So today is my nephew’s birthday which meant that I have been trying to find something to buy him which would be good for a one year old. The funny thing I thought was how they have all these big brand named items, such as certain clothes, for kids this young which costs 5 times as much as something similar from a lesser know brand. I’m just thinking to myself…..can a one year old really distinguish between say a Tommy Hilfiger shirt and one that is not? At the same time, do they know enough about brands to really appreciate it?

I guess in some ways we are all a bit brand obsessed as we are willing to spend the extra dollar to go with something that we trust. In a lot of cases I would agree that is a wise thing to do as well. At the same time, I think sometimes we become so reliant on a brand that when we are buying something, which we don’t know much about, we end up purchasing it mostly based on the brand factor.

For certain things, buying a no-name brand product can end up giving you the same type of item that will do you just as well while allowing you to save a lot of if you are one of those people who are tight on a budget. There just seems to be these ego factors for a lot of people where they feel if they say buy a no-name brand product that it somehow places them into this undesirable category. If the product has virtually no difference in terms of its significance on what it is suppose to do, then you can easily say that it would be a smart thing to do to go for the less expensive brand. So for myself, again I usually decide based on overall value of something as oppose to say entirely on a brand.

As to what I ended up buying, my nephew is pretty active and hyper and so I decided that I would buy him this mini sports centre.

Now I just hope he will throw those basketballs through the basket as oppose to other people.

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Hello to everyone who saw me this morning on CityTV Breakfast Television where I was briefly talking about tax software and how simple it can be to file your taxes online with Netfile. As mentioned, I have created this post as a quick recap on the tax software that was discussed and some general points to help you in deciding which one is right for you.

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Quicktax – Can file 5 returns or unlimited for income under $25,000

Benefits:

-The design of the interface looks polished and is appealing which can make it less intimidating for people to use.

-User friendly interview wizard to guide you through the process and it also explains what it is that you are doing now in a down-to-earth language.

-More support for corporate and business tax filing as there are multiple versions you can buy, such as Quicktax for incorporated businesses, which provides the necessary forms as well as tax advices specifically for corporate users.

Drawbacks:

-On average it is more than double the price compared to others. Quicktax Standard can usually be found for about $39.99 at stores on average as an example.

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Ufile – Can File 6 returns or unlimited for income under $25,000

Benefits:

-Inexpensive as you can find this for about $19.99 or less at stores.

-Integrated feature called “Maxback” that tries to cross analyze your entire family’s tax return to try and find tax saving options As an example, imagine having a family and doing everyone’s return individually. It could be that by combining your expenses of some sort would allow you to receive a bigger refund and the program will help you to determine just that.

Drawbacks:

-Interface is not as intuitive, due to the tree structure presentation, which can make it intimidating for some to learn. For a lot of people they need a lot of visual reference to really feel comfortable in using a software product and seeing a lot of plain/generic forms often overwhelms people due to the fact that it looks too technical, so to speak.

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TaxTron.ca - Free tax filing for people with income under $30,000

Benefits:

-Has support for both a Windows and Mac Version

-Inexpensive to purchase a license for people over $30,000 as you can purchase a single license for about $13 or ten licenses for about $25.

Drawbacks:

-Windows version can only do personal income tax whereas in the mac version you have the option of purchasing a version that does corporate taxes.

-This software has an extremely unappealing presentation compared to the others. For example, the windows version and looks like something right out of the Windows 3.1 days.

-Other than checking for basic possible errors it doesn’t really have the same amount of tips or features to really aid people in getting the best return possible compared to others.

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Once you decide on which tax software is for you and complete the process in creating a return, it is time to file it online with Netfile. You can visit my old post on how to file a tax return online with Netfile as it really is a simple process. Feel free to ask any questions or if you are someone who wants to throw in your 2 cents to help others as well feel free to do so. Make sure to file your taxes on time as well as there are only a few days left to do so. I hope this helps to make it easier for people who were initially too intimidated to file their taxes online.

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The end of the season has come. The finale for the most part felt like they were running out of ideas for this year and so most of the happenings seemed like it was just a filler to take up an hour worth of airtime. It basically started out by highlighting all of the events, candidates and briefly the order that everyone was fired and why.

