Saturday, January 28, 2012

Income Tax Time!

It's that time of year again. Time for all of us to file our taxes and hope for a great return. This year we were disappointed to find out that we just barely fell short of the medical deduction. Bummer. We did find other deductions we qualifed for though and ended up with a better return that we thought we'd get, so it was all good in the end!

For the last ten or so years we've filed our taxes with Holman's Tax Service. They're a family business based in Brigham City, Utah and they come to our home. You'd think this would cost an arm and a leg. In fact, they are the best deal we've found! Heaven knows that before we discovered them, we spent way too much going to other tax preparers. We even tried doing our own taxes once (not something I'd want to repeat, as I'm sure there were things we missed that could've benefited us).

Anyway, based on our high praise of these guys, several family and friends have also started using Holman's. I highly recommend them, and challenge others to find a more honest, hard working, personable and AFFORDABLE tax accountant. It wouldn't be easy.

So if you're looking for someone to prepare your tax return this year, but don't want to break the bank, give them a call. Tell them Nellie Butler sent you!

Holman Tax Service
130 N 200 E, Brigham City, UT 84302
(435) 723-8764

These Times Are Tough

I won't sugar-coat it. The last year has been a hard one for my family financially. We've learned many ways to cut costs, which have been great, but in the last four years, we've lost $20,000/year of our income. Not an easy thing thing to recover from, by any means. We've made more than a few mistakes along the way, but so far, with God's help, we've made it this far. Against all odds we were even able to successfully modify our mortgage.

So now I'm looking even more into ways to earn some extra income. It's not so easy to sniff out those legitimate opportunities. On the plus-side, my traffic is picking up on Hubpages, Which means I should get my first check next month. I can't wait.

I've decided to write more articles there, and thought I might do some more personal ones--memoir, or personal essay style. The only thing is, I can't decide how personal to make them. I know that not everyone cares to read about others' trials. But I also know there are others out there with similar experiences who might want to see how someone else has made it through those hard times. But some of the trials I've gone through......well, they're not the usual things people will discuss.

How personal is too personal?
Is there a line that shouldn't be crossed when relating memories from the past? I called my mom and asked her how she felt about this. She's always been very supportive of my writing, and also helped me to not repress those emotions that come from things experienced in the past. She thought it was a good idea, but said to be careful about how much I share. I'm sure there's a balance there, as there is in most things (if not all things) in life. With God's help, I'll find it.