Everyone’s advice is good!
I will never forget when I went looking for your wife at my party to make sure she was comfortable and I found her and LB quietly admiring the cat together.
11 Likes
I am doing taxes and just realized that I think an employer mistakenly withheld $6 for a state I was not a resident of. The software I’m using (OLT) seems to indicate I can file a return for that state to get my $6 refunded but can I just… ignore it and not file anything for that state? Because I truly do not care about those six dollar and would much rather just ignore it.
More details:
- I earned about $7000 total from an employer in MA while I was residing in IL
- at some point I realized they had missed a few hours from an earlier paycheck and so they fixed it and sent an extra paycheck
- on all the other paychecks, state taxes for IL were withheld, nothing was withheld for MA
- on the extra paycheck for the missing hours (~$130 total) they withheld $6 for MA instead and nothing for IL, presumably by mistake?
5 Likes
Not an expert, but “yes”, you aren’t required to file.
- You are owed money
- The amount of income is below the level at which you would need to file as you didn’t make enough to owe taxes.
3 Likes
Thanks, that’s what I was hoping was the case. I don’t think it makes a different, but to be clear my overall income is above the level needed to file, but this $7000 is the only money that the state of MA is involved with in any way.
2 Likes
I meant you don’t need to file state taxes in MA -a quick search online will tell you the standard deduction and lowest taxable income.
Which one of you Portlanders won the Powerball this weekend?
7 Likes
Okay! Crowd sourcing input you guys. Both we and our neighbors are replacing our fences soon. Additionally, we’re having concrete done all along the side of this house and a big pad under the trash bins over here (among other things). I’m trying to decide how best to handle this weird drop-down corner. Do we elevate it and just have an ugly concrete berm jutting up and a different height from our neighbors? But the ground the fence is on stays pretty low as it goes back into the yard away from here. I’m just really not sure how best to handle this since there’s such a slope between our house and our neighbors house. And we need to level the whole thing as opposed to whatever weird situation we’ve got going on here. At what point do I put a retaining wall or a raised walkway or…?
ETA gahahaha please ignore my husband work trash on the ground, just noticed the random chunk of truck bed padding next to the house in one photo 
2 Likes
Will you need to mow this area? I am all about making things as easy as possible to maintain and safe (e.g. tripping / falling hazards)
1 Like
If it has grass on it yes, but I’m putting cement pads
And here’s another view on the yard in case it helps. We’re the house that’s higher, left in this photo
Solid fence w/o a gate? How much of a drop / slope? Will you put things on the concrete pad?
1 Like
I would at least consider a retaining wall, if only to be nice to my neighbors re: water damage to their foundation, and also because a nice even walkway sounds very pleasant. That being said, also $$$.
1 Like
I love the current fence. So homey
1 Like
Affordable luggage recommendations? My one hand me down 20 yr old suitcase has finally died, and my back no longer wants to haul a black hole duffel bag around the airport. I travel so infrequently that I’m honestly annoyed even thinking of buying a suitcase, but I guess I am an adult and I should have one…
5 Likes
I got mine at Costco (set of 2, one big one little) and TJMaxx also has them for a reasonable price. I mean, luggage is one of those things that is shockingly $$ but those were the least pricey I saw!
2 Likes
I splurged for this:
I got both the medium checked bag and the lil carryon roller. Both are very light weight and handle themselves very nicely!
But they’re not “cheap” bags. What’s your budget?
2 Likes
I pretty much only buy my luggage at TJMaxx/Ross etc and just pick out something with 4 wheels and seems sturdy (usually try to stick to samsonite or something in that price point/quality). I don’t travel that much.
8 Likes
I get mine at thrift stores.
4 Likes