Then Trump, along with his son and daughter, basically continued off from last week’s event where the candidates made the mini movie about the Renuzit product. Nicole was criticized for choosing Tim for the task as it demonstrated a sign of weakness they say and Frank was criticized for choosing Surya since they did not get along. Overall, Trump felt that Frank had too many liabilities and for Nicole Trump he didn’t believe in an “inter-office romance” and so they were the first to be fired. That wasn’t very surprising I’d say.

So, it basically came down to Stefani and James and they then showed clips of their current professional and working life. The best reply of the night I thought came when Stefani kept saying good things about James and so Trump mentioned how by listening to her it sounded like she was basically implying that he should hire James. She replied by saying if he was listening to her then he should hire her and then she would hire James to work for her.

Overall, the criticism was that Stefani seemed like she was always under the radar which raises concerns about her leadership ability and for James the main comment was how he said certain things throughout the process which bothered Trump a lot (I’m not exactly sure which ones he was referring to in particular). Ultimately, James was fired and Stefani was hired. The funny thing is I get to bug my friend a bit now as near the beginning of the season we both just took an educational guess on who would win and he chose James and I chose Stefani. Aside from personality reasons, a big reason I chose her was the way all the video editing was done as it reminded me a lot of the previous winners in regards to the type of airtime they were getting to make everyone look a certain way.

This season wasn’t too exciting overall I’d say. I was disappointed that there wasn’t a final one on one task either as we didn’t really get to see how the final two would function on their own. As mentioned, maybe they were running out of ideas or couldn’t arrange a big enough task event. There weren’t any previews for a next season either, though I doubt it is going to be the last at this point. It was a new experience blogging about each episode as well. Too bad I didn’t start doing this earlier as it would have been great to have a collection of it. Till next time.

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So today is Earth Day and yesterday I posted a quick list on some things people can do to save energy and money. One of my friends brought up the point that for most people when it comes to actually following through with some kind of new goal that people tend to fail in doing so. For the most part, I would have to say that is usually more true than not. I guess everyone’s experience is different, but for myself I have kind of been able to develop a pretty good profile on why certain people tend to be talkers rather than doers. Here are some points that I think are the common reasons why people fail to follow through with their goals or promises:

1) Procrastination

Some people say that procrastination is a disease. I personally see it as simply a result of not caring enough about something. “I’ll do it later” is what usually comes out from a lot of people and the next thing you know that “later” becomes a “never”. For myself, the natural way that I have learned to avoid in becoming a procrastinator when it comes to important things is to have a clear vision on what it would be like if I didn’t do something. For example, would I want to be in situation such as how some people always complain everyday about their lives?

2) Lack of Accountability

I think this is one of the most integral reasons on why most people fail in accomplishing a goal I’d say. It’s always easier to blame other things or people for a less than admirable situation to justify giving up. Being accountable for the things that happen to you gives you the attitude that you can make a difference as you do have a lot of control in determining what happens to you.

3) Too Many Things At Once

When you first have a goal in mind you are usually all pumped up to start making a difference. At the same time, it can be easy to overwhelm yourself with more things than you can handle which in hence destroys your confidence and motivation to keep going. I think the key is to be organized and very specific on what you need to do. How does that saying go…..Rome wasn’t built in one day. One step at a time.

4) No Fear of Loss

I think this is true for a lot of people where if they think they can get away with something or that the consequence would be something very small then they tend to not take it as seriously. For example, I’ve seen a person set a goal of wanting to start a business and to do so he borrowed a lot of money from people who were close to him. He figured that these were friends and family members and so they wouldn’t be too upset if he failed and lost all of the money that was given to him as it wouldn’t kill them if he lost it all. Guess you know what happened afterwards. In general, if you don’t really have that motivation and fire like someone who treats it like it is their last chance ever you are setting yourself up to do a half effort job (There is a more colorful way of saying that of course).

5) Stopping Momentum

A lot of times when there is a long term goal, people don’t feel that it is an integral situation and so they are free to stop and continue their progress whenever they feel like it. Constantly getting off track can completely disrupt your plan in more ways than one. Someone once told me an example of driving a car where all you had to do was continue to drive straight and you had exactly enough fuel to reach your destination. One person instead felt that there is no rush and so he continually stopped and began driving again whenever he felt like it. In the end, he was only able to travel to about 75% of his intended destination as he ran out of gas. The reason for this was that stopping and starting his car engine actually caused him to use up more fuel than intended. I think that is a great example on how you have to stay on track when trying to accomplish something.

