For the past two years I've worked in a company that has a workplace giving campaign offering us choices of nonprofits with United Way, Community Shares, and medical and environmentally specific funds. They also provided information on each nonprofit. Having all these choices in front of us allowed our family to:
-- sit down together and talk about our values and priorities (environment, women and children, homelessness, civil rights, health),
-- review our existing donations to see if they met our priorities (and weren't simply a response to an appeal we had received)
-- investigate new nonprofits that we'd become aware of through the workplace giving campaign
-- investigate the effectiveness of all the nonprofits on our list
-- decide on a total dollar amount to give, as a percentage of our total income
-- divvy it out across the categories
-- access an employer match that boosted our personal gift by 50%
Another advantage we've experienced throughout the year is that we no longer need to get into long conversations with telemarketers for our charities because I just say "We gave at the office. If you are on our list, you've received your gift and we've increased it by helping you access my employer match."
One downside: I've found is that some of my nonprofits are unaware that I have made my contribution. Somewhere along the line, the bookkeeping is such that my name is no longer attached to the gift. This means I have stopped receiving print information - which I want and use to tell more people about the nonprofit.
Oh my god,I am very lucky,I am also doing data entry job But I am very happy,because I am earning more than 1000$ everyday,You know In starting week I am struggled to earn 100$ per day.But I am earning nice income now from home more than 1000$,I am from India,By comparing rupee dollar value so high,I wasted 1 year time in internet.Now,i am very cool no tensions,I settled in internet.In first I failed to earn big amount in this site https://paydotcom.com/r/20109/anil595/2094327/ because My mother language is not english my mother language is telugu,I unable to understand what to do and what work,but now i am doing very simply and english also developed,english came automatically by typing.Every dog has one day.so,don't waste your time Do something and earn using internet.Buy cars,construct houses keep cool(like me),get checks to your home,enjoy the life.God had given internet not only for entertainment purpose and for also earning also.Do you know,when I am new to internet,I used say Internet is scam ,I used to hate internet.I don't like chating,emails But now i can't live without even one minute also.I don't know what it is I think It is love.Ok bye I have to go for Movie.
That's a great idea. Another cool tip for extra chocolate is to chop it up in the blender or food processor and use it to top the frosting on cakes or to roll truffles in. Really elegant. Making homemade toffee with the extra chocolate is also a fun fancy treat with a little extra splash. Can you tell I'm addicted to this particular stretch of holidays?
Great article, and I'm always interested in new ideas since we bought a 625 sq. ft. home in order to "simplify" life.
One thing we did in our renovations was completely eliminated all the kitchen cupboards. In such a small space, I felt traditional cupboards looked very "oppressive" and overwhelming. Plus, I'm not even 5 foot 2 so I can't reach into most of them anyway!
We store pots and pans (the few that we have) low where I can reach them, and we only have enough dishes for the two of us, so all that space would just encourage piles of junk to form.
We're still in the middle of the renos, so our design isn't totally worked out yet, but we're going to employ minimal, open shelving instead of upper cabinets so that it will encourage us to only keep what we can bear to look at every day! Part of small living is, as you say, reducing non-essentials -- not finding more places to hide them! :)
I thin out my sons, but I take the chocolate bars, kisses and m&m's, pieces etc. and use them for holiday cookies. I stick all the candy in a freezer bag and use them on top of or in cookie mixes. I save all the lollipops for the candy jar and give those out for surprise once in a while or for a road trip. He doesn't even miss it.
One thing we had to do was when our 2 year old came out of her crib to a big girl bed was to buy better furniture that suited the needs better. We had a bunk bed for our girls, and the plan had been for the 2 year old to move into the bottom bunk- but storage was still an issue.
We ultimately Freecycled the bunk bed and bought two single beds that are raised up to allow for dresser space underneath. Works so much better! We repurposed the dresser from their room for storage elsewhere and added more shelving storage for dolls, toys, etc.
Speaking of small spaces, the Japanese are the winners of how to store things in small spaces (and to make spaces where there were none before). See the book below for some great photos and diagrams...I had no idea!
