The hutch got cleaned folks, the hutch got cleaned!
Since writing about my cleaning troubles I've been so much more aware of leaving things undone or not putting things away when I'm finished with them. I'm trying to be better. The other day I painted my nails and almost left the nail polish on the coffee table. I thought to myself, "No, Becca. Put it away." So, I took it to the bathroom and then almost set it on the countertop. Then I said to myself, "No, Becca. You came all the way into the bathroom to put that away. Finish the job!" (By "all the way into the bathroom" I of course meant all 10 steps.) Then I put it in the little red bucket where it belongs. Hooray me!
As we were doing our taxes earlier this year, Blake and I discovered It'sDeductible.com. We were too late for last year, but are happily tracking our donations for this year. Whenever we've donated stuff to charity in the past and had to estimate the value of the donation I've gotten this terrible sense of guilt. I want to be honest about how much I'm giving but then wonder if I'm overestimating the value of my donation to try to get a few more dollars on my tax refund. I mean, taking advantage of a charity for tax purposes is pretty sleazy. Turns out, I've been way underestimating the value of my donations! Our current donation pile of clothes, shoes, kitchen stuff, and electronics is up near $1000. Cool beans.
I also endorse selling things online. I've already got a few textbooks listed for sale on Amazon. After going through our media shelf, I listed several more books, some CDs, and quite a few DVDs for sale today. We've already sold two DVDs. I also listed a few things on Craigslist that we don't want to ship---too much hassel for bigger items. We've set a time limit on our items. If they don't sell when the time runs out, they're going away in the next charity donation. We don't want to have our "inventory" sitting around indefinitely. Hooray for uncluttering our house!
1 comment:
Did you know that you can claim 14 cents per mile for charity work? I keep track of all the miles I drive with my scouts, and I would bet young women leaders who drive to girls camp could claim those miles as well.
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