Tax season is upon us. How quickly it sneaks in when the holidays are over. This year we are going to do our own taxes online using TurboTax. However, we have use about every way to complete your taxes except for doing them by hand.

So our question to you is:
How are going to fill out your tax papers? Online, CPA, H & R Block type firm, or by hand?

You can answer via comments or vote in the poll on the right side bar.

Kid's Bedroom~

The girls' bedroom always looks like it has been ransacked by vandals. Today was no exception. The thought of tackling their room was scary and if it was not for making a commitment to doing it in the last post in this series I would have put it off a little longer. But alas, I will keep my word and not let the junk win this battle!


It was hard to prepare mentally for this room. There was just to much stuff everywhere and it was all a moving target with the one year old moving everything around constantly. I did decide that the best way to tackle it would be to start by the door and work my way around the room counter clockwise. This would give me a feel of accomplishment and hopefully help keep the youngest from destroying to much in my wake.

I have spent a full day in this room and could easily spend more time working in it if I had the time. So far I have pulled out 4 really large paper sacks full of toys to sell and/or give away. I've also pulled clothes out that doesn't fit the girls any more. Our oldest daughter had several outfits that will be going into storage containers for when the little one grows into them. Then there was about 10 outfits that the youngest has outgrown that were still hanging in the closet. I'm going to sell them mainly online. What I can't sell online I'll hold back for the garage sale. There was also a huge bag of trash that came out of the room.




I personally find it extremely hard to keep the girls' room clean. They are 5 and 1 years old. They have lots of friends who are always coming over to play which seems to make it even harder to keep clean even when they clean up before they leave.

We want to hear from you! Today we are kicking off a new weekly series that will help us get to know you and your thoughts.

Our first question for you is:

What do you think of our new comment's section?

The Master Bedroom~

While preparing mentally I did come up with some things to sell and give away. The main items being my nursing tops that I don't use any more. I think that I could manage to give away a few pairs of shoes that I have not worn in awhile. The main things I noticed was a lot of dust on surfaces and clutter on top of dressers.

When I started cleaning today I was dreading this room just because I've neglected it for so long. However, once I got started I really got into it! It felt good to clean my own room for a change. This is the only real space the Mr. and I have that is kid free (except for what they drag in). I was also surprised just how fast it went! It did not take long at all to finish the whole room. I did end up with a large stack of clothes. I'll be listing most of the nursing tops on diaper swappers and the rest I'm adding to the sack of baby toys to give away. I'll keep you posted on how much I make off of what I sell. In the end I also had a grocery sack full of shoes to freecycle.

The one thing I was not expecting when I cleaned the bedroom was the mattress cover. When I went to wash the sheets I found that some how since the last time I washed sheets the mattress cover was ripped and destroyed. I'm not sure how that one happened! So I did end up running to target today to buy a new one. I'll have to subtract it from my money make during the cleaning process.

After reading the "Too Much Junk in the Trunk?" post you might be wondering about all that junk in the trunk (now the house). I promised you more info on our junk removal process. So here it is! The first post in a new series all about the Frugal and Green benefits simple house. The Mr.'s favorite saying is "Less is More". We try our hardest to live that motto but in our materialistic world is a never ending battle.

But no worries, I have never enter battle without a good strategy. Here is an outline of our basic battle plans for de-junking our house.

• Time- I only start this project when I have a lot of time to work on it. Otherwise it doesn't get finished and is de-motivating.
  
• Prepare- I spend the week before hand mentally going though each room and changing things while I live my normal life. This seems to help make the work go faster because I've already started a short list of what items need to stay and what can go.
  
• Focus- When it's time to start working it's easy to get distracted. I try to stay focused by giving everyone a job, no TV, only music that gets you moving, and no checking email.
  
• One- I only tackle one room at a time. This relates to the above in that it keeps me focused. If I leave the room I start cleaning a different room and never can get one done completely. I also limit myself to one room a day if possible.
  
• Supplies- Make sure to have everything you need with you when you go into the room. Here is the general list of items I take with me to insure I don't leave the room and get distracted.
  