The Very Small Home: Japanese Ideas for Living Well in Limited Space by Azby Brown
As always, save some money by putting it on hold at your library or request thru your library's inter-library loan program if they don't carry it. Ask your local librarian for details (we are lucky that our local library has everything online, and it's just a matter of putting a book on hold and waiting for the email to say it came in).
I too am unaware of thrift stores or ReStores, as HFH's are called, fulfilling donation requests. The good thing about a thrift store having something another non-profit wants/needs is it is probably available at a good price. Perhaps a thrifty supporter would like to buy the door and donate it!
I agree that name brand shoes seem to last a lot longer. I can easily wear a pair of name brand shoes for 2 to 3 years while the non-brand ones only last a few months. Considering the length of utility the name brand shoes are actually cheaper. Anyway, another thing is this sentence is a little odd: "I owned a pair of brand name running shoes that had a great little feature which was an alternative to laces, and I was loved them."
i have a few small dents on the side of my car (people who don't know how to park, and also kids with bikes banging their handle bars on my car) i got a paintjob not to long ago and it cost me a lot of money so i don't want to try these methods and risk f*cking up my paint, it's a color changing metallic black to red, will this mess up my paint?
I'm the person seen at the start of the James Randi video doing his introduction. Glad you enjoyed the talk, and thanks for pointing out the general @Google videos. It really is a great program, with visitors to a number of Google offices giving talks and interacting with Googlers. I'm no longer at Google, and one of the things I'm missing most is the opportunity to get to invite interesting people to do these talks.
I'm the person seen at the start of the James Randi video doing his introduction. Glad you enjoyed the talk, and thanks for pointing out the general @Google videos. It really is a great program, with visitors to a number of Google offices giving talks and interacting with Googlers. I'm no longer at Google, and one of the things I'm missing most is the opportunity to get to invite interesting people to do these talks.
Hey gamaholic, just wondering, what kind of internet connection do you have going on in that box you claim to live in?
Oh wait, you're just being sarcastic, nevermind LOL
A tongue in cheek point of view but one that does hold some weight:
Knowledge is only the majority's line of thinking. ie. The world is round only because the majority of people believe it to be so. In several thousands of years much of what we KNOW to be true today may infact be found to be completely wrong.
Majority thought = Knowledge, therefore wikipedia = Fact
At least one independent recognizes that its customers will reward consideration with loyalty.
From this CBC article, "The owners of Audrey's Books, which has been in business for more than three decades, say there's no reason why Canadian readers should continue to pay a higher price for books."
They are now selling their US sourced books at US list pricing in Edmonton, Alberta.
I'm glad you felt supported by the comment. I certainly wasn't trying to speak for you . . . more like advocate for you and others in the position we've both been in. There are major perks, but it is certainly not a rose garden, is it? Good luck in your future endeavors.
My dad always called it "taxes." So yes, he was upfront about it. When my kids are older I will be upfront too. At this point she just doesn't know any better and I don't say anything about it.
Actually, my daughter is pretty generous at age 3. On Halloween night after she went to bed I ate two Hershey bars and left the wrappers on the coffee table. The next day saw the wrappers and asked, "Who ate two Hershey bars?" and I confessed that I did. She said, "Ok."
Allen: I'm a consultant :) As other fellow consultants will attest to, it means 100% travel. If you're not willing to travel, you're in the wrong business....
Andrea: Well, I normally don't reply to those posts (actually who am I kidding?) but it just struck a chord in me... which is deftly explained and fleshed out by Myscha in her next comment.
Myscha: I haven't had the opportunity to travel beyond North America, but I can just imagine what kind of hassles would transpire from doing so. Especially in Europe, where a different language is almost a given. At least in North America, everything is sort-of always in English, which makes it easier...
I am extremely happy with my job, but that all depends on the client you end up working for. They can make your life a living hell but I've been super lucky with the projects I've been on.
I love doing what I do, and if I can clear a huge amount of debt in such a short amount of time (and as a result, build up a healthy emergency fund AND a big down payment on a mortgage), all the better.
As for comforts of the home... it's true. My husband and I keep thinking about the day we'll finally get a home and settle down, and be able to grow herbs, and do what we want to make it ours.
