Bookkeeping Tips for Small Businesses

Great tips found at www.onlineorganizing.com

Here's a little help for you fellow entrepreneurs out there! Click on the title for the article...Enjoy - Dorethia

You're Not the Boss of Me!....Well Maybe You Are...

I don't get a chance to watch a lot of t.v. I had cable a couple of times but found that:

1. Unless you buy all the add-ons, nothing's on t.v.

2. I wasn't home enough to take advantage of the service

3. I was spending too much time arguing over incorrect bills and poor customer service for something I rarely used....therefore I ditched it.

Now we are being forced into HDTV. I don't like it. I believe it is unfair to the consumers. I have been screaming this since the announcement was made and I thought I was on an island all by myself until I ran across the articles below earlier this year. Either you buy a new t.v., cable or you buy converters and the government will give you $40 towards the converters.

The cost of the converters is not the issue, the infringement is having someone else decide how clear the picture on MY television should be. I CARE NOT!!!! As long as it's not fuzzy - I'm good! I can't tell the difference between plasma, high def or whatever the other one is! There is no absolute need to go HDTV, this is one of those deals where everyone benefits except the consumers and the government makes a nice profit. I don't want to buy a new t.v. or cable and there are many people who feel the same way.

Of course I'll get the converters because truly I have no choice. I'm just grateful for the ability to rant on blogs....thank goodness that hasn't been taken away.

Check out these articles by Keith Crain of Crain Communications - another voice crying out into the seemingly wilderness....

Keith Crain: It Just Doesn't Seem Very Democratic: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20080211/SUB/380959951

Keith Crain: Someone Really Ought to See The Light: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20080303/SUB/803030332

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p.s.........Another example of unfair foolishness is Michigan's Driver Responsibility Law enacted a few years ago. After you have paid your tickets, your reinstatement fees etc, which can all add up not so nicely, you are fined again for having gotten too many tickets. Each fine is dependent upon the severity of your record. There was no warning, no notices (so it couldn't be fought right away) - just this is the rule, pay up! I believe in making people pay for not following the traffic rules - I certainly have contributed to the state and city coffers for disobedience. But I believe that it's unfair to add an additional fine once they've made restitution. Last time I checked this wasn't deterring people from getting tickets - no one gets in their car planning to get a ticket anyway. It would have been more prudent to run some informative PSA's on radio and t.v. commercials on benefits of driving safety, consequences for various offenses etc. .......just my twenty cents!

Hybrid Cars and Such....

Okay, I must admit that I'm way behind in getting on the bus of this 'green' movement. I'm not especially wasteful, do recycle plastic grocery bags as bathroom garbage bags, hate litter and don't buy pop so no recycling issues there. I do buy lots of water and sorry, but I don't recycle the bottles...I know...I know. . My green thumb is more like black because I can barely get anything to grow. Ask my neighbors who just shake their heads and laugh every time I attempt yard work....after a while, out of sheer sympathy and amusement, they'll help me! (My mother would be ashamed, she's a pro). So yes, I know I get an F for green I'm sure. But there's always redemption and I'm starting today to learn more, what with all the talk of bio fuels, green clothing and hybrid cars.

We'll start with Hybrid Cars. Being totally ignorant, I had to ask an 'expert' - my Uncle Danny...(see I called you an 'expert' ha ha - never again) I wanted to know what the hoopla was about and if they truly SAVE MONEY....

In the long and short of it, he explained that hybrid cars are great for city driving - in and around the neighborhood, grocery stores, etc. Why? ...because they have electric motors that takeover when you are at a light or stopped in traffic. Hybrid cars seem to 'cut off' when you stop at a light, thus preserving energy, gas. They are still on, but the electric motors have kicked in and when the light changes you're off again - using petroleum. On the freeway you don't save $$ because the electric motors add weight to the car, thus decreasing the miles per gallon you get because the car is working harder. I did some research and Uncle Danny is absolutely correct.. go figure!

Here are some links that explain how hybrid cars work in detail - for those equally as ignorant as I am:

Great Explanation of Hybrid Cars: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/green-basics-hybrid-car.php

Want to Know Which Hybrids Give Biggest Bang for Your $$$ - Report @ CNN.com:
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/autos/0809/gallery.consumer_reports_hybrids/12.html

Okay, I've got my green t-shirt and I've learned about hybrids - I should be up to a C+ at least...as for my black thumb, I don't believe there is any help.... until next time - Dorethia

On the Virtues of Making Your Children Do the Dishes by Sue Shellenbarger @ WSJ

Quiz for the day: How much time each day, on average, does a 6- to 12-year-old child spend on household chores?

If you guessed more than a half-hour, you're wrong. Children are spending a mere 24 minutes a day doing cleaning, laundry and other housework -- a 12% decline since 1997 and a 25% drop from 1981 levels, says Sandra Hofferth, director of the Maryland Population Research Center at the University of Maryland, based on a forthcoming study of 1,343 children. In the glacial realm of sociological change, that amounts to a free fall....

Click title for the rest of the article.....Enjoy! -Dorethia