jessila
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Post by jessila on Jan 24, 2018 8:15:37 GMT -6
We did our taxes last night which always include our donations. I'm sure to itemize everything we donate to Goodwill and the like. After my major KM purge last year, we donated almost $2,000 worth of goods--clothing, books, furniture, shoes, and other things. And we're getting a good percentage of that money back in our tax return. Itemize those donations, ladies. ooh along these lines, have y'all used the give back box? Pack your shit up in all those old Amazon boxes you have a gazillion of, itemize your receipt, slap a prepaid label on it and USPS will pick it up. I'm planning on using this to keep myself decluttered a little at a time throughout the year rather than letting things pile up again. givebackbox.comI looked into it last year (and now I remember just how many boxes I had fulled with stuff) and the shipping price was super high in comparison to the 10 minute drive to my Goodwill. I think it wasn't really offered in my area at the time.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2018 13:27:41 GMT -6
ooh along these lines, have y'all used the give back box? Pack your shit up in all those old Amazon boxes you have a gazillion of, itemize your receipt, slap a prepaid label on it and USPS will pick it up. I'm planning on using this to keep myself decluttered a little at a time throughout the year rather than letting things pile up again. givebackbox.comI looked into it last year (and now I remember just how many boxes I had fulled with stuff) and the shipping price was super high in comparison to the 10 minute drive to my Goodwill. I think it wasn't really offered in my area at the time. It's free shipping.
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jessila
Gold
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Post by jessila on Jan 24, 2018 13:32:32 GMT -6
I looked into it last year (and now I remember just how many boxes I had fulled with stuff) and the shipping price was super high in comparison to the 10 minute drive to my Goodwill. I think it wasn't really offered in my area at the time. It's free shipping. Hmm, maybe it was a different program. Oooor maybe I didn't have enough printer ink for my umpteen boxes. Either one seems likely.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2018 13:34:29 GMT -6
It's free shipping. Hmm, maybe it was a different program. Oooor maybe I didn't have enough printer ink for my umpteen boxes. Either one seems likely. lol yeah I have to wait til I go back to work to use the printer there.
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regal
Sapphire
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Post by regal on Jan 24, 2018 14:46:54 GMT -6
We did our taxes last night which always include our donations. I'm sure to itemize everything we donate to Goodwill and the like. After my major KM purge last year, we donated almost $2,000 worth of goods--clothing, books, furniture, shoes, and other things. And we're getting a good percentage of that money back in our tax return. Itemize those donations, ladies. If only we had this in Canada!
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Post by mrsweasley on Jan 24, 2018 15:04:35 GMT -6
I only get reciepts/keep track of "big" things for tax purposes, but last year was the first time we itemized so it never mattered before
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Post by numbears on Jan 25, 2018 12:06:15 GMT -6
I'm regretting not getting receipts. For some reason I thought it wasn't really worth it. Maybe we talked about this in the other thread on TCF. But then the items I've donated probably didn't add up to that amount. Definitely looking into that box.
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adelbert
Amethyst
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Post by adelbert on Jan 29, 2018 7:54:43 GMT -6
I just did papers. I had already done my home office once before but had skipped over some folders. I know I know. This time I went through every single sheet of paper and was able to get rid of so many receipts and random contracts that were totally outdated. I feel so good about it.
I'm also getting rid of the cross-stitch samplers I had purchased to complete after the birth of each boy. I had only started the first one and that just barely, and now I have three boys, and I don't even like cross-stitch. One of the kits wasn't even opened so I'll be able to sell it.
I just loved that my mom made one for me and I wanted to give the same gift to the boys. But I'm going to have an alphabet sampler that my mom cross-stitched framed instead and put it up in the boy's playroom. That will give me the good feelings instead of the guilt of having something in a drawer that I know I'm never going to complete.
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Post by mrsweasley on Jan 29, 2018 7:57:26 GMT -6
I went through papers this weekend too. I ended up filling the shredder twice
I have a ton of cross stitch stuff too, but I enjoy doing it. Time is just so limited. I need to pare down
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adelbert
Amethyst
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Post by adelbert on Jan 29, 2018 8:23:39 GMT -6
I went through papers this weekend too. I ended up filling the shredder twice I have a ton of cross stitch stuff too, but I enjoy doing it. Time is just so limited. I need to pare down I enjoyed doing cross-stitch in school because I had so much free time. But I'm not one to do it while I watch TV and I have too many other things I prefer to be doing when I do have a free minute. I'm also getting rid of my sewing machine (have used once in 4 years, and my knitting needles-barely started a scarf!)
