Hi there, I'm Angela Oberer. And today's good idea comes from TurboTax.
TurboTax has built in software called ItsDeductible. And it allows you to document your deductions
as you go. Now, I've got a friend who is getting married,
and she and her husband, or her would be husband, have both been married for a couple of times.
So they both have a house full of stuff, they've got two refrigerators, and two microwaves,
and two toasters, and two coffee makers, and five TV's and sixteen lamps, and four sets
of beds - and they are really just wanting to consolidate to one household.
And so while they are giving a whole bunch of their stuff away, the good idea for today
is from documenting your deductions. Now if you go to Goodwill, Goodwill will give
you receipts for all of the donations you make through the course of the year. If you
donate household stuff to Habitat for Humanity, they will also give you receipts for your stuff.
Now instead of just giving your stuff away,
and making that be your documentation, most of us have a smart phone. And if you will
just take a picture of the stuff you're donating, then at the end of the year when you go to
do your taxes, and even if you do ItsDeductible as you go through the course of the year,
I just burn mine to a DVD, and then I slide it inside the folder, that I'm going to be giving to
my accountant to do the taxes. So at the end of the year, anything that is
questionable that goes to ItsDeductible goes right there on a DVD, - and I've got pictures of everything
I've donated, to prove I donated it. So, ItsDeductible is a free piece of software,
it's an app that goes on your cell phone, or you can do it right on the computer, and
you can keep track of your deductions as you go.
So document your deductions whether you're just doing some spring housecleaning, or whether
you're like my friend and you're getting married, and your'e donating a whole house full of
stuff. 'Cause it does add up, and I'll tell you what,
documenting your donations is a good idea.
ha ha ha, it's a good idea.