As blogging became more mainsteam — first in 2000 with Blogger, then after 2001 with all the political blogs that arose from seemingly nowhere — new business models developed. On one front, bloggers have convinced the corporate world that blogs should be an integral part of a company’s marketing and public relations plan. It’s a great way to reach the customers, etc. This way, individuals who enjoy online journaling have found a way to to make themselves marketable to companies.
Warning, this is a long one.
Read the full article →
As I checked my bank account balance this morning, I noticed something I wasn’t expecting: a tax refund from the New Jersey 2004 FAIR Tenant Rebate Program is scheduled to be deposited on August 1.
Even though I don’t directly pay property taxes, I pay them indirectly through a portion of my rent. Here are the qualifications for receiving the 2004 rebate (for tenants), for which it is too late to apply for those who are required to submit a tax return. However, I assume there will be a similar program in 2005 and the requirements will be the same.
* You rented and occupied a dwelling in New Jersey that was your principal residence on October 1, 2004
* Your principal residence is subject to local property taxes, and property taxes are paid on that residence through rent
* Your principal residence is a full living unit with its own separate kitchen and bathroom
* Your gross income for 2004 was $100,000 or less.
If any of the following are true, then you are not eligible:
* Tenants living in dwellings owned by the State, County, Municipal, or Federal Government.
* Students living in on-campus apartments at State colleges and universities.
* Tenants living in dwellings owned by a religious, charitable, or other nonprofit organization (including on-campus apartments at private, nonprofit colleges and universities), if the property is exempt from property taxes.
* Tenants living in dwellings on which P.I.L.O.T. (Payments-in-Lieu-of-Tax) payments are made to the municipality. These payments are not considered property taxes for purposes of the FAIR rebate.
A similar rebate exists for homeowners and the qualification requirements are different.
Although it’s “only” $75 for me this year, every little bit helps.
If you like free music, and who doesn’t, and Gap jeans, then you might be exicted about this deal. Gap is running a promotion where those who simply try on a pair of one of its new styles will receive a free song from iTunes. I’ve never used iTunes to purchase music, but a song is likely about $0.99, right? Hardly worth a trip to the mall, but I suppose if you’re there anyway, it won’t hurt.
Over the last couple of months, I’ve been running a sort of experiment. My job is designed such that I end up working a fair amount of overtime. To go into the details, I work a 37.5 hour week, salaried. If I work an extra 2.5 hours in one week, I get paid my equivalent hourly rate for those hours. Any time over 40 hours I work brings me my salary times one and a half.
When I get paid every two weeks, I have been transferring out the amount over what my net income would be for a pay period without overtime. This “extra” money has been going into an Emigrant Direct account (where it earns a decent amount of interest for a account). The “experiment” is to see how much I rely on overtime for my regular expenses.
The experiment has shown me that I’m relying on my overtime pay too much. I’ve dipped into my savings at ING Direct (with a less favorable interest rate) in order to cover all expenses for the month, even though there hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary.
I’ve learned I have to be more diligent about cutting expenses and saving money. I’ll be keeping myself on a strict budget during the vacation next month. I haven’t been good about bringing in my lunch to the office. That should change.
My goal is for my overtime pay to be “extra” so I can put it aside for something special. I may not always have the opportunity to work overtime, so I don’t want to be required to rely on that income.
Luke Landes founded Consumerism Commentary in 2003 and has been building online communities since 1990. Luke, also known as Flexo, has contributed to PC World Magazine, US News, Forbes, and other publications. 
The State of the Web
This article was written by Luke Landes in Administration, Internet. Comments Off
As blogging became more mainsteam — first in 2000 with Blogger, then after 2001 with all the political blogs that arose from seemingly nowhere — new business models developed. On one front, bloggers have convinced the corporate world that blogs should be an integral part of a company’s marketing and public relations plan. It’s a great way to reach the customers, etc. This way, individuals who enjoy online journaling have found a way to to make themselves marketable to companies.
Warning, this is a long one.
Read the full article →