Easy Egg Decorating

Use rubber bands to decorate Easter eggs. After hard-boiling the eggs, wrap rubber bands around them in any pattern, then dip in a container of dye. When the eggs dry, remove the bands. For additional colors, rewrap and repeat.

Keep Your Cellular Phone Safe

Have you ever wondered why phone companies don't seem interested in trying to prevent the theft of mobile phones? If you have ever lost your phone or had your phone stolen, and if you are on a plan, you still have to pay the remainder of the plan. On top of that you have to buy another handset and enter into another contract. This is more revenue for the phone company.

There is a simple way of making lost or stolen cellular phones useless to thieves. The mobile phone companies know about it, obviously, but don't share this tip with their customers. So I'll share:

To check your mobile phone's serial number, type star-pound-zero-six-pound (*#06#) on your phone:

A fifteen digit code will appear on the screen. This is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it safe.

Should your mobile phone get lost or stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset, so even if the thief changes the Sim card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either.

One Day to Earth Hour 2009

3,900 cities and towns in 84 countries around the world will turn out for Earth Hour. More than 300 cities and towns in the U.S. representing 43 states and the District of Columbia are going dark as part of the largest global climate event in history. Before the rooster crows in most American cities on Saturday morning, lights will already have gone dark in cities like Christchurch, Sydney, and Brisbane. By breakfast time on the U.S. East Coast, the cities of Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Singapore, and Manila will be celebrating the arrival of the largest global climate event in history. Just before lunchtime in America, the lights will be dimming in Mumbai, Amman, and Dubai. And by early afternoon in New York, it will be lights out in Paris, Istanbul, London, and Copenhagen.

Momentum continues to build. With just one day to go, Earth Hour continues to gain support in cities, with government leaders and celebrities, in the media, and on social networking sites.

Read all about it. Earth Hour coverage breaks nationally this week, with articles in People Magazine and The New York Times.

What will you be doing when the lights go out? From parties by candlelight to flashlight tag to simply going outside and enjoying the stars, there's no end to the ways people are planning to "turn out" for Earth Hour this weekend. What will you be doing? Tell us about it. Sign Mr. Linky below if you are planning to celebrate the largest climate shout-out in history.

Turn Out. Take Action.

Happy Earth Day

In celebration of Earth Day this year, Yahoo! is focusing on one of the most important themes of environmentalism: Reuse. Check out the Yahoo! “Free is Good” microsite: http://green.yahoo.com/earth-day. The microsite features Freecycle and other Reuse groups. For those of you not familiar with Freecycle and other Reuse groups, these are groups that encourage people in local communities to give and receive “free” goods from their neighbors. To inspire more activity and encourage exploration of what these resuse groups have to offer, from now until May 4th, Yahoo! will “hide” special prizes in randomly selected Freecycle and other reuse groups posts. These prizes are specifically eco-friendly in nature (e.g. a Smart car, organic food delivery, eco-resort trip, concert tickets to Sheryl Crow, other locally relevant cool prizes, and my personal favorite – toilet paper – b/c that just isn’t reuseable!). Also featured on the “Free is Good” microsite are real stories from real people who have found “treasures” on Freecycle.

The Price of Children

The Price of Children

I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It’s nice. The government recently (2006) calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family.

Talk about sticker shock! That doesn’t even touch college tuition. But $160,140 isn’t so bad if you break it down. It translates into:
$8,896.66 a year or $741.38 a month or $171.08 a week or $24.24 a day!

Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don’t have children if you want to be “rich.” Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140?
Naming rights. First, middle, and last.
Glimpses of God every day.
Giggles under the covers every night.
More love than your heart can hold.
Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
A hand to hold.
A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
Someone to laugh yourself silly with.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to...
finger-paint,
carve pumpkins,
play hide-and-seek,
catch lightning bugs, and
never stop believing.

You have an excuse to...
keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
watching Saturday morning cartoons,
going to Disney movies, and
wishing on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand print sets in clay for Mother’s Day, and cards with backward letters for no reason at all.

You get to be a hero just for...
retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
taking the training wheels off a bike,
removing a splinter,
filling a wading pool,
coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and
coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to witness history in the making by observing the...
the first step,
the first word,
the first bra,
the first date, and
the first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you’re lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits so... one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.