Everyone DOES imagine my life to be glamourous, on a plane, sipping champagne, and staying in plush posh hotels, but it is far from what actually happens. Being on a plane, catching cabs, and trying to find a decent place to eat something somewhat healthy is a trial, and trying to always tell myself: Hey, if you buy that bowl/purse/coat are you going to lug it around forever while you're travelling? ...gets to be hard.
Pros and Cons. :) Worst con: missing my friends. :(
I always hesitate to give tax advice here, because the rules are so complex (and they change so often), that anything I say is likely to be wrong for some people--and will likely be completely out of date in a year or two. Be sure to do your own research regarding how the rules apply to your situation.
As I understand the rules right now, a charitable gift to a 501(c)(3) organization is deductible from your income for tax purposes. There are limits, but they are large (nothing to worry about until you're giving away 20% of your income, and even then some gifts are deductible until you're giving away 50% of your income). You need to get a letter from the charity that states the value of anything that you received as a premium (coffee mug, tote bag, etc.), and you have to deduct that from your gift before taking the deduction.
There is always talk of a tax credit program, because the current tax deduction scheme is worth so little to people of modest means, but I don't think there's any such program at the federal level right now. Some states may have such programs.
If you are going to accelerate your mortgage pay down, don't pay anyone for the privilege of doing it. You don't need to buy any book, DVD, or software to do it. Just contact your mortgage company and find out what you need to do to send in extra principal payments. Then just send what ever you want, along with your regular mortgage payment. If you pay with automatic withdrawals from your checking account, you can probably have extra principal withdrawn, too. It's that easy.
If you want to do a bi-weekly mortgage, don't pay a $200 or $300 fee. Just do it yourself. Take your current monthly payment and divide it by 12. Send that amount in as an extra principal payment. Depending on your circumstances, you will pay the mortgage off between 5 and 10 years sooner.
For the past two years I've worked in a company that has a workplace giving campaign offering us choices of nonprofits with United Way, Community Shares, and medical and environmentally specific funds. They also provided information on each nonprofit. Having all these choices in front of us allowed our family to:
-- sit down together and talk about our values and priorities (environment, women and children, homelessness, civil rights, health),
-- review our existing donations to see if they met our priorities (and weren't simply a response to an appeal we had received)
-- investigate new nonprofits that we'd become aware of through the workplace giving campaign
-- investigate the effectiveness of all the nonprofits on our list
-- decide on a total dollar amount to give, as a percentage of our total income
-- divvy it out across the categories
-- access an employer match that boosted our personal gift by 50%
Another advantage we've experienced throughout the year is that we no longer need to get into long conversations with telemarketers for our charities because I just say "We gave at the office. If you are on our list, you've received your gift and we've increased it by helping you access my employer match."
One downside: I've found is that some of my nonprofits are unaware that I have made my contribution. Somewhere along the line, the bookkeeping is such that my name is no longer attached to the gift. This means I have stopped receiving print information - which I want and use to tell more people about the nonprofit.
Oh my god,I am very lucky,I am also doing data entry job But I am very happy,because I am earning more than 1000$ everyday,You know In starting week I am struggled to earn 100$ per day.But I am earning nice income now from home more than 1000$,I am from India,By comparing rupee dollar value so high,I wasted 1 year time in internet.Now,i am very cool no tensions,I settled in internet.In first I failed to earn big amount in this site https://paydotcom.com/r/20109/anil595/2094327/ because My mother language is not english my mother language is telugu,I unable to understand what to do and what work,but now i am doing very simply and english also developed,english came automatically by typing.Every dog has one day.so,don't waste your time Do something and earn using internet.Buy cars,construct houses keep cool(like me),get checks to your home,enjoy the life.God had given internet not only for entertainment purpose and for also earning also.Do you know,when I am new to internet,I used say Internet is scam ,I used to hate internet.I don't like chating,emails But now i can't live without even one minute also.I don't know what it is I think It is love.Ok bye I have to go for Movie.
That's a great idea. Another cool tip for extra chocolate is to chop it up in the blender or food processor and use it to top the frosting on cakes or to roll truffles in. Really elegant. Making homemade toffee with the extra chocolate is also a fun fancy treat with a little extra splash. Can you tell I'm addicted to this particular stretch of holidays?
