Roundup – Cutest Little Tax Deduction Edition

My wife and I are trying to get into a schedule with our new baby. Like most babies, she has decided she likes to sleep all day and wants to play at night. I think that is partially our fault because we like to hold her throughout the day while she sleeps (She’s so cute, it’s hard not to!). But the problem is that she gets used to sleeping in our arms, which makes it more difficult to put her down for bed at night. So our new plan is to put her in her crib for naps and leave her alone. Hopefully that will do the trick!

Thanks to this week’s guest writers. This past week I published 5 guest articles from other personal finance bloggers. I appreciate them offering an article to share with my readers. It was a great chance for me to spend some time with our new baby. Thanks to Jim @ Bargaineering.com, Jeff Rose @ Good Financial Cents, DK @ Debt Kid, and FFB @ Free From Broke.

Cutest Little Tax Deduction. The standing joke in the financial world is that babies are a great tax deduction, which of course, they are for many people. The last couple years, TurboTax has held a contest called America’s Cutest Last-Minute Tax Deduction, which awards a $5,000 US Savings Bond to the contest winner.

TurboTax’s PR folks read my site and found out we had our first baby and sent us a onesie like the one pictured in the TurboTax file photo at right. I had a nice chuckle when I opened the package. It’s too big for our little girl right now, but it should fit her soon enough. Thanks, TurboTax!

Recommended Articles:

• The 2009 Personal Finance “How to” Roundup. Quite possibly the best ever “How to” list for financial topics.
• Surviving Freelancing. Freelance work is a great way to make money, but since it often comes without a set schedule or income, many people have a tendency to take on too much work for fear of missing out on a great opportunity. I know I have that tendency!
• Tax credits for home upgrades. My wife and I took advantage of similar tax breaks two years ago when we added insulation to our house. Save money on utilities and get a tax break. Win-win!
• What Your Moving Company Won’t Tell You Until You Sign The Paperwork. I had a bad experience with a moving company once – someone stole 50+ DVDs. Of course, the blame was shifted around and nothing came of it.
• Is The Major League Minimum Enough? This is a very interesting article about how much money Major League baseball Players make, and it questions whether or not the MLB minimum salary is enough. Out of $400,000 minimum salary, most players only take home about $200,000. That’s still a lot of money, but considering they only take home half of what they earn and the typically short careers with few fallback options, it’s not a golden as it may seem. By the way, I highly recommend Inside the Majors for any baseball fan looking for baseball info that goes beyond the box scores. Inside the Majors is written by Bart Given, a former Assistant General Manager of the Blue Jays, and goes into the front office side of baseball and explains a side of the game not often shared in your traditional sports sites like Sports Illustrated, ESPN, etc.
• Ready Aim Save: Military Discounts. Every military member should take a few moments to read about these ways to save money. While you’re at it, check out these military discounts as well.

This week’s carnivals:

• Carnival of Debt Reduction: Stale Brat Edition @ rocket finance.
• Carnival of Money Stories 9th Edition – Richest Americans @ My Journey to Millions.
• Festival of Frugality #185 – Barbecue Edition @ Your Money Relationship.

Tagged as: tax deductions, TurboTax