badhoopty wrote:
i wish i new more about writeoffs and deductions and all that, but sadly i'm money dumb and just do the 1040 thing.
i'm tryin' to get me a hot wife with a financial brain before i buy a house or anything. kinda hard to find a hot and smart chick dumb enough to hook up with me.

LOL, I love the last sentence!
Anyway, Things have gotten real complicated with mine in the past few years with all the crap I have going on. To me it is simple, just go to an expert, H&R (and this is not a commerical). I have had the same lady since I have been in Michigan. She is just awesome. I don't need to know the rules and which seems like a bottomless pit of verbage that makes no sense. When you read stuff from the IRS site, it is like you are reading Shakespeare... Huhn? WTF? I leave that up to her and I don't have to worry about "well should I or can I deduct that", "is it legal"..... she knows all that BS. She handed me this two sided 8.5 x 11 worksheet which is pretty much a list of everything you can deduct and it is GREAT! Ever since I have gotten a substantial refund every year. So it costs me a couple hundred bucks everyyear, big freakin deal..... my personal time is money and it gives me peace of mind. I think it is worth it.
Jay