Welcome to a special Mojo Friday/Frugal Friday joint edition. In case you are wondering what either of those things are, Frugal Fridays is a regular diary series where we share money saving tips, discuss living frugally and generally talk about personal finance issues. Mojo Friday is TexDem's series where we all gather on Friday mornings to trade jokes, stories, pictures/videos (please wait till after 300 comments) and whatever else tickles our funny bones. This week he has graciously let me host this extravaganza, so come on in, sit yourself down and pour yourself a nice tall glass of mojo.
In case you are really jonesing for some financial discussion, don't worry, it's here too. If you haven't yet filed your tax forms, check below for some last minute tax tips.
Mojo Friday Rules and Guidelines
There's only one rule in Mojo Fridays: Play Nice! Keep in mind there are supporters of all democratic candidates hanging around here, so stay away from any candidate bashing.
There are several Mojo Friday guidelines we also ask you to observe, but if you don't, no one will squawk too loudly:
- If you comment you have to recommend all comments. (in order to recieve mojo you have to give mojo. It's only good mojo manners.)
- Everything you say may be taken as a joke (so if you ask a question, expect a silly answer)
- You must recommend the diary (and pimp it unapologetically)
- You don't have to comment to recommend.
- You can't steal TexDem's idea (right, like that ain't goin' to happen)
- Please, no pictures or YouTubes until after 300 comments - it's hard on the dialup users.
- Mojo mojo mojo mojo, mojo mojo mojo
Mojo Friday Goals
What is life without goals? Every week this is what we strive for:
- at least 200 different commenters and 1000 comments by 1:30 PM EST and 1500 by 5:00 PM EST Friday Night that it's posted.
- 100 recommends for each comment, at least.
- Stay on Recommend List at least five hours (this requires some strategic planning by you guys, refer to guideline #3)
- At least 200 diary recommends. 300 would be better, spread the word.
- And always, fun fun fun.
- Have at least 75% average participation rate as seen here in the Mojo Friday Postgame Show by goffnews.
- Have at least 30 kossacks over 90% participation (see here for some tips).
- Overload the servers with recommends, not to mention dominate Top Comments Mojo list. (we do tend to mess with the site with all of our recommends at one time) (also, to dominate the Top Comments Top Mojo we need at least 50 comments with over 100 recommends, see second goal)
More Mojo Resources
Remember: Support the Troops, Buy Mojo Friday Apparel. Proceeds go to support Ninepatch and her endeavors. While you are at it, Ninepatch is still collecting letters to send to the troops. Email her yours today!
Be sure to check out goffnews' Mojo Friday Postgame Show that he will post this afternoon around 4:30 pm EDT. You can find out how you rank compared to all the other MF'ers here.
MKinTN posted a diary to help everyone achieve greater success called How to Succeed at Mojo Friday Without Really Trying.
Mojo Friday doesn't end with Friday. Some of us hang around this diary all week. It's a safe haven from the candidate wars, so feel free to stop by any time.
Last Minute Tax Advice
If you haven't yet finished your taxes, take heart, you are not alone. I'm still working on mine, and probably will be through this entire weekend. You probably still have time to finish yours, and if you don't, you can file for an extension with very little effort. Here are a few pointers and links you might find useful:
- Think you don't need to file? You may want to think again. You may be eligible for an economic stimulus check of $300 or more, but you must file a tax return to receive it. So even if you don't owe any taxes, if you earned income this year, you may want to file a return. See here for more information.
- There's no such thing as a free lunch, but there is a Free File. If your adjusted gross income for 2007 was under $54,000, you are eligible to use free online software to fill out your forms and electronically file your return.
- I'm from the government and I'm here to help you. No, really. If you are having trouble filling out your return, the IRS web site has lots of helpful information.
- Make your return and check it twice. Here's a list of the most common errors made on tax returns. Check to make sure you haven't comitted any of these.
- Just can't finish in time? Don't panic. You can get a penalty-free six month extension to file just by submitting Form 4868. It's important to note that this is an extension of the deadline to file your tax forms, not an extension to pay what you owe. You need to submit the full payment by April 15 to avoid late penalties.
Frugal Tip of the Week: April is a slow month for seasonal sales, but you can find bargains on spring clothing and home improvement items. Check here and here for lists of seasonal sales, month by month.
Upcoming Frugal Fridays
There will be guest authors and other changes to Frugal Fridays in the upcoming weeks. Here's what you have to look forward to:
April 11: plf515 will be guest hosting here and his regular Friday diary, What Are You Reading?, will be guest hosted by someone else
April 18: I'll be hosting, as usual
April 25: AnnieJo will be guest hosting Frugal Fridays
May 2: blue jersey mom will be guest hosting Frugal Fridays
May 9: back to business as usual, at least for a while
If you are interested in writing a diary for this series, or you have a topic you'd like to see covered, or if you want to be added to the mailing list for announcing these diaries, email me: frugalfridays (at) gmail.com.