Great article, and I'm always interested in new ideas since we bought a 625 sq. ft. home in order to "simplify" life.
One thing we did in our renovations was completely eliminated all the kitchen cupboards. In such a small space, I felt traditional cupboards looked very "oppressive" and overwhelming. Plus, I'm not even 5 foot 2 so I can't reach into most of them anyway!
We store pots and pans (the few that we have) low where I can reach them, and we only have enough dishes for the two of us, so all that space would just encourage piles of junk to form.
We're still in the middle of the renos, so our design isn't totally worked out yet, but we're going to employ minimal, open shelving instead of upper cabinets so that it will encourage us to only keep what we can bear to look at every day! Part of small living is, as you say, reducing non-essentials -- not finding more places to hide them! :)
yeah if you look at the code they give to everyone youll see that thats what they call the free rule!!!!
I thin out my sons, but I take the chocolate bars, kisses and m&m's, pieces etc. and use them for holiday cookies. I stick all the candy in a freezer bag and use them on top of or in cookie mixes. I save all the lollipops for the candy jar and give those out for surprise once in a while or for a road trip. He doesn't even miss it.
One thing we had to do was when our 2 year old came out of her crib to a big girl bed was to buy better furniture that suited the needs better. We had a bunk bed for our girls, and the plan had been for the 2 year old to move into the bottom bunk- but storage was still an issue.
We ultimately Freecycled the bunk bed and bought two single beds that are raised up to allow for dresser space underneath. Works so much better! We repurposed the dresser from their room for storage elsewhere and added more shelving storage for dolls, toys, etc.
Speaking of small spaces, the Japanese are the winners of how to store things in small spaces (and to make spaces where there were none before). See the book below for some great photos and diagrams...I had no idea!
The Very Small Home: Japanese Ideas for Living Well in Limited Space by Azby Brown
As always, save some money by putting it on hold at your library or request thru your library's inter-library loan program if they don't carry it. Ask your local librarian for details (we are lucky that our local library has everything online, and it's just a matter of putting a book on hold and waiting for the email to say it came in).
I too am unaware of thrift stores or ReStores, as HFH's are called, fulfilling donation requests. The good thing about a thrift store having something another non-profit wants/needs is it is probably available at a good price. Perhaps a thrifty supporter would like to buy the door and donate it!
I agree that name brand shoes seem to last a lot longer. I can easily wear a pair of name brand shoes for 2 to 3 years while the non-brand ones only last a few months. Considering the length of utility the name brand shoes are actually cheaper. Anyway, another thing is this sentence is a little odd: "I owned a pair of brand name running shoes that had a great little feature which was an alternative to laces, and I was loved them."
i have a few small dents on the side of my car (people who don't know how to park, and also kids with bikes banging their handle bars on my car) i got a paintjob not to long ago and it cost me a lot of money so i don't want to try these methods and risk f*cking up my paint, it's a color changing metallic black to red, will this mess up my paint?
I'm the person seen at the start of the James Randi video doing his introduction. Glad you enjoyed the talk, and thanks for pointing out the general @Google videos. It really is a great program, with visitors to a number of Google offices giving talks and interacting with Googlers. I'm no longer at Google, and one of the things I'm missing most is the opportunity to get to invite interesting people to do these talks.
I'm the person seen at the start of the James Randi video doing his introduction. Glad you enjoyed the talk, and thanks for pointing out the general @Google videos. It really is a great program, with visitors to a number of Google offices giving talks and interacting with Googlers. I'm no longer at Google, and one of the things I'm missing most is the opportunity to get to invite interesting people to do these talks.
Hey gamaholic, just wondering, what kind of internet connection do you have going on in that box you claim to live in?
Oh wait, you're just being sarcastic, nevermind LOL
My father always said: "You don't own the facts but you own your perspective."
I think of this a lot, not just about financial issues.
My first boss told me "Bad news doesn't get better with age" and this has helped me throughout many years as an employee and an employer.
My second boss told me "Don't let them get you with golden handcuffs; always have F*** you money!
A tongue in cheek point of view but one that does hold some weight:
Knowledge is only the majority's line of thinking. ie. The world is round only because the majority of people believe it to be so. In several thousands of years much of what we KNOW to be true today may infact be found to be completely wrong.
