Getting Organized for Tax Season

I don’t even have a specific place to keep receipts for tax purposes. They wind up in drawers, on tabletops, in pockets and in the lint trap on my clothes dryer. This first site promises to put an end to that for good.

Shoeboxed.com
When you sign up for an account, Shoeboxed sends you prepaid envelopes for mailing in your receipts. Their staff sorts, scans, categorizes and posts them electronically to your secure online account where you can log in and view all your information in perfectly organized form. It’s like having your own secretary.

Drop business cards into the same envelope and the information will be posted to your contact book that can be downloaded to your PC or smartphone.

Plans start at about $10 for 50 receipts scanned per month and they’ll even let you start by mailing in your backlogged pile of receipts to get everything going.

Tax Checklists
Online tax preparers often offer free tools that are available even if you don’t pay for their services. This questionnaire and checklist from H&R Block is handy to be sure you have all the documents you’ll need before you go to your preparer. And this estimator from TurboTax will help your financial planning by making an educated guess at how big or small your eventual refund will be.

Finding Volunteer Opportunities

With President Obama calling on Americans to help improve their own communities, here are some websites helping you find volunteer opportunities that fit your skills and schedule.

VolunteerMatch.org
This site will help you find organizations near you that could use your help. Plug in your zip code and, optionally, a keyword describing your interests, and find a list of organizations that may be a good match.
You can also search for “virtual volunteering” opportunities where you can help over the internet from your computer without leaving home.

VolunteerCentral.net
To hook up directly with local organizations, governments of cities and counties often organize volunteer groups onto a single web page. The one above is for Baltimore city, but the links below will help you connect with organizations in counties all over Maryland.

Ready for the Plunge

It looks like a frigid weekend is ahead for the Polar Bear Plunge. Here are some sites to help you enjoy the big event even if you have no intention of getting cold or wet.

PlungeMD.com
It’s the official website and your opportunity to pledge your support to a plunger by donating to Special Olympics Maryland. You can sponsor a specific participant or make a general donation to the cause. If you plan to attend the event at Sandy Point State Park, there’s some helpful information on schedules and parking as well.

WBALTV.com
The Plunge wouldn’t be complete if you didn’t get to see some of your favorite 11 News personalities diving into the Bay. This year Jen Franciotti, Barry Simms, Lowell Melser and Rod Daniels will be there. You can sponsor any one of them by clicking the links on our page. We’ll also be posting videos from our waterproof Plunge Cams participants will carry with them as they make their dives.

Bird’s Eye View of the Inauguration

Scroll down for the links I mentioned on the air this morning. But here’s an interesting photo: the first satellite image of the National Mall just before the swearing in.

It was supposedly taken around 11:30, but it strangely doesn’t look nearly as full as it did in the TV images from ground level. There are more photos here.

Cutest Pet Contest

Animigo.com
This site runs a weekly “cutest pet” contest with a few hundred dollars in prizes each week. You can connect with other pet lovers and vote on who has each week’s top dog or cat.

WBALTV.com/pets
We’ve got a pretty good pet site of our own at WBALTV.com. Send in photos of your pet and check out the slideshows of Maryland’s biggest and smallest dogs.

Headed Home

A surprisingly empty Metro car on the trip back to Baltimore. From my perspective, the huge crowds could not have been handled much better.

Big Button

Martha McDermott, whose family is from Baltimore, waits for the parade with friends Alex Ashbrook amd her son Ethan. Ethan found one of the biggest buttons I saw all day.

Where’s Joe?

Vice President Biden walked by without me even noticing until he was past. But I did catch the caravan of huge SUV’s crammed, I assume, with communications gear, weapons and Secret Service agents.

Right in Front of Us

The president and first lady hopped out of the limo right in front of us. Not sure how well it shows up here.

Will He or Won’t He

As armed forces color guards pass, we’re still waiting to see the new president. We’ve heard he may walk this final block before the White House. We’ll find out soon.