1. Two paper sacks (trash and stuff to sell)
2. Laundry basket (for items that don't below in that room)
3. Vacuum or broom
4. Surface and window cleaner w/ rag
5. Phone (so I don't leave the room!)

• Finish- It's important to finish the job. That means take the trash out, sort out the sack of stuff to get rid of and either post it on freecycle, craigslist, ebay or put it with your growing garage sale stash. Take the laundry basket full of stuff and put it away correctly. If you do this after each room it will make each room a little easier.
  

Some time ago, the Mrs. and I squeezed some entertainment funds out of the budget - a whopping 6 bucks for a Netflix subscription. $6 affords us their cheapest plan of 2 movies per month, which is about all we can manage to get through anyways. This has allowed us to catch up on the movies that we aren't seeing in theaters, as well as discover some interesting stuff - especially in the documentary genre. Some of the more notables:

• What Would Jesus Buy? [Our review]
• Danny Schechter's In Debt We Trust [totally intended to do a review on this one an forgot - was worth watching]
• A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash [It's a bigger deal than even the media makes it out to be]
• Maxed Out [a must see for anyone interested in personal finance - note: official site seems to be down]
• SICKO [you know how we feel about health insurance]

• Don't save for college - Bert feels that there are better places to put long term investments
• Don't pay off your house - With a low interest rate on your mortgage, Bert says you can easily out earn that in the stock market.
  

No sooner do we close the books on '08 and all of the unexpected expenditures that we faced, do we find ourselves faced with our first of '09. We're starting 2009 off with a bang - or rather a crash. Last week, while traveling to visit family, we were in a car accident.

Everyone is ok, and we know that is the most important thing. Our truck, on the other hand, bore the burden of the blow. The damage was far less than any of us expected, and yet word from the body shop is that insurance may total it out!

The crazy thing is - it's drivable! After the accident, we drove it quite a ways with no issue. Inspections have yielded no mechanical problems. So with what seems like superficial problems, the question is, will they salvage the title?

We're waiting to hear back from the insurance company, but our options appear to be:

1. Fix it. If they give us the nod, then we certainly won't complain. We're not expecting this one to pan out.
2. Kinda fix it. We may have to settle for only having certain parts fixed, leaving others as is.
3. Transplant. If the body shop hasn't already accounted for it, we may need to authorize the use of used parts to keep the total cost of repairs below the ins. company's threshold.
4. Total it. If nothing else works, we may have to allow them to total the vehicle. If that is the case, then we'll then have to negotiate the pay out and then attempt to purchase another at that price or less.
   

Today I'm excited to be celebrating our youngest daughter's 1st birthday. What a year it has been! She has brought us unbelievable joy and heart ache in a years time. I'm happy to say though that she healthy and able to enjoy her birthday like a normal one year old which brings tears of joy to my eyes just thinking about it. But that is really not what this post is about.

I'm also excited to be celebrating my one year anniversary of cloth diapering, babywearing and breastfeeding my youngest daughter.

Did you watch Suze Orman on Oprah? I did! She did have a few good ideas but most of the advice was not worth the time.

Here is my 2 cents:

Paying for college- There was a couple who lost half their kid's college savings in the stock market. Suze's advice was to roll the funds that are left to the older child and then have their younger son take out a subsized loan in his name for them to pay back. That was her goal to keep their kids from getting college debt. Hum... Sounds like she pretty effectively put the younger one deeply in debt. Batting .500, Suze.

If you read my recent article about toys and cloth diapers disappearing from the U.S. then you might have already received the email below. Please, take the time to read the email and take action! Our kids deserve a greener future!

What: We need your vote again at Change.org!

How: Vote here

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

When: Now!

Thank you so much for your support of the Handmade Toy Alliance. Our membership numbers continue to grow and we have been receiving many positive press responses. We have issued letters to the Consumer Protection Safety Commission, responding to the agencies requests for comments on the CPSIA. Many of us have contacted our Congress People, hoping for their support in changing the law.

Currently, we are in the running to have our issue presented to President-elect Obama, but we need your help to make this happen. Please vote to save small businesses from the CPSIA at www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia.

