The medical and work expenses only kick in as deductions if they're VERY pricey (I've never been able to deduct either except when I was a freelancer briefly) because they need to go higher than a certain percentage of your income - and even then, only the amount above that percentage is a deduction.

But yes on charity donations - every dollar counts right from the get go. Good luck on the house buying!

I think the medical expenses for sure are a percentage of your AGI, so yeah, you'd have to have significant costs to qualify.

Offices are closed tomorrow, but I'll have to go in at some point to deal with the snow.

ED wants to rebrand the Saturday volunteer sessions as the "Green Corp".

Ugh, I hate that word. It's a trendy word. A trend that, from one source, is on it's way out. And the "corps" part makes it sound more demanding of time dedication than it actually is. Which could be good in nailing the volunteers feet to the floor about dedicating their time more consistently, or scare of those who just have a free weekend or a set amount of hours to do, and we've had great turn-out with our revolving cast of characters. But the SV isn't catchy enough, so I need something to toss back as an alternative. I also strongly dislike cutesy alliterative names that sound catchy but don't represent what is actually being done. And a lot of the work is not green/sustainable/environmentally friendly, because it's a historic estate with formal gardens, and nothing about that is what I would consider "green" (removing leaves only to add mulch, planting exotic annuals in display beds, weeding the native wildflowers out of the perennial and shrub beds, maintaining hybrid tea roses? Nup).

Hive Mind: alternative to "Saturday Volunteers"???

In Korea it is apparently "Soil Day", which is great but there is nothing Korean about us except a smidgeon of our volunteers. In the poem, Saturdays' children work hard for a living, but we don't want to appear to exclude adults.

My vote is to keep it as is, simple and plain and self-explanatory, but I should probably have a few rejoinders up my sleeve because my ED is like a dog with a bone over stupid things that don't need fixing.

Any suggestions welcome.

Julie - I would let it go, it seems to me with this ED you have plenty of bigger issues.

I think the medical expenses for sure are a percentage of your AGI, so yeah, you'd have to have significant costs to qualify.

Yeah, this. Though with a BABY you might hit it (OMG!)

Wait, did I miss BABY news???

Yeah, that's where I'm at right now, too.

I'm at six months-- I forget FB and here aren't coextensive.

itemizing deductions

Start here for categories: [link]

For more on what is, and is not, subject to the 2% AGI limit, see Pub 529 "Miscellaneous Deductions" [link]

Bon bon, if you're planning for child care, look into the pre-tax accounts if you haven't already done so. (And obviously keep the receipts for that - the deduiction is nowhere near the cost of infant care, but every bit helps.)