I try to determine what it is, exactly, that I feel responsible for (yeah, and I’m ending this in a preposition, I’ll deal with it). Then, I try to figure out if it’s something over which I actually have any control. If I do, I decide to fix it or not. If I don’t, I decide to quit feeling guilty — because it’s worthless to do so when it’s out of my hands.

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The real estate industry has experienced an amazing boom cycle during the past 11 years. Most of today’s agents have experienced only a raging market in the midst of incredible growth.

In 2005, according to recently published survey by NAR, 24% of all Realtors® have been in business one year or less and fewer than one third were in business last time the market took a dip.

Since the housing market has been a bit bumpy, some real estate agents have become alarmed. Newer agents, in particular, hesitate to spend any money to build their business. Even some “old hands” have cut or eliminated their marketing and advertising budgets and are running their offices with a “bare bones” approach.

Normally, I’m all for simplification. Usually, I would agree that if you aren’t making money, you should be wary of spending it. But in the current housing climate, I’d like to offer a few thoughts. (more…)

Firefox, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways… You are secure, playful, flexible and customizable. Sure, I’ve explored several browsers over the years, but I always come back to Firefox for the tabs, cool themes and the add-ons and tools I depend on every day. Want to know which Firefox add-ons are my all-time favorites? Read on!

Firefox works the way I work. It’s a custom-fit. Yes, Slimbrowser is a resource conservative, Opera has “widgets” and the new IE has tabs and a few add-ons too… but I still love Firefox and consider it the best of all possible worlds. Below are my all-time favorite Firefox add-ons and why I love them. That way, if you decide to give Firefox a spin, you will know some of the bells and whistles you can add. And, if you already adore Firefox, you can peruse a list of “must have” add-ons that are tried and true (and won’t crash your Internet sessions).

1. Want to know all the cool stuff that the new release offers (for those of you that have an old release, or those that have never used Firefox)? – Get the Scoop Here!
2. Want to give it a spin? Download the latest release Firefox 2.
3. Want to waste about six hours of your life reviewing all the widgets you can get that will customize the devil outta your own copy of Firefox? Visit the add ons Page.

Here are my favorite add-ons:

Google Toolbar for Firefox – Want to know your page rank, be able to spell check forms you fill in online? Or a number of other little tools? Download this first essential addon. (BTW, the new Firefox version marks those with tiny little red dotted underlines and offers a quick right-click to correct)

What follows are my picks – and where they are found on the Firefox official pages:

1. StumbleUpon – https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/138/ – allows you to discover and share great Web content matched to your personal preferences. I simply adore “stumbling” as does everyone I’ve introduced to this addictive little plug-in. It can quickly become a bad habit, so download it at your own peril!
2. New Tab Homepage < – https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/777/ – automatically loads your homepage when you pop up a new tab. I like this because I usually pop open a new tab for another search on Google. Since Google is my home page, it saves me a click.
3. VideoDownloader https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2390/ – lets you download embedded objects on a webpage.
4. IE Tab – https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1419/ – lets me open up an IE “tab” in FF for those areas that still require the MS product. I use this only under duress :0)
5. MileWideBackhttps://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/334/ – I’m a tab power user, and this helps me to keep things moving without stacking tabs into multiple rows.
6. Grab and Drag – http://grabanddrag.mozdev.org/ Enables Adobe Acrobat-style Grab and drag scrolling in Mozilla applications. This one is especially important on a tablet, so I can drag down the screen with my stylus.
7. GeckoTip – http://geckotip.mozdev.org/index.html – provides Tablet PC and UMPC support and enhancements in Mozilla Apps.
8. Download Statusbar – https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/26/ – by Devon Jensen – Let’s you manage your Internet downloads from a toolbar, without the download window getting in the way of browsing. Compact and useful. It auto-hides when not in use. I simply love this little add-on!
9. Web Developer -https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/60/ – by Chris Pederick – Adds a toolbar of web developer tools and a menu to your standard browser.
10. Firebug – https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1843/ – by Joe Hewitt – lets you look at the inner workings of the web pages you visit and helps you to troubleshoot your own (or your client’s) webpages using debugging tools and help.
11. Blogger Web Comments – https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2506/ – allows you to post and read comments about any webpage.
12. Mouse Gestures – https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/39/ – lets you execute common commands in Firefox using mouse (or stylus) gestures.
13. Tab Mix Plus – https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1122/- Must Have add-on for the tabbing power-user.
14. Aging Tabs – https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/3542/- makes it easier for those of us who look up to discover that there are over twenty tabs open in the current window — and we need to remember which ones we have viewed recently.

If you want to customize the way Firefox LOOKS, not just the way it works, you should visit the Themes Page for Firefox and try on a new “outfit” for your browser.

Note: All those listed above are compatible with the Firefox version 2 — but all those listed in the add-on pages are not. Be sure to check for compatibility before downloading and using any add-ons.

If you are a Firefox fan too, please share your own favorite Foxfire add-ons, themes or extensions!