Actually, I don't mind paying for stamps for the postal service, but I mind greatly subsidizing the junk mail. As long as that stuff gets discounted rates, *we* are paying for their service. That's my big peeve. I used to work the junk mail sections at night. The envelopes are all odd sizes, it's a pain in the butt to deliver, and takes just as much effort as an important letter. You wouldn't mind so much, but you know nine times out of ten, it's wasted effort. It won't even be opened. It wastes trees and fuel. I'm a businessperson, and I know that if you get a two percent response from mailouts, you're doing well. That means 98% of the ads you mail are ignored. That's ridiculous and wasteful. We are getting 'new' mailings for my DH's ex wife. It just started about a month ago and she hasn 't lived at this address for 30 YEARS! Somebody made money selling an antique mailing list. We've asked the postal carrier repeatedly to please just junk it and not deliver it, but he does anyway and we have to deal with it. It's just easier for him to case it and drop it in our box. Return postage is of course not guaranteed. And we all pay for this with our postal raises and taxes. ARgh.

Find your taxable income without the deduction in the table in the 1040 booklet. Then find the tax amount in the chart that's $300.00 less and the income amount will be next to that. For example, say your taxable income (before the deduction) is $45,200.00. The tax on that amount (for a single person) is $7,730.00. Your want to reduce your tax by $300.00 to $7,430.00. You'd have to reduce your taxable income by at least $1,150.00, to $44,050.00. Here is a link that might be useful: 2007 Tax Table

Okay, I've been reading this thread and not responding to it b/c I don't want to have it come out wrong. I can't keep quiet any longer. I agree with many statements above. I would like to say these things: If you haven't already filed bankruptcy-DON'T do it. Your husband is like a child and you are not teaching him any good sound financial responsibility by bailing him out all the time. You've bailed him out 2x already and then signed for a loan for someone who has no credibility. Doesn't pay bills and loves to spend....HELLO that was not a smart move but you have to move ahead...can't look back. You guys created these debts you have to pay them. Your biggest expense next to your mortgage is your student loans....in almost all cases they can't be discharged. So you will still end up having to pay that. You've already stated you need your cars, so you'd be keeping those. You have to pay back your 401k loan...So basically you'd be trying to file off your 60k in CC and your SBA loan? Good luck.....you are going to ruin your credit....for a very long time IF you even get your bankruptcy granted with the new laws, you still may have to pay some of that back. What happens if you file and then have poor credit, no credit cards and then your water heater goes, or your furnace? You have no cards to pay it, no savings to pay it and no money to pay it. So you skip car payments to pay it then can't catch up and car gets repo'd and you have no way to work, lose your job, lose your house. Sounds extreme but it could happen. There are lots of people that are ONE crisis away from poverty and homelessness. I would set a budget, stick to it. Kick DH a$$.....if he's a photographer, start going to bridal shows get some clients offer better package pricing. Brides are bargain shoppers, if you have the best price and great photos you are hired. Hit the road and take photos of things when he isn't working. Enter photo contests w/cash prizes. Put your name out there. Free advertising is everywhere!!!! Stop crying over it and FIX IT!!!! Also, if you can sell stuff.....like 10 chairs to buy 4...then be smarter with the money. Sell 6 keep 4 and pay some bills. Take ALL the cards away from DH and give him a weekly allowance and that's it. If he's unhappy with that let him know that he did it to himself and needs to learn the hard way. Money doesn't grow on trees and the credit tree just got cut down. NO MORE MONEY......no more excuses. You made these bills now you have to lay in the "bed of bills" for a while. Once you recover from this you will feel a sense of relief and feel like a better person that you "took the bill by the horns" and paid everything down. You did the right thing and not the easy way out. Anyway, I'm all fired up, I hope this doesn't come across as insensitive. It's time to put your husband in his place and if he's not on board then he's got to find someone else to take advantage of financially b/c it's not gonna be you.

When I had an extended illness that lasted for years, I lost all energy, was in so much pain I couldn't think, and shopping made me feel better. So I went from a minimalist home to a cluttered, junky house. I didn't really notice it at first; I was too focused on the pain and fatigue I was dealing with. But as my health issues were resolved, I was appalled at the mess my house was in. I discovered Freecycle.org and cleared out a bunch of stuff, little by little. It was hard at first to let go of things, but I really wanted my clean, organized home back. So I started posting boxfuls of things on Freecycle. Then I discovered Ebay and Craigslist and realized that some of my things actually have quite a bit of value. I had tried to sell some of these things at a yard sale and could only get about 50cents per item, but on Ebay or Craigslist, the same items might get me $10 or $20. Knowing that I could actually get some "mad money" for precious belongings spurred me into gathering up more and more and listing them. In an effort to clear things out quickly, I'd list "lot" or "boxes" of similar items, like a collection of Danielle Steele books. I could sell the whole collection instead of selling one book at a time. I sold collections of craft supplies by the box. And box by box, I've been able to clear out my house. But once I got started clearing it out, I haven't been able to stop, which is a good thing. While my house is now once again neat and organized, it's not as minimalistic as I want. So I'm continually going thru shelves, cabinets, drawers, closets, etc and pulling out more stuff I can sell. I have shelves in my laundry room where I can store stuff I'm selling. This way, I can pull it out of my actual living space, out of eyesight, out of my way, and I can store it neatly in the laundry room until it sells. You might designate a closet, guest room or such for all the stuff you "weed out". Organize it into lots and list it on Craigslist. For the past year, our local newspaper has been offering one free classified ad weekly, so I've taken advantage of it to sell bigger items. About 80% of my listings in the newspaper have sold. About 70% of my listings on Craigslist sell. There are three Craigslist within 2 hrs of me, so I can list on all three to get a wider audience. Believe it or not, I've actually had people drive 5 or 6 hours for some of the stuff I've listed on Craigslist. Many of the consignment shops around here have expanded to sell more than clothing. They also sell furniture, nicnacs, books, etc. You might check with your consignment shops; you might be able to consign quite a bit of your stuff. Consignment shops usually take 50% of whatever the item sells for. Usually, I can sell my own items for two or three times what I'd get if I consigned it, so I sell it myself. If you have a lot of stuff, though, you might consider renting a booth in a well-patroned flea market. Some are fairly cheap, like $25/mo. Some charge a commission in addition, but some don't. Personally, I find Craigslist the easiest way to sell. You just write a description, name your price, and post up to 4 pictures. Pictures sell your items, so make sure they're good photos. You may not really NEED the money, but it would come in handy for the materals for your projects. And it's a wonderful incentive for decluttering. If you're like me, you really have some good stuff now, not useless junk. And it DOES have value. And people WILL pay for it. I've been able to do some home improvement projects, garden improvement projects, and buy new furniture with the money I've gotten from my "clutter". If you think about it as $10 here and $10 there, it doesn't seem like much. But if you sell a box of kitchen pots and pans and utensils for $50, that'll buy a tank of gas or several pieces of lumber, or a new ceiling fan--something else you can use. Also, if you sell on Craigslist, you might also set up a FREE www.blujay.com store. You can post an ad on Craigslist and then link to your blujay store where potential buyers can see everything you have for sale. You might be able to clear out several items to one buyer that way. It DOES take time to set up your store and write your ads, but you could alot a morning or a day a week to focus on sales. Honestly, you'd spend less time actually selling than you would worrying about letting go of valuable items you no longer need. Let us know what you end up doing. Are you taking before and after pictures? There's such a sense of accomplishment when you can see a big improvement.