Majority thought = Knowledge, therefore wikipedia = Fact
then u wouldn't even need to fix ur car:
u'd b dead and ur car would b thin air by then!
nice; you burn up AND you car explodes!cool =)!!!!
At least one independent recognizes that its customers will reward consideration with loyalty.
From this CBC article, "The owners of Audrey's Books, which has been in business for more than three decades, say there's no reason why Canadian readers should continue to pay a higher price for books."
They are now selling their US sourced books at US list pricing in Edmonton, Alberta.
Definitely a great resource. Their TechTalks series is how I'm planning to get through the Writer's Guild strike.
I'm glad you felt supported by the comment. I certainly wasn't trying to speak for you . . . more like advocate for you and others in the position we've both been in. There are major perks, but it is certainly not a rose garden, is it? Good luck in your future endeavors.
My dad always called it "taxes." So yes, he was upfront about it. When my kids are older I will be upfront too. At this point she just doesn't know any better and I don't say anything about it.
Actually, my daughter is pretty generous at age 3. On Halloween night after she went to bed I ate two Hershey bars and left the wrappers on the coffee table. The next day saw the wrappers and asked, "Who ate two Hershey bars?" and I confessed that I did. She said, "Ok."
Allen: I'm a consultant :) As other fellow consultants will attest to, it means 100% travel. If you're not willing to travel, you're in the wrong business....
Andrea: Well, I normally don't reply to those posts (actually who am I kidding?) but it just struck a chord in me... which is deftly explained and fleshed out by Myscha in her next comment.
Myscha: I haven't had the opportunity to travel beyond North America, but I can just imagine what kind of hassles would transpire from doing so. Especially in Europe, where a different language is almost a given. At least in North America, everything is sort-of always in English, which makes it easier...
I am extremely happy with my job, but that all depends on the client you end up working for. They can make your life a living hell but I've been super lucky with the projects I've been on.
I love doing what I do, and if I can clear a huge amount of debt in such a short amount of time (and as a result, build up a healthy emergency fund AND a big down payment on a mortgage), all the better.
As for comforts of the home... it's true. My husband and I keep thinking about the day we'll finally get a home and settle down, and be able to grow herbs, and do what we want to make it ours.
Everyone DOES imagine my life to be glamourous, on a plane, sipping champagne, and staying in plush posh hotels, but it is far from what actually happens. Being on a plane, catching cabs, and trying to find a decent place to eat something somewhat healthy is a trial, and trying to always tell myself: Hey, if you buy that bowl/purse/coat are you going to lug it around forever while you're travelling? ...gets to be hard.
Pros and Cons. :) Worst con: missing my friends. :(
I always hesitate to give tax advice here, because the rules are so complex (and they change so often), that anything I say is likely to be wrong for some people--and will likely be completely out of date in a year or two. Be sure to do your own research regarding how the rules apply to your situation.
As I understand the rules right now, a charitable gift to a 501(c)(3) organization is deductible from your income for tax purposes. There are limits, but they are large (nothing to worry about until you're giving away 20% of your income, and even then some gifts are deductible until you're giving away 50% of your income). You need to get a letter from the charity that states the value of anything that you received as a premium (coffee mug, tote bag, etc.), and you have to deduct that from your gift before taking the deduction.
There is always talk of a tax credit program, because the current tax deduction scheme is worth so little to people of modest means, but I don't think there's any such program at the federal level right now. Some states may have such programs.
Thanks for the info on the situation in Canada!
If you are going to accelerate your mortgage pay down, don't pay anyone for the privilege of doing it. You don't need to buy any book, DVD, or software to do it. Just contact your mortgage company and find out what you need to do to send in extra principal payments. Then just send what ever you want, along with your regular mortgage payment. If you pay with automatic withdrawals from your checking account, you can probably have extra principal withdrawn, too. It's that easy.
If you want to do a bi-weekly mortgage, don't pay a $200 or $300 fee. Just do it yourself. Take your current monthly payment and divide it by 12. Send that amount in as an extra principal payment. Depending on your circumstances, you will pay the mortgage off between 5 and 10 years sooner.