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Post by mrsweasley on Jan 29, 2018 8:27:00 GMT -6
I went through papers this weekend too. I ended up filling the shredder twice I have a ton of cross stitch stuff too, but I enjoy doing it. Time is just so limited. I need to pare down I enjoyed doing cross-stitch in school because I had so much free time. But I'm not one to do it while I watch TV and I have too many other things I prefer to be doing when I do have a free minute. I'm also getting rid of my sewing machine (have used once in 4 years, and my knitting needles-barely started a scarf!) I love doing it while watching TV, but since DD I've had issues with hand numbness. I need to be realistic about what I can actually do now so I don't end up with a house full of craft and sewing stuff I'll never be able to finish 😂
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AmyG
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Post by AmyG on Jan 29, 2018 8:48:46 GMT -6
bruxCan you answer/fill in info on the tax stuff up thread about can you deduct anything for donations dropped off at goodwill without getting a receipt?
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brux
Diamond
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Post by brux on Jan 29, 2018 8:55:40 GMT -6
brux Can you answer/fill in info on the tax stuff up thread about can you deduct anything for donations dropped off at goodwill without getting a receipt? I'm trying to keyword search for the question without reading everything. Was it what numbears said about not getting a receipt?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2018 8:58:56 GMT -6
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brux
Diamond
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Post by brux on Jan 29, 2018 9:05:32 GMT -6
It's in everyone's best interests to get and keep receipts for charitable contributions. You really only need them in case of audit, so the IRS just assumes you have documentation when you're filing your taxes. I do read the IRS rules to say that non-cash donations (aka your old stuff) worth less than $250 may not need a receipt. If you forgot to grab a receipt from Goodwill or the like AND you have an itemized list of the items you donated AND the value you're claiming for those bags of donations is under $250, I think the risk would be pretty low that you'd have an issue getting those deductions disallowed, if you're even ever audited. www.irs.gov/newsroom/nine-tips-on-deducting-charitable-contributions
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AmyG
Ruby
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Post by AmyG on Jan 29, 2018 9:25:09 GMT -6
brux thanks I was going to say <250 You should be ok even without a receipt. Fyi my goodwill gives a reprinted receipt that you fill out completely yourself, they don't put a date on it and the receipts never change. So say if you donated a small box of stuff right now and got a receipt like the blank ones I get, you could enter the date and list of things for last year's huge pile of boxes. If course I mean don't lie about it completely.
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brux
Diamond
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Post by brux on Jan 29, 2018 9:29:16 GMT -6
brux thanks I was going to say <250 You should be ok even without a receipt. Fyi my goodwill gives a reprinted receipt that you fill out completely yourself, they don't put a date on it and the receipts never change. So say if you donated a small box of stuff right now and got a receipt like the blank ones I get, you could enter the date and list of things for last year's huge pile of boxes. If course I mean don't lie about it completely. yeah, I donate to a place that just hands out cards. I do my best to match up my itemized list with the receipt card I was handed at the time, but once or twice I've come up short on receipts, so I combined itemized lists under one donation receipt. Don't lock me up!
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jessila
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Post by jessila on Jan 29, 2018 12:30:29 GMT -6
I itemized everything and categorized it based on the quality of the items into two categories which is how TurboTax reads the information. I use a tally system. It's super sophisticated. My Goodwill just gives a receipt with the date on it and what categories of items I donated (clothing, shoes, furniture, books, etc.) and hopefully if we ever get audited my system is enough.
We got back about 40% of our donation value which isn't too shabby. It makes me question doing the whole consignment sale thing with my kid's clothes. Disclaimer that we also tithe regularly to our church and make other donations throughout the year which somehow gets us more money returned from taxes. I don't understand it because I'm not tax savvy or really any kind of fiscal stuff.
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grover
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Post by grover on Feb 3, 2018 22:19:45 GMT -6
Hi! I posted in the 2017 thread at the old place. I made my way through the clothing category last year but I was pregnant. Now I'm back down to prepregnancy weight and need to do another pass through. Just downloaded the app and excited to fully commit this year.
