Tired Garden

Do you get money back at the end of the tax season? Do you get a lot back? Then you are paying too much during the year. You can change your W2 to show more dependents and they will take less of your money, so you have more for yourself. Some might ask, why? I like having that big chunk back all at once. Others might think that they will get fined or have to pay taxes. I am not a tax expert, but I have been following these guidelines for 10 years and have no problems.

Here is what you do. Walk into your HR office and tell them that you need to do a new W2. A W2 is the IRS form that you will out when you get a job that tells them how many dependents that you have. I put down seven last year and still ended up with a big chunk of change back at the end of tax season. Do whatever sounds best for you. If you are only getting a little back, don't push it too far. If you are getting a lot and only have one or two dependents listed, bring that up. There is not a magic number and what is perfect for you will vary from year to year.

If you like the big chunk all at once, there is not much argument for that, except that you are paying Uncle Sam to use your money during that time. Why not put what you would be paying in taxes into a interest baring account and let it sit there till after tax time. That way you will have the money in case you do have to pay some taxes AND you will be earning the interest instead of Uncle Sam. After you pay taxes, write yourself a check for that money that has been collecting interest in an account and use it however you think you should. I suggest paying down your credit cards.

As for being fined. The number of dependents you put on the W2 is totally up to you. Read the form. They will not get upset if it is not correct. However, do NOT use that same number when you do your taxes. Your taxes MUST have the correct information on them. The W2 is solely so that your employer knows how much money to take out of your paycheck and send to the IRS.

I don't want to pay taxes at the end of the season either. I don't want to pay taxes period. Income tax is like a pleasure of working here tax. I have to pay in order to work. It's not fair. But I have to pay it and so do you. If you don't the IRS will come after your and they WILL get their money in the end. Now, I can't guarantee that you will not end up paying taxes in the end, but if you are careful it should be fine. Like I said before, if you are only getting a little back, just knock your W2 dependents up a little. If you are getting $1000 back each year, push it up a few. I also suggest taking that extra and putting it into savings. This will allow you to build up a little savings (everyone should have three to six months expenses in the bank, just in case) and if you end up paying taxes, you don't have to scramble. Even if you do pay a little taxes, YOU were earning the interest on the money during the year, instead of the government.

Basically, don't go wild. Take it easy. If you bump up your W2 and you still pay taxes next year, bump it up some more. If you bumped it up too far, either say "oh well" and keep earning interest on the money before you pay or pull down the dependents. You don't have the money right now, right? You won't miss it if it goes into your savings account then, right? Don't raise your spending, raise your savings!

Today is Friday and its been a while since I've done a Food Friday post, so I thought I would. I'm going to try to make a Food Friday post more often. My goal is every Friday, but I'm not going to promise anything.

Today's Food Friday post is about eggs and salmonella. With the recall on eggs from Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa which effects eggs from all over the US, I thought I'd talk a little about this nasty disease and how we can protect ourselves.

First, I think that fears need to be set aside. This recall effects a small percentage of the eggs being produced. You should check your eggs, but this recall effects less than 1% of eggs. Still, 1 in a hundred... If you eat a lot of eggs, that's a good chance... There are ways to protect yourself. I'll talk about the two best ways to protect against salmonella in eggs: raising your own and cooking the egg well.

The best way to avoid issues with bird diseases is to grow your own. If you have a small flock of chickens you have limited the possibility of getting any diseases. Think about human disease. Where do we have the highest percentage of diseases per human, in crowded cities or in rural communities? People in cities, especially schools, hospitals, community centers and malls where people are all packed in with poor circulation have much higher chances if getting sick. The same is true for animals. If they live in a crowded facility, crammed in there with a bunch of other birds they are going to have a much higher chance of being sick than if they live in a yard with just a couple of other ladies.

If you can't have, or don't want to care for a backyard flock, then you should cook your eggs through. Your whites should be solid at the very least. Really the yolk should be cooked through too. I'm not a fan of hard cooked yolks, so I scramble my eggs when I have to buy them from the store. Of course, the chances of getting salmonella from eggs is slim, but do you really want to take the chance?

Refrigerating store bought eggs is very important, but if you have your own flock it is less important. Eggs left outside can last weeks. Many people harvest their eggs only every few days, or once a week. Store bought eggs have probably been cleaned though. Cleaning eggs takes off some of the protective membrane. Also, store bought eggs might be a couple weeks old before they reach your store. Keeping them in the fridge is best to protect them. I also refrigerate my yard eggs, but if I find some laying around, I don't worry too much about them being bad. Float test them if you are unsure. (bad eggs don't float in water)

I have been reading around about some of the outlandish ideas that people are working on, such as the Solar Roadways Project. The idea being that you replace roadways with these special solar panels that can be driven on. There are a lot of benefits to this system, one of which is not the low price tag.

A lot of people are taking hits at such ideas, without reading the material available for them. For instance, many people have stated that it would be unsafe, as the surface would be slick. Well, if you read the material available, they use a surface which is not slick. There are many other complaints that don't stand up. It would be nice that if you make comments about something being a bad idea, you researched your claims first. But people don't.

People say it is far fetched, unrealistic, and not viable. The airplane was all this. That did not stop the Wright Brothers from working on it. Or Leonardo Da Vinci prior to them. Space travel was all this, we have been to the moon, have a space station, and have sent probes all over our solar system. Heck, at one time the wheel was probably considered far fetched, unrealistic and not viable. I'm glad that these inventors did not listen to their critics.

Please, keep working on these crazy ideas. Even if it does not work, as Mr. Da Vinci's did not, someone may come along later, use some of your ides and make something really cool out of it. Keep it up!

Albertson's is going to stop selling Jolly-Time Popcorn. Jolly-Time is a smaller organization and needs your help to stay in the shelves. They will give you 2 coupons for free popcorn just for showing your support. All you have to do is send an email to makeadifference@jollytime.com by August 15th, 2010 with the following information:

• State: “I prefer and am loyal to JOLLY TIME Pop Corn and will shop at another store to purchase JOLLY TIME if necessary.”
• Your name and Mailing Address (so they can mail you 2 coupons for FREE popcorn)
• Street & City of the Albertson’s store you normally shop
• Your favorite JOLLY TIME Pop Corn product.