Give it away

In my quest to finish the work so my tax accountant can do major math I am in the process of entering all of our annual donations into itsdeductibleonline.com (an online donation tracker that uses pre-established amounts for common items donated.)

I'm going through the sixteen lists of items donated throughout the year and entering each one into the site. It's a gigantic pain in the butt, but worth it because we essentially donated one entire household worth of stuff (mostly kitchen & bedding) during the year. Taking a standard $500 deduction isn't good enough.

We cleaned out my condo in February & March, then started in on Jas' place in the early spring, in July and August we had another major push before moving into the house and finally there was the stuff we didn't find a home for in the new house.

I don't miss any of this "stuff" but it is interesting to look at the lists and see how we prioritized things. My lists start small and then grow to very large; the largest has over seventy-four individual item types on it, with many items like wine glasses and trivets having multiple quantities.

I see the receipt for things I was happy to part with - a 'fugly' entertainment center, sets of 3 or 4 wine glasses that don't match anything else in our collections, tons of Tupperware (with lids!) yuck!

Thankfully, last year I went through the same exercise while donating Messy Martha's usable items and remembered to keep good records. The deduction amount may be significant and I want to make sure we can explain it. We even have photos of some of the donations - not that it technically proves anything, but it shows we at least had the items.

I'm also pleased to report that the lists are fairly evenly distributed between HIS stuff and MY stuff. It doesn't appear that either of us took it in the shorts when it came to who had to sacrifice their 'stuff' for the greater good. I have a lot more kitchen stuff on my lists, but we clearly kept the "best of breed" from each household. My full-sized bedding collection took a significant hit, but as I no longer had a full-sized bed and Jas didn't have one either it was a smart decision.

His t-shirt archive was severely impacted, but as the person who unpacked the remaining collection into our shared clothing closet I can say with all certainty that he is not going to be t-shirtless anytime soon. I did save the marquee shirts for awesome music and sporting events - especially the ones he wore with pride at the time. I think getting rid of the "Colorado Academy 6th annual yard races day" t-shirt in LIME green was a reasonable decision (never worn btw), but the much worn concert t-shirt from an epic classic band... KEEPER!

It is slow work entering these into the deduction finder. I've completed five thus far and have had to stop and blog... my goal is to get at least 4 more in tonight, and one of the four will be the big one from my condo. Goals...

It helps that I'm in San Jose and there's not much on tv tonight, but the desk here is badly located and even using a pillow to elevate myself my neck hurts already.

SO, before I move on to add more items, I'm going to go have dinner. No wine tonight though... I have homework.