That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children!!!!!

Tax Rebates: What You Need To Know

Lawmakers have given their final seal of approval to a $170 billion plan intended to spark the slowing economy.
The plan's centerpiece: tax rebates.

But questions remain about how the program will work, and officials at the Treasury Department and IRS are scurrying to work out the details.

In the meantime, here are some answers based on currently available government information and experts' analysis.

Do I qualify for a rebate and how much can I expect?

One-time rebates will be sent to at least 117 million low- and middle-income households, 20 million senior citizens living off of Social Security, and 250,000 disabled veterans.

To be eligible for a full rebate, single tax filers must have 2007 adjusted gross income (AGI) below $75,000 and joint filers must have AGI below $150,000.

Adjusted gross income is not your annual salary. It's equal to gross income minus "above the line deductions," which are reported on page 1 of the 1040 tax form. Above-the-line deductions include deductible IRA contributions, alimony paid and, for the self-employed, some portion of money spent on health insurance or Social Security.

Single filers with AGI below $75,000 will get rebates of as much as $600. Couples with AGI below $150,000 will receive rebates of up to $1,200.

In addition, parents will also receive $300 rebates per dependent child; there is no cap on the number of children eligible.

An example: A couple with one child and $100,000 in AGI will get a rebate of $1,500 ($1,200 + $300). If they have two children, they will get $1,800 ($1,200 + $600).

Tax filers who do not owe income taxes because of various credits and deductions but have at least $3,000 in income - which can include Social Security and disability payments - will get $300 rebates per person or $600 per couple.

I make more than the income caps. What about me?

You might get a partial rebate. It depends on how much your income exceeds the caps.

The stimulus legislation allows for a 5% phaseout rate for households above the income caps of $75,000 for single filers and $150,000 for joint filers.

That means that for every dollar a tax filer earns above those caps, he or she will lose 5 cents of the rebate, said Jason Furman, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Put another way, the rebates of those taxpayers will be reduced by the amount of income above the cap multiplied by 5%, said Mark Luscombe, principal analyst at tax information publisher CCH.

Take a couple with two children. If they make less than the income cap, they will likely get an $1,800 rebate. If they make $15,000 more than the cap, they will see their $1,800 rebate reduced by $750 ($15,000 x 0.05). So instead they will receive a check for $1,050 ($1,800-$750).

A childless couple whose AGI falls below the cap will likely get a $1,200 rebate. But if their AGI exceeds the cap by $15,000, their rebate will be reduced by $750. So they'd get a check for $450.

Single filers with no kids and an income below $75,000 will likely get a $600 rebate. But if they made $80,000, their rebate will be reduced by $250 ($5,000 x 0.05). So they will get a check for $350 ($600-$250).

The point at which the rebate gets phased out entirely will vary. For example, a single filer with no kids whose income exceeds the cap by $12,000 or more will get no rebate, because it will be reduced by an amount equal to or greater than the $600 ($12,000 x 0.05 = $600).

Do I have to pay the rebate back?

No. And here's why.

Your rebate is a one-time tax cut - an advance on a credit you'll receive on your 2008 return.

It's based on your 2007 income initially. If it turns out that your 2008 income and number of children would have qualified you for a larger rebate than the one you received, you'll be sent the difference. If it turns out your 2008 income was lower than in 2007 and you should have gotten a lower rebate, you get to keep the difference.

"If you were supposed to receive a larger payment than you did, you will get the extra money," said Treasury spokesman Andrew DeSouza. "If you received more than what you should have gotten, you will not be penalized."

What do I have to do to get one?

You must file a 1040 or 1040-EZ federal tax return for 2007.

Some people are normally not required to file a return. To get the rebate, however, they have to file a federal tax return.

So when will I get a check?

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Thursday night that the IRS will start sending out checks in early May. Last month, he said it should take about 10 weeks to crank out all the checks. In all likelihood then, you'll see the money sometime between May and early July.

That assumes, of course, that you hit the IRS deadline and file by April 15.

If you're a laggard and have to file for an extension, you'll still get a check but it may not come until the end of the year - probably in time for Christmas shopping.


By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer