Do Your Taxes for FREE!

Did you know as an active duty Navy family you can get your taxes done for FREE?

The military-based VITA (Volunteer Income Assistance) Program sites provide free tax advice, tax preparation, return filing, and other tax assistance to military members and their families. The Armed Forces Tax Council (AFTC) which consists of the tax program coordinators for the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard oversees the operation of the military tax programs worldwide and serves as the main conduit for outreach by the IRS to military personnel and their families. Airmen, soldiers, sailors, marines, and guardsmen and their families worldwide get tax preparation help at offices within their installations. VITA sites provide free tax advice, tax preparation, and assistance to military members and their families. They are trained and equipped to address military specific tax issues, such as combat zone tax benefits and the effect of the new Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) guidelines.
(source-Military Onesource.com)

Many installations and some larger commands offer the Military Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. To find a VITA site near you call a Military OneSource tax consultant at 1-800-730-3802, or contact the Legal Assistance office at your nearest installation.

Getting the Most for your Grocery Dollar

We went to the new Commissary on 32nd Street in San Diego the other night, and I loved it! Much improved over the commissary that we visited when we were stationed here the last time. As always they have great prices (they had whole ORGANIC chicken for 59cents a pound!). It is HUGE. Most of the isles were so wide that you could easily maneuver 3 shopping carts through them. Not to mention the beautiful produce, and the best meat counter I've ever seen at a commissary. It was great to walk out of with nearly a cart full of food for $92 bucks! Something I haven't been able to do anywhere else in San Diego.

Here's an bit from Military.com wrote up on the new website.
~ The Defense Commissary Agency's (DeCA's) new and improved website at commissaries.com is a great way for commissary shoppers to discover their benefit and stay connected to what's happening in their commissary wherever they are stationed. The website includes a new section that promotes health and wellness and an "Ask the DeCA Dietitian" section where customers can exchange comments with the DeCA dietitian and other users. The website also lists what is on sale in the "Savings Aisle" under the "Shopping" tab. Customers can print a list of all items on sale at their local commissary and find Internet coupons on the "Links" page. The "Kay's Kitchen" section also provides lots of quick, easy and nutritional recipes.

Give Mommy A Break!

This is TOO cute! Find it here. At the cafepress Navy Pride Store. This design is available on bibs, t-shirts to fit infants, toddlers, & kids. Two types of sweatshirts, and a cute baseball jersey style Tee.

Helping Out in San Diego

Today there are nearly three quarters of a million children under the age of five years in military families, the most since World War II. When a family member deploys, the whole family "deploys" requiring equal parts of sacrifice and courage .
(Cuba Gooding Jr. from PBS special: "When Parents Deploy")

With several hundred thousand service members and with more than 20,000 military families in San Diego, SDMOM (San Diego Military Outreach Ministries) is busy helping with urgent needs, personal caring and household and food assistance.

SDMOM mostly serves the junior enlisted military family, typically headed by a 18-23 year old, with young children, away from home, and trying to survive in our expensive economy on a low salary while struggling with high debt and the family stresses of deployment.

Please take a moment to visit thier website and show your support to this wonderful charity.
www.sandiegomom.org

Navy Life Right @ Home

Funny email I recieved from Hubby the last time he was underway :)

Here are a few suggestions on how to experience the real Navy life, right in the comfort of your own home.

• Buy a dumpster, paint it gray and live in it for 6 months straight.
• Run all of the piping and wires inside your house on the outside of the walls.
• Pump 10 inches of nasty, crappy water into your basement, then pump it out, clean up, and paint the basement "deck gray"
• Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go the scummiest part of town, find the most run down, trashy bar you can, pay $10 per beer until you're hammered, then walk home in the freezing cold.
• Perform a weekly disassembly and inspection of your lawnmower.
• On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays turn your water temperature up to 200 degrees, then on Tuesday and Thursday turn it down to 10 degrees.
• On Saturdays, and Sundays declare to your entire family that they used too much water during the week, so all showering is secured.
• Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling.
• Have your next door neighbor come over each day at 5am, and blow a whistle really loud and shout "Reveille, Reveille, all hands heave out and trice up"
• Have your mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in the back yard at 6am and read it to you.
• Eat the raunchiest Mexican food you can find for three days straight, then lock the bathroom door for 12 hours, and hang a sign on it that reads "Secured - contact OA DIV at X-3053"
• Submit a request form to your father-in-law, asking if it's ok for you to leave your house before 3pm.
• Invite 200 of your not-so-closest friends to come over, then board up all the windows and doors to your house for 6 months. After the 6 months is up, take down the boards, and since you're on duty, wave at your friends and family through the front window of your home...you can't leave until the next day.
• Shower with above-mentioned friends.
• Make your family qualify to operate all the appliances in your home(i.e. Dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc.)
• Walk around your car for 4 hours checking the tire pressure every 15 minutes.
• Sit in your car and let it run for 4 hours before going anywhere. This is to ensure your engine is properly "lit off".
• Empty all the garbage bins in your house, and sweep your driveway 3 times a day, whether they need it or not.
• Repaint your entire house once a month.
• Cook all of your food blindfolded, groping for any spice and seasoning you can get your hands on.
• Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, randomly losing every 5th item.
• Spend $20,000 on a satellite system for your TV, but only watch CNN and the Weather Channel.
• Have your 5-year-old cousin give you a haircut with goat shears.
• Post a menu on the refrigerator door informing your family that you are having steak for dinner. Then make them wait in line for at least an hour, when they finally get to the kitchen, tell them that you are out of steak, but you have dried ham or hot dogs. Repeat daily until they don't pay attention to the menu any more they just ask for hot dogs.
• In the middle of January, place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have you family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4-hour intervals.

The Navy Cafe ~ Forum

Joined today. Seems like a great group of people.
I'll let you know how it turns out.

The Navy CafeNavy Forum