VITA stands for volunteer income tax assistance, and is run by the IRS. It is designed to serve those who make $50,000 or less annually. It also has numerous sites in communities nationwide. These can be found by calling 1-800-906-9887.

VITA is available to military families through the AFTC or Armed Forces Tax Council.

According to the IRS website, you should come prepared with the following items:

• ID
• Social Security cards for all members of your family.
• Previous year’s tax form.
• Birth dates of all members.
• W-2 forms.
• Unemployment compensation records.
• Records of interest and dividends earned.
• Record of social security payments received.
• Record of pension payment received.
• Record of state and federal income tax paid.
• Checkbook so you will have the bank information for direct deposit of your refund.

In addition, if you are not taking the standard deduction, you will need to bring records of interest paid on your home mortgage, charity donations, money spent on continuing education, and money spent for daycare along with the daycare provider’s tax id.

Cell Phones – It seems like everyone owns one, and busy families might have 3 or more. If you’re constantly leaving them plugged in several hours beyond the time they’re recharged, you’re losing money.

Televisions – They consume enormous amounts of energy, and how many of them do you own?

Computers – Sure, it’s a lot easier to leave it plugged in, particularly if you have to crawl under your desk to unplug it. But, you’re losing money while you’re sleeping. While you’re at it, change your power settings, so that your computer will hibernate after 20 minutes of nonuse.

Printers – Yes, even these are costing you money, and you may only use them once a day.

DVD Players – These are a little trickier since many of them have clocks which you would have to reset.

Game Systems – PlayStation, Wii and Xbox.

Cameras – It’s easy to forget about them when you are recharging the battery.

Rechargeable Battery Chargers – Try to remember to remove them from the outlet when the light goes off.

Book Readers – one of many other personal gadgets that need to be recharged.

These are some of the major culprits, but if you look around your house, you can probably find more. Your computer and printer are probably already on power strips which would be easy to turn off at night. Consider putting your televisions, game systems and dvd players on them too. You might also want to look into a smart power strip. These have the ability to turn off power to one or more outlets if it hasn’t been used for a specific amount of time.

Fans are normally set to run counter clockwise to circulate cool air in the summer. For winter use, reverse that so it runs clockwise. Turn it on low speed so that it will do its job without creating a draft. With proper use, you may find that you are able to turn your thermostat down a couple of degrees.

1. They make great table protectors under a tablecloth, and can be washed if needed right along with the tablecloth.
2. If you sew and have some extra fabric from previous projects, you could use them as a filler for a pot holder.
3. Similarly, you could make a cloth trivet for use under hot pans.
4. Quilters can put them to good use as batting for baby quilts or extra padding in larger ones.
5. Do you have young children who play soccer, or are learning to ride a bike? Make shin guards out of your leftover mattress pads.
6. Many craft projects require some kind of stuffing material. If you don’t have a project in mind right now, save the mattress pad for future use.
7. Young toddlers who are just beginning to walk can hurt themselves around furniture with sharp edges. Cover those edges with pieces of mattress padding.

Most children don’t like food that is mixed together or touching. One way to avoid that is to make a bento lunch. The bento is common in Japan and basically just means a boxed lunch. Typically, it has several compartments into which various food items are arranged colorfully and artistically.

Small individual portions appeal to children’s appetites and tastes, so the bento is a perfect solution for their school lunch. You can make it very simple, or if you have the time and desire, create a work of art.

Although boxes made specifically for bentos can be bought, it’s not necessary to spend a lot of money for a container. Any appropriately sized reusable and nonbreakable dish will serve the purpose. Here’s a site that will give you some ideas to get you started: http://alphamom.com/family-fun/how-to-make-a-kids-bento-box/.

• In season, cucumbers can be purchased very inexpensively, or you can even grow your own salad cucumbers. Slice them up, add to the leftover pickle juice, and within a few days, you’ll have another supply of pickles.

• Why stick just to cucumbers? You could also do the same with other vegetables such as cauliflower, beets, asparagus, carrots or green beans.

• Whether you like a tangy salad dressing or a sweeter one, you can make it go further by adding a little sweet or dill pickle juice. It works especially well on coleslaw.
• When preparing tuna fish or egg salad sandwiches, add a little zing by mixing a small amount of leftover juice in with the mayonnaise.
• Potato or macaroni salads will also be improved by pickle juice.
• Try it in a marinade for meat or roast vegetables.
• Homemade tartar sauce is even better with a little added pickle juice.
• Deviled eggs can also be perked up by stirring some leftover juice into the mayonnaise.

If you are buying a new exhaust fan for the bathroom, try to get one with a sensor, so that it will shut off automatically when the moisture is gone. If your fan doesn’t have a sensor, you might try setting the timer on your microwave for 15 or 20 minutes so that you’ll remember to turn if off. You could also do this with the kitchen fan.

Remember, also, that when your furnace is running, you may not need to run the bathroom exhaust fan as long. The dry air from the furnace will remove much of the moisture.

• If your shower or tub doesn’t have a strainer, put one in. They are easy to find in hardware stores and easy to install. Then remember to clean it out every time you use the shower.
• Toss your hair into a wastebasket, not the toilet or sink. Even toilets get clogged up from too much hair. If you comb your hair over the sink, make sure it doesn’t go down the drain.
• Don’t pour cooking grease down your kitchen sink. Set aside a can or old butter tub and put the grease in there instead.
• Pour a pot of boiling water down your drains every month to take care of any buildup.
• Be careful what you put down your garbage disposal. Cut or break large items into smaller pieces. Things like celery or broccoli stems are quite fibrous and do better in the waste basket or compost pile. Potato skins, onion skins and banana peels are also tough for the disposal to handle.
• If your laundry hose discharges water into a laundry tub, attach a lint filter to the end of the hose. These too, are easy to find and easy to use. You could also make your own with an old pair of hosiery and a rubber band.
• If you hang things over your laundry tub to dry, remove them before doing a load of wash. Otherwise, they could slip into the tub, plug the drain, and cause the tub to overflow.
• Try to reduce your dependence on toxic drain cleaners. Use the suggestion in number 4 above to keep drains moving. You can also pour half a cup of baking soda down the drain followed by a boiling mixture of 1 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of water. Allow it to work for 15 or 20 minutes, and then flush with hot water.

Not only would sharing these tools among your neighbors save money, but it would also afford an opportunity for people to get to know each other better.

A better choice would be to set aside money each month and save for the item you want. Or, buy used from Craigslist or other local sources.