Like anything else, it takes practice. If you have to, gather up some friends or colleagues to help keep you in check and accountable in following through with a goal or promise. Make sure they are strict and consistent as well. It can actually be a very positive thing too such as when people ask me to help hold them accountable for things I actually try to help them by offering suggestions and advice along the way as it is great to teach people how to do things as oppose to doing it for them. The better you get in accomplish goals the more fun it will be as well.

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So tomorrow, April 22nd, is Earth Day and I have been seeing a lot of news segments and mini documentaries on what everyone can do to help conserve energy and resources which would benefit the environment overall. There were some quotes that I heard which were kind of eye-raising such as in some fully developed countries water will eventually be more valuable than oil if things keep going the way it is. Kind of inspires me to want to do something on a large scale once I am in a more prominent position to do so in order to help people. Anyways, while looking at some of the energy saving tips, to me they sound like it would also in turn help people to save money as well. So, I thought it would be appropriate to make up a post with some energy saving tips off the top of my head for the occasion:

1) Don’t Leave Water Running While Brushing Your Teeth

I always personally found this one to be a little strange as even as a child I would never let the water continually run while brushing my teeth. But I guess a lot of people do this for it to be on a lot of energy saving tip lists. What I was taught to do was that at first you would simply fill up a small cup of water. You first use a mouth full to moisten up your mouth before brushing. After you are done, you then use the rest to rinse out your mouth. It just seems so wasteful trying to imagine myself letting the water continually run in the midst of brushing. This should help with the water heating bill.

2) Use Cold Water To Wash Your Clothes

If you use a washing machine with warm water, apparently 90% of the energy usage comes from heating up the water. Just think about that from a billing point of view as well. That is almost like saying if your power bill from the washing machine was $150 that means by using cold water you can drop the bill to about $15. Quite a huge difference when you think about it.

3) Turn off Your Car Engine If You Are Idle In A Parked Area For A Long Time

We see this all the time such as someone picking up another person and instead of turning off the car they simply keep the engine running as they don’t want to have to turn it back on. If you have to stay there for more than say 30 seconds, it can make more sense just to turn it off and back on later as it should take less gas in comparison to do so.

4) Get Into The Habit of Not Using A Vehicle When You Can

I suppose this is the most obvious one that everyone hears all the time. I personally enjoy it when I don’t have to use a vehicle, though I know a lot of people who cringe over the idea of having to walk say 10-15 blocks to get to a store. I had a funny example before where I convinced one of my friend to walk instead of using the car, since it was less than 15 blocks, and as we walked to the destination and back from it he dubbed my walking as “power walking” even though that was a regular pace I thought. Don’t worry, while he was extremely exhausted he survived. Now whenever I say that he should walk instead he gets paranoid if my definition of walking is “Power Walking”.

5) Turn Off Electronic Equipment When It Is Not In Use

Computers are a great example of this. A lot of people have the habit of simply leaving the monitor and computer on when it is not in use for a long time as they figure it has features like a screensaver anyways. I usually turn the whole computer off if I know that I won’t be using it for another say 30 minutes. Even for the monitor, I have a habit of simply tuning it off even if it is only for say 5 minutes. Using some kind of power bar can be useful too as for some equipment if you turn them off they aren’t truly off as something is still running such as say a glowing red light to indicate that the equipment is off. If they are all attached to a power bar, then flipping that off will ensure that everything truly is off.

6) Try Telecommuting If Possible

This may be a good and viable option for business owners depending on the nature of your business. If you have a lot of employees where their role doesn’t really require them to be onsite, implementing a program to allow certain people to work from home can actually be a good way to save company expenses such as not having to spend as much in building expenses. At the same time, the employee does not have to commute to the office which would provide them with drastic savings as well and ultimately conserving energy resources.

That’s all I can think off the top of my head. Business and financial people are usually creative or very good at maximizing resources to prevent unnecessary waste, so feel free to add anything if you have some good ideas in relation to the energy saving theme for Earth Day.

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