Do I hear a collective groan from everyone out there? Yep, it's time to gather all your financial paperwork and crunch those numbers!

Good news! Several companies offer free filing if you meet certain criteria! In years past, I have used both TurboTax Freedom and H&R Block TaxCut. Now that I own my own business, things are more complicated and I have to pay for software. Now I use TurboTax Home & Business and have been pleased with it.

TurboTax Freedom 
To qualify for free federal tax preparation and filing using TurboTax Freedom Edition 2008, you must meet one of the following criteria *

• Earned an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) for tax year 2008 of $30,000 or less; or
• Qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); or
• Served Active Duty Military with AGI of $56,000 or less.

To qualify for free state tax preparation and filing using TurboTax Freedom Edition 2008, you must meet both of the following criteria:

1. You must qualify for free federal tax preparation (above); and
2. The state(s) must participate in the state FFA. States (AL, AR, AZ, GA, ID, IA, KY, MA, MI, MN, MO, MS, NY, ND, NC, OK, OR, RI, SC, VT, WV)

H&R Block TaxCut Free File
Free if you earned $56,000 or less AGI and were 50 years or younger on December 31, 2008. State e-file is $29.95

TaxAct freefile
You qualify for free tax preparation, printing, & efiling if your age is between 19 & 55, and your AGI is $56,000 or less. State e-filing is $13.95

You can find more free tax preparation sites on the IRS website.

Another tip - many times you can print a copy of your state taxes and mail it in. It takes a little longer, but I usually don't get enough back in state taxes to justify spending the money to e-file.

If you need more advanced tax preparation or don't meet the criteria for free preparation, here is a list of major software titles and the lowest prices I could find.

TaxAct
Online 2008 Standard  Free online prep (1040, 1040A & 1040EZ) and federal e-filing. State e-file  is just $13.95.
Online 2008 Deluxe $9.95 federal, optional state is $7.00
TaxAct Ultimate $16.95 free filing for federal and state.

TurboTax
Deluxe  direct from Intuit $29.95 (Federal e-file included, state prep & e-file additional $34.95)
$38.99 from Buy.com (Federal e-file included, state e-file additional $19.95)


Premier direct from Intuit $49.95  (Federal e-file included, state prep & e-file additional $34.95)
$59.99 from Buy.com  (Federal e-file included, state e-file additional $19.95)

Home & Business direct from Intuit $74.95 (Federal e-file included, state prep & e-file additional $34.95)  
$59.99 from newegg.com (Federal e-file included, state e-file additional $19.95)

$10 TurboTax Rebates can be found here. It says "participating retail stores", but the FAQ indicates online stores are participating as well, but I can't find a list. It's worth a try if you have to buy the software anyway!

TaxCut
Premium Federal + e-file $34.95  $32.99 from Buy.com (state e-file cost determined at filing time)
Premium Federal & State + e-file $49.95  $45.99 from Buy.com (state e-file cost determined at filing time)
Home & Business $79.95 $70.99 from Buy.com (state e-file cost determined at filing time)


Don't forget to purchase through ebates to receive 1% back from buy.com and 2% back from newegg! (plus $5 for new members)

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Did you know you can save $5/month if you have DSL and cellular service from AT&T? Just make a simple phone call and they will set you up with a bundle and combine both of the bills in to one.

Here's the link to the information.

This saves me $5/month or $60/year!

If you have a landline that you only use for DSL access, ask about switching to dry DSL. That can save you about $15 extra per month!

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I did more research over the weekend. Still going with a FreeRadical hitchless trailer. I think I've changed my mind on the motor. I am strongly leaning towards a Cleverchip Stokemonkey. The price is steeper, but I think it will really give me more bang for my buck. I found some OK reviews on the Wilderness Energy kit. Every person that has a Stokemonkey LOVES it.


Here are some reasons I'm leaning towards it:
* It is built specifically for the Xtracycle FreeRadical hitchless trailer
* More torque than the WE hub kit
* All the battery options for the WE hub kit seemed to take up valuable cargo room or I'd have to buy a seatpost rack, but not sure that would really help much either.
* Seems the mileage range is longer on the Stokemonkey than the WE

The number one thing that is strongly pulling me towards it - some guy in San Fransisco uses one for his daily commute (visiting nurse) and he also can climb the hills with a rider on the back of his bike! I think the Stokemonkey can handle the hills in Greenville!

While it is a bit more expensive and it does make me nervous to spend that kind of money on an accessory for my bike, it will pay for itself in only a few months.

The sad thing is...it's not currently available. They needed to make some adjustments to the Stokemonkey design and they're behind schedule with the production. Last update was March 26th and they were hopefully going to ship to the States soon, but they aren't exactly sure of the actual date.

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Since I moved back to the States in July 2007, I have not had a car. I really didn't expect to be without one this long. So far it's worked out mostly OK. It's frustrating at times, but I've gotten used to it. Every time I have "needed" a car for some reason or another, God has provided the use of one at just the right time!

Now that I've saved some money, I'm at a crossroads. The amount of money I have will not buy me much of a car. That's OK with me. I just need something to get me from point A to point B and haul some stuff here and there. But...is it really worth it?

Since I work from home, I don't need to get to/from work. I was having to go to the Post Office quite a bit to mail boxes, but now I can do that from home using Endicia. Most everywhere I need to go is within a 2 mile radius of my house. I have a rack with panniers that work great for hauling groceries and smaller stuff, but sometimes they're not quite enough for bulkier items.

The hills here in Greenville do present a bit of a problem! My stamina has increased, but some of them are killers. A few weeks ago I almost passed out when I got off my bike after a hard ride. They take the joy out of riding. Granted, sometimes it's a thrill to accomplish them, but when I'm tired or don't feel like riding, but need to get somewhere, it's not fun. I dread them. Sometimes if I can, I'll take a slightly longer route with less hills.

