Ouch, That Hurts

Buy From Amazon.com to Support Ken Steinhoff I’ve been putting off organizing the mountain of receipts I accumulated from all my road trips this year. I was less afraid of the IRS deadline than Wife Lila who had been “encouraging” me to get with it for weeks.

After spending two days adding up negative numbers, I don’t have much energy to post tonight.

Thanks to you who pushed the Big Red Button to place your Amazon orders. That brought in $1,646.98 in 2014. Thanks, too, to the Athens County Historical Society and Museum and the Ohio Humanities Council for a grant. The Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum and Annie Laurie’s Antique Shop have been great about selling books and prints.

Redder than that button

The bottom line is that I’m operating deep in the red. The only solace I can take is that my shortfall is probably less than I would be in the hole if I was a golfer, owned a boat or took a family of four to Disney World.

I’m starting to work on a souvenir memory book for sale at this year’s ’60s’ decade reunion that I’m hoping will generate some income, and I have some other things up my sleeve to keep me afloat.

In the meantime, keep pressing the Big Red Button when you shop at Amazon. I get a small percentage of your purchase, and it doesn’t add anything to your bill.

I’m not griping about taxes

Flags flying on Veterans Day at North County Park 11-11-2011I’m not complaining about PAYING taxes, mind you. Nothing would make me prouder than moving into a higher tax bracket.

6 Replies to “Ouch, That Hurts”

  1. The way things are going with our bloated Federal government, we all may be moving to a higher tax bracket with no effort on our part…

  2. Well, dang. The way my Amazon crazed wife orders via the big red button, I would have thought that she alone would keep you in the black. I trust Amazon can be trusted. Hopefully you have established a business which allows you to deduct mileage on the old ‘schedule C’. It is one of the few ways to get a leg up on the I.R.S..

    1. Larry,

      I drove 13,377 miles last year to, from and around MO and OH. If I took the standard deduction, that would by $7,491. Rather than do that, I charge off only gas, parking and tolls, which still comes to abut $2,300.

      Meals and lodging (fortunately the Mother Motel is free) came to another $5K in 2014.

      The balancing act I have to do is to make enough money that the IRS will consider what I do a business and not a hobby.

      My tax guy says he could defend me, even though I have never shown a profit.

      Still, it’s painful to work seven days a week and pay for the privilege of doing it.

  3. Ken, do you really consider what you do as “work”? Still, for all the joy you bring so many people I can only say, hit the big red button folks.

    1. Lee,

      In all honesty, I find it very rewarding. A bit of a monkey on my back since I do it seven days a week, but I’m finding things about places – and myself – that I never knew before.

      I don’t begrudge the time it takes, but it IS a financial drain. Like I said, though, I could be blowing my money on something foolish like golf.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *