Caitlin

Got to $10,000 a year ago and have been holding steady @ $7500 after spending some on the house to begin getting it ready to sell. $10 was roughly 3 months expenses, which seemed pretty safe. I’ve kept the money in HSBC savings…earning around 5% which is much better than many CDs. It’s comforting to know it’s there for emergencies, and earning decent interest. I still think even having $1000 in cash on hand for “emergencies” can be useful for many.

Since I itemize on my taxes, I’ve tried donating a LOT of the stuff I’d sell on eBay for the past couple of years. Using programs like “It’s Deductible” I’ve claimed about $2000 a year in donations, which usually results in a nice tax refund. It’s may not bring in top dollar, but for me it takes a lot less time. I do put in a couple hours at tax time entering the list of things I’ve donated, but it’s much easier.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by selling your stuff on ebay, and you itemize your deductions…consider donating your stuff to charity instead.

I didn’t do much last weekend, but over the past week I did finish reading Parts 1 & 2 of the “Rolling with Ruby on Rails Revisited” Tutorial here:

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2006/12/14/revisiting-ruby-on-rails-revisited.html
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2007/01/05/revisiting-ruby-on-rails-revisited-2.html

This was pretty good for an intro (including the interesting reader posted comments) but now I need something a little more structured and instructional.