The Handmade Toy Alliance remains grateful to all of you, your trust in our products and your ability to work with us to make a positive change in this legislation.

www.handmadetoyalliance.org

Maybe you've heard, the economy is suffering a bit. Actually, it's quite bad out there, and the retail sector is taking quite the beating. In fact, with consumer confidence dwindling, even gift card sales were off this year as many feared that certain retailers may not survive, leaving them high and dry. Not that any of the big guys have folded.

I've read in the past year, many folks bemoaning that 'negotiation is dead' and that this is 'the age of no negotiation'. Well, it was. I'd even experienced this at Sears, where they flat out told me that store policy was to not to do so.

Hit the link to see why I think that negotiation is making a comeback.


On a recent trip to one of the big boxes, we were shopping for some products for our bathroom remodel (remuddle, as a friend puts it). We had found some tile we liked at a different store, and wanted to see what they had. The team leader in flooring was helping us out, but not finding what we were looking for. Still she was being a bit odd about it. As if not wanting to tell us that they could not help us.

After a few minutes, she finally came clean. Here's the jist of what she had to say:

• Crummy economy hurting retail
• New store policy to not turn customers away
• They'll price match anybody plus 10%
  
• If budget is an issue, say what we need is $1500, but we're working with $700, they could come down (her example).

Most people dread January since it is the month all the large Christmas bills come due. There is nothing quite like the buzz kill of maxed out credit cards, blizzards and the lack of sunlight that is January for most families.

However, we are no orderinary family December was wonderful and so will January. No credit card hangovers for us this year! Here is the recap of December and our lovely plans for January.


December's Budget Recap:

• We had a perfect month! I'm sure it will never happen again in my life, but I can actually say that we kicked butt in Dec. 2008.
• Our Anniversary vacation funds were more then adequate for the trip. The extra was pooled with the Christmas money we received from family and re-budgeted that way.
• It was hard to not blow the budget on Christmas gifts for the kids, but work really hard to not do it. In the end I was glad I didn't spend the money since everyone else broke the bank on our kids.
• Paid our property tax bill with the money we sit aside every month for it.
  

• With the fall of gas prices I have a ton of extra gas cards left from previous months. We are actually budgeting $0 for gas this month! The money that would have been in this line item was transfer to the car replacement fund line item.
  
• Last month I sent in the paperwork to start the monthly withdrawal of funds for our kids' college savings accounts. That should kick in this month and was added to the budget. We had stopped this temporary to pay for our baby's medical bills.
  
• We also budgeted for a date night that includes funds for dinner out, a movie and a babysitter! I know, we are sooo extravigant!
  

• Save for new roof (100% of funds by late spring)
• Start putting money in Roth again (starting in late spring after roof)
• Continue to save for kids' college in 529s
• Continue to do company matching 401k
• Fully fund Roth and 529s by late summer
• Start agressively saving for a new car
  

As I've been surfing the blogsphere today I've seen lots of great posts on everyone's personal resolutions for the new year. I have to admit I'm not one for making New Year's Resolutions. Not sure why, but that is just me.

This year I do have a few small resolutions I'm hoping I can carry through the year and beyond.

1. Go to bed by 10pm. I know, I'm getting a little crazy here! At our house the kids are well rested and the adults are extremely sleep deprived. My dream is that if I got an extra two hours of sleep (making for an 8 hour night) I would be happier and more productive during the day making it worth losing 2 hours of work time at night.
2. Give more time. Since we moved across county this last time I have dragged my feet when it came to getting involved with Church and other non-profit organizations. Now that things are as calm as they will ever be in our home it's time to reach out the larger community and give back.
3. Get my house in order. The baby will be turning 1 yrs old next month and the large house projects are starting to wind down. My excuses for an unclean house are also coming to an end. The cleaning fairy is not going to magically appear. Nor a housekeeper for that matter. It's time I just give a little more time to cleaning. No more excuses.

So that is my list of the 3G's for New Year! On the surface they seem do able, but we will see how long they last. What are your resolutions? Feel free to leave a link to your 2009 list of resolutions if you posted them on your blog.