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adelbert
Amethyst
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Post by adelbert on Feb 4, 2018 0:27:52 GMT -6
Hi grover! I loved getting rid of my maternity clothes!
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Lakes
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Post by Lakes on Feb 4, 2018 6:37:18 GMT -6
I’ve done a lot of physical stuff. Now I’m putting tags on all my photos on my computer and deleting duplicates. Update: I deleted over ten thousand photos 😳 I need to do this. I feel like I need to ship the kids off to the grandparents for the week in order to accomplish it. Digital photos seems so overwhelming. I did clean out my email the other week and that was freeing! It went from almost 900 to 30.
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adelbert
Amethyst
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Post by adelbert on Feb 4, 2018 6:56:31 GMT -6
I need to do this. I feel like I need to ship the kids off to the grandparents for the week in order to accomplish it. Digital photos seems so overwhelming. I did clean out my email the other week and that was freeing! It went from almost 900 to 30. I did about an hour a day after the kids went to bed. I was done in about a week and a half. I'm seriously impressed.
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Post by tincupchalice on Feb 4, 2018 15:00:55 GMT -6
I've started just shoving DH's crap to his side of things (like the dresser and whatnot). I like the visual it presents, a clear dividing line between my nice, clean, empty side and his pile of crap. It seems to be getting to him, he's at least talking about needing to clean up.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2018 15:10:31 GMT -6
I've started just shoving DH's crap to his side of things (like the dresser and whatnot). I like the visual it presents, a clear dividing line between my nice, clean, empty side and his pile of crap. It seems to be getting to him, he's at least talking about needing to clean up. MH does this to my stuff and honestly... it's really hurtful. I'm sure a lot of it is my own insecurity over how messy I can be but it makes me feel unwelcome in half of our home, like we can't coexist in the same space. And it pisses me off that if something of mine bothers him that much, it would take the same amount of energy to just put it away as it did to move it to "my" designated percentage of the room. I don't want to project my feelings onto your situation but IDK, might be something to consider. I'm sure you don't mean to hurt him.
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Post by tincupchalice on Feb 4, 2018 15:14:49 GMT -6
I've started just shoving DH's crap to his side of things (like the dresser and whatnot). I like the visual it presents, a clear dividing line between my nice, clean, empty side and his pile of crap. It seems to be getting to him, he's at least talking about needing to clean up. MH does this to my stuff and honestly... it's really hurtful. I'm sure a lot of it is my own insecurity over how messy I can be but it makes me feel unwelcome in half of our home, like we can't coexist in the same space. And it pisses me off that if something of mine bothers him that much, it would take the same amount of energy to just put it away as it did to move it to "my" designated percentage of the room. I don't want to project my feelings onto your situation but IDK, might be something to consider. I'm sure you don't mean to hurt him. His stuff doesn't have a place to put it, that's the problem. And honestly, it's not my job to put his stuff away. I clean up after kids all day long, he's a grown up and can put his stuff away or live with it out, but why should I live with his stuff out over my space? I've tried asking him to clean it up. I've tried waiting for him to clean it up. But he will literally cover every single flat surface in our house with crap. And that's not fair to me. I can't clean the house when there's stuff everywhere, and I've really run out of ideas.
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Post by mrsweasley on Feb 4, 2018 15:24:07 GMT -6
I sold a bunch of baby stuff today and made $120! Bringing me extra joy in the form of more $ to save for the baby things we'll need
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2018 15:29:56 GMT -6
That's fair tincupchalice and I obviously don't have a solution. I guess I just don't see any of our home as my space vs his space. Shoving things over some imaginary line just feels really immature to me. But if you've asked him to find homes for things and he doesn't, that isn't any better.
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Post by thechickencoop on Feb 4, 2018 20:09:40 GMT -6
I sold a bunch of baby stuff today and made $120! Bringing me extra joy in the form of more $ to save for the baby things we'll need Niiiice! I ordered a Thread Up clean out bag that should be here This week so I'm hoping I came make at least a liiiittle money on some of my stuff! Always a plus. Then everything that doesn't go in the bag is going to goodwill. I wish I had thought to do this first though because now I need to go through the clothes again to figure out what's in season to sell 😕
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