So...what to do? Continue living car free? Or buy some cheap car that is going to need to be replaced probably sooner than later?

I've been weighing my options & minimally, I'll save over $4200/year ($350/month) by remaining car free! That's just for gas, insurance, oil changes and saving for a replacement car. That is not including car repairs, yearly registration, etc. (AAA's research shows the annual average cost of driving a small sedan is $6,320 per year.) With that kind of savings, living car free is becoming more tempting! That leaves me plenty of money to give my friends gas money (I do need to get to church, unless I find biking with a change of clothes will work.) or rent a car for a few days if I need to! The Transit Authority here recently installed bike racks on all the buses. So far, I haven't ridden it yet. The one and only time I tried to catch one didn't work out so well. Maybe I'll try again later.

So I've come up with some options to overcome the hurdles of hauling stuff/the hills:

First is the Xtracycle FreeRadical hitchless trailer conversion kit and WideLoaders. The hitchless trailer provides a lower center of gravity for more stability. It also provides more cargo room than my current saddle bags. The WideLoaders provide a platform to haul bulkier things:



The next purchase will be a Wilderness Energy ebike kit. This will give me assistance going up those tough hills without killing myself!


I had been planning on saving my tax rebate check for a rainy day, but I'm seriously considering putting that money towards these accessories. After all, that's what the government really wants us to do - stimulate the economy by buying things, right? :-)

There are some other options out there. But, since I'm just starting out, I don't want to sink a lot of money into something I might regret later. If I decide this is going to work out, I can always upgrade since I'll have some extra spending money!

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Seventeen days after mailing my taxes (couldn't e-file since I had lived out of the country part of last year.) I got my refund! Hooray!

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Being single with a steady income, I got lazy the last couple years and didn't really Now that I am back in the States and my income varies every month, I decided I need to go back on a strict budget. I had used Microsoft Money 2005 & 2006, but never really liked it much. (Which is probably one of the reason I quit sticking to a budget.) I missed the QuikBudget program I had for my Palm. Unfortunately,they don't make a PocketPC or desktop version of it, so I had to hunt for a new program. I found a great piece of software called "You Need a Budget Pro" or YNAB for short. It is very easy and intuitive to use. For tech support there are great tutorials, online help and forums if you need to ask a specific question. (And the creator of the software answers a lot of the questions himself!) I did have a little trouble because I have a few weird things that happen in my budget and a couple calculation errors on my part when I was double checking to make sure everything balanced out correctly. But that was not the software's fault! It is built on the zero-based budgeting principles. I have used zero-based in the past, but didn't know it had a name!

Now I can save for future expenses in the various budget categories and keep tabs on all my income and expenses.

The greatest thing about finally having my budget done -
Now I know how much money I can spend on a car and can start looking after 9 months without one! Currently I'm one month ahead of my expenses, have money for a car and have started accumulating additional savings. It's such a freeing feeling to finally have it all worked out!

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And it's tax season again! My taxes are mostly done. I thought about hiring a CPA this year until I looked into the cost! Ouch! I asked around and one CPA friend told me "Get TurboTax.". Another friend who owns his own business said, "Get TurboTax!" I took their advice! I'm glad I did! It was simple and walked me through all the steps and my various deductions. I'm almost done with federal. (Have a couple things to check and got one more piece of paperwork in the mail the other day.) State should be even simpler since it uses all the data from the federal return.

Amazon had the best pricing for the software. Much cheaper than Intuit direct, Wal-Mart or any of the office supply stores!

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I am looking at making some changes to my internet service - Dry Loop DSL is now available in my area! That means I can ditch my landline phone and save about $36/month! That's $432 a year!

I haven't even used the landline since I've been here. I did plug a phone into it, but didn't give the number out to anyone. After 2 days of getting telemarketer calls (and they had my name!), I unplugged the phone! It's been so peaceful since then!

I was reading some boring fine print and ran across this on AT&T's website:
"Applicable taxes and fees based on the full price of all products and services, and no faxes or fees will be added to any rebate." Whew! I am so glad they are not going to add any faxes to my rebate! I hate it when they do that.

Back to telemarketers. Since I have a VOIP phone and a cell phone, I really don't get telemarketer calls. I suppose it's only a matter of time though. I did get one interesting one awhile back. This lady called urging me to subscribe to the newspaper. I thought I caught the name of it, but wasn't sure. Didn't matter. I wasn't interested anyway. She persisted and started extolling the virtues of local coupons, etc. I asked her to repeat the name of the paper. It was my hometown paper in Iowa! I told her local news and coupons wouldn't be much help. I'm in South Carolina! :-) She apologized and hung up.

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Today I went to my favorite store - Target! Unfortunately, their clearance was no good today. I only found one good gift item that I won't mention here in case it's for you! :-)

Here are the other good deals I found on sale items using coupons -
4 boxes Stove Top stuffing
2 bags Cheetos
4 bags M&Ms (one 11 oz & three 14 oz)
1 Polly Pocket set
Grand total? $4.16!

I don't know what the "normal" regular prices for all these things was because they were on sale, but without using coupons, my total would have been $20.15. Overall savings of 79%! I wish I knew what the regular prices were...

4 boxes of Stove Top stuffing for one person you say? Believe it or not it would have cost me more to buy one box! They were on sale for .79. I had Target coupons for .50 off. I also had a manufacturer coupon for $1 off 4 boxes. So it ended up costing me .16 for all 4 boxes!

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I bought 6lbs of chicken, cooking oil, conditioner, liquid coffee creamer and 2 packages of yeast. Total spent - $14.40! I saved $26.52! A savings of 54%

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