Sunday, May 20, 2012

Free Postage, Taxes made invisible, and Oddity Central

We have a granddaughter graduating next month.  Thankfully we are near to her so we can celebrate this big occasion with our family.  We are very proud of her.  She has scored a big scholarship at Oregon State University so her financial load has been reduced significantly.  Now comes the big decisions about what gift to give.  That part is always hard.

Free Postage
Here is a little money saving tip for you...free postage!  If your graduation/Father's Day gift needs to travel across the miles, you know that the postage can be almost as much as the gift itself AND the post office can make getting it there very difficult.  (See earlier post..The Post Office and Me)  Thankfully, all those bad post office days are behind me.  I am now a converted online shopper.  I even signed up to be an Amazon associate.  It seems that they provide free shipping on a lot of their items and even have a way to pay for a year's worth of shipping with one fee on Amazon Prime.  I can tell you now that no matter who I order from online now, the shipping needs to be free.  I plan ahead so I am not in a rush and pretend I am standing at the giftee's front door on the day it arrives.  I have a  slide show I posted over at my Gift Boomer blog and in the sidebar of this blog.  A lot of the items shown there have free shipping or the user can get the Amazon Prime membership with a free trial offer...just in time for graduation or Father's Day.   

   

Taxes Made Invisible

I know tax season is over but now it is time to begin thinking about next year if you haven't already.  I have always hated that I needed to begin planning for next year right in the middle of preparing last years forms.  There is no getting around it though.  


We have always donated to charity and within the last few years have donated thousands of dollars worth of personal belongings to local thrift stores.  We have downsized a couple of times.  We were about half way through before we discovered that there are websites that help you determine the worth of what you have donated.  The only thing is you need to itemize everything you give away and keep the list updated.   Just follow the rules and begin keeping track...really folks you need to keep the list because you will be surprised how much money this can save you.  We can vouch for this.


Oddity Central 

Ever wondered where all those emails come from with a cat riding a bicycle or the baby playing Mozart?  Well this may be the place.  Oddity Central not only tells about the oddity but they provide photographic proof that what they say if true. I know photo editing is a possibility but even at that it is a fun place to visit.


This morning I noticed an article about camel jumping.  And we though flying cars through the air was a novel idea.  It turns out nothing under the sun is new or original...it all began with camels.

The Ancient Sport of Camel Jumping in the Deserts of Yemen

The men of the Zaraniq tribe, on the west coast of Yemen, have a truly unique tradition – they jump over a row of camels just like modern daredevils jump over cars. 

 

Conclusion (Just in case you did know I was through I thought I would include this heading.)


Have a wonderful Sunday and be sure to check out that book club I talked about yesterday...I am going to.


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3 comments:

  1. Barbara TorrisMay 20, 2012 at 11:39 AM

    I hope this blog post is coming through like it should. Blogger does not allow me to edit this morning. Please forgive typos...I have tried but posted it because I didn't want to delete what I had.

    b

    ReplyDelete
  2. Galen PearlMay 20, 2012 at 12:37 PM

    Tried to leave comment but didn't work, I think. Trying again.

    Loved the camel jumping!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bob LowryMay 21, 2012 at 4:14 PM

    Next time blogger decides to take over. Publish, then immdiately go to edit and save as draft. That will remove it from the blog so you can edit it. Then publish it when you are ready.

    ReplyDelete

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