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I have had the great good fortune to have in succession 2 elderly (70's) women in my neighborhood who work a few hours per week handling mail, scanning, mailing things out, filing, all sorts of mundane but necessary tasks. They loved the flexible schedule (family is always first), a bit of extra money and learning some new things that are not too difficult. I cannot imagine doing without them. And they receive about 50% over minimum wage and a contribution to a retirement plan. And I get cookies....

My IT guy recommended I get a SSD drive. He showed me that in the 4 years that I had my last computer I used only 60 GB of my 500GB of hard drive space. So this time I got a 120GB SSD drive and it's really fast. I only use it for business about 600 returns a year. August @ ADG Financial.Com

WASHINGTON—Shedding new light on widespread abuses faced by orcas in captivity, a new documentary titled Under the Surface revealed that killer whales at SeaWorld and other marine theme parks are forced by trainers to perform—sometimes as often as seven times per day—completely in the nude. “These majestic creatures are required, time and again, to swim naked out in front of crowds of thousands, perform humiliating tricks entirely in the buff, and then expose their bare bodies to men, women, and children by repeatedly breaching their tanks,” animal rights activist Marissa Abelson told reporters at a screening of the film, adding that even when the whales are not performing they aren’t permitted to cover up and are left in solitary confinement, often forced to spend all night floating nude in undersized tanks. “And what’s most humiliating is how, during the shows, the trainers make them lie there unclothed and beg for food. It’s sick.” When reached for comment, a spokesman representing SeaWorld said the film completely misrepresents their orca programs, namely due to the fact that trainers work tirelessly to promote a positive body image for the whales and occasionally allow shyer orcas to perform in jeans.

I tried college kids three years before I gave up on them. Spring Break is in March, you know. Best help I ever found was old, not so pretty woman who totally appreciated the job, never made personal calls on my time, showed up on time and worked hard, looking for things to do when she got caught up on what I'd given her. When it comes to office help, I am 'ageist' I guess, but work ethic among most kids is just missing in action.

Smart kids. You should be proud. Most kids don't know anything about how to handle money and finances. A while ago, I had an idea that I could teach a high school capstone class that would run through 4 years of financial life with the students. It would start with writing a resume, filing out a job application, and based on that resume, getting a "job" with a salary. The better the resume and application, the better the pay. Then they would move on to the mundane tasks of life like, filling out an application for an apartment, creating a budget, writing checks for the monthly bills, balancing a check book, filing a tax return, purchasing auto and health insurance, paying rent, and buying and paying for a car. I had all kinds of games included that would throw them curveballs like spinning the wheel of life and coming up with a wife and children, an auto accident, or getting a new job with a raise that needed to be added to their program. Every quarter would end with the filing of a tax return based on the income and deductions they had during the quarter. But, I am not a teacher, so it never came to fruition. But I would still love to see it as a senior class some day. Tom Hollister, CA

My daughters have given plenty of tax or bookkeeping assistance to friends (up through Schedule C, and with QuickBooks) as well. Fiona (my older girl) tells a story of getting the W-2 from her burger-flipping job in Harvard Square (Bartley's Burger Cottage, for those who know) some years ago. She said, "Thanks! I've been waiting for this," and the kid next to her said, "What is it?" She started telling him what a W-2 was, what one needed to do with it, how to fill out a 1040, etc. and within seconds had *all* the kids who worked there gathered around her, hanging on her every word and asking questions (all of which she was able to answer correctly). She said that as she was talking, she was thinking to herself, "I sound just like Mom...."

A professional violinist - now why didn't I think of that ? !!! With of the sob stories I hear from some clients, it would be a real asset having him playing a dirge in the background.

You can install your operating system on the SSD for quick boot up and install your business software on another larger non SSD hard drive. I configured my system so that drive C is the larger 1TB hard drive and that takes care of many programs that default to the C drive for installation.

Judy, by the end 2012 was working fine, so getting it to demo should not be a problem.

A good idea, but I tried that two years ago and am not particularly eager to repeat the experience. ONE kid was interested -- but needed not to work Feb - Apr as that was his sports season. Big kid; 6' tall easy, lived around the corner from my office. His MOM came to the interview with him, in case she was needed to protect babykins from big bad (5' tall, middle-aged) me. Good grief.

I'm a clerical employee. I am the owner, clerk, and janitor in my business. Sometimes I am also the maintenance man.

That's my reading also. Agree with TAXED.

Based on the posting of Windmill I am reading it this way: 1) We have to register if we prepare at least 1 NY return (same as last year) 2) Pay $100 if we prepared 10 NY returns or more in 2013 and will do at least 1 NY return in 2014 OR will prepare 10 or more NY returns in 2014. So In Jack's situation if he did 6 in 2013 and will do another 6 in 2014 I say he does not have to pay $100. But if he does 10 or more in 2014 he has to pay. Anyone disagree?

That's pretty much what I do. I set an early cutoff date - everything coming in after around mid-Mar automatically goes on extension. Some of those (the simple ones) get out the door by Apr 15, but most don't. That makes Apr 15 a light-duty day for me. Mostly a time to review & cross-check extension filings (and maybe extend a last-minute procrastinator if I'm in the mood, although I'm usually not). Then take my wife out to a relaxed dinner early on the evening of the 15th - this has been a private ritual we've followed for years. On the 16th I sometimes amuse myself (with a tiny amount of compassion) by reading all the panicky posts from last night's forums regarding failed ACK's, computer failures, server logjams, and other crises -> the majority of which were a predictable result of failure to plan properly back in March. I usually take the following week off to go somewhere nice, then come back to finish up lingering payroll tax reports by Apr 30. Beginning in early-to-mid May, I turn my attention back to 1040's.

I agree with Taxed, and I enjoy being an enabler. I like those people who want extensions. They enable me to accept more work than I would be able to accomplish between Feb - Apr without working myself to exhaustion. So I see them as revenue enhancers. Sure, some of them continue to procrastinate, and they take more time to manage, but as long as they're willing to pay the extra charges for dealing with them, I'm happy to do their work. Billable time is billable time - no matter whether I'm preparing a return or following up with them to get the remaining info. Now I suppose if I locked myself into a rigid fixed fee schedule based on the number of forms on the return, I'd feel a little differently. But even in that case, there's always the option to add a line for "Additional Services" related to filing the extension, chasing them down for info, etc. Some people don't respect your time - charge them for it anyhow. They will either make it worth your while or they will go away. Either way you win.

My Grand-daughter and her husband did extensive research. They purchased Electrolux front loaders and love them. All I know is that I thought an Electrolux was a Vacuum Cleaner. (Now, John, be sure to ask "What is a vacuum cleaner?) These young marrieds thoroughly research everything and then they go shopping with their facts and drive a hard bargain. I love it that we brought her up that way.

We've had a Fridgedaire front loader for about 5 years. It was on sale and eligible for City Water rebate. We do run continuous loads and just leave the door open when we're done for the day. Only need to leave open to have to moisture dry out to keep mildew from growing. We've never run a bleach load or water-only load. My husband built a wood box for under the washer so as not to bend over as much. Hope that helps.