Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/465892
Asyouread,areyou wearing your shoes? Is your sink shiny? Can you walk through your living room with- out tripping over clut- ter? Would a knock on your door cause you to die of em- barrassment? In her now classic book, "Sink Reflections," Marla Cilley remembers the days when she slouched around in bare feet and uncombed hair. She can remember not being able to find a clean dish. She often refused to open her front door be- cause of the mess inside. But those days are over. Marla did it. She con- quered CHAOS, which is her clever acronym for Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome. In this entertaining and laugh-out-loud guide, Marla teaches you how to look at home maintenance in a new light. Known nationally as The FlyLady, Marla takes you one baby step at a time from disorder to or- der in your home. The first few chapters introduce you to the dev- astating effects that clut- ter has on you and your family. Marla compares clut- ter to cholesterol in our arteries. Clutter clogs up our homes, adds stress, de- creases our joy and wastes time and money. She's right. After we're con- vinced that all that clutter is killing us, chapter three begins the nuts and bolts of getting rid of it. Here's where we need to be ruth- less. Most of us save stuff be- cause of sentimental or economic value. Marla challenges that in a con- vincing way. Get rid of all that stuff. Marla reminds us that it is impossible to organize clutter. Amen. Marla is a true believer in lists and index cards. Borrowing from the clas- sic "Sidetracked Home Ex- ecutives'" cleaning system, she has incorporated it into her book. Marla recommends that before you try her clean- ing system, throw out the piles of magazines, cute kids' artwork from 20 years ago, clothing you'll never fit into again, weird kitchen gadgets and 8-track tapes. On her fun website (www.flylady.net), Marla even asks readers to weigh every bag of stuff they pitch and post it on her site to see how many tons they're getting rid of. (And don't forget to write down and appraise your donated items for the great tax benefits.) The beauty of the Fly- lady's system is that you start small. After you've torn into your clutter like a school of piranha, the actual cleaning can be- gin. On the first day there is a list for you to follow. It's pretty simple. Get com- pletely dressed, includ- ing hair and makeup, and then go shine your sink. Her directions for an eye- popping sink are found on page 97. I tried it. It was dazzling. There are chap- ters to help us do laundry efficiently, get the family involved in cleaning, con- quer paper work and even going on vacation. Marla lays out a plan for each room or "zone" in ones house. It works. But she reminds us not to ex- pect perfection overnight. This is a little-by-little pro- cess. And this is a book you need to read. I cannot rec- ommend it highly enough for its wit, wisdom, abil- ity to change a life, a home and a family. By following Marla's de- tailed plan, we can stay on track, "work" our lists, re- fuse to let clutter take over and transform our homes into neat, efficient and warm havens. What could be better than that? MaryHuntisthefounder of www.DebtProofLiving. com, a personal finance member website. You can email her at mary@eve- rydaycheapskate.com, or write to Everyday Cheap- skate, P.O. Box 2099, Cy- press, CA 90630. EVERYDAYCHEAPSKATE Clutter:Straighten up and fly right WILLOWS Artwork has be- gun to arrive at the Sacra- mento National Wildlife Refuge Complex as students in grades K-12 across Cal- ifornia participate in the Federal Junior Duck Stamp annual art competition. The deadline for entries is March 15, and California teachers are encouraged to submit their student's work for consideration in the state and national com- petitions. More than 2,700 pieces of art were submit- ted in 2014. New this year, the Sac- ramento NWRC has three traveling art bins available to teachers and youth lead- ers to borrow for two weeks. These containers contain colored pencils, crayons, oil pastels and learning mate- rials to aid groups in cre- ating their art. The bins must be reserved in ad- vanced and are free to use. The Federal Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program is a cur- riculum combining wet- land and waterfowl conser- vation with the visual arts, used to teach wetlands and waterfowl conservation to students at all primary and secondary school grade lev- els. The program is a non- traditional pairing of art and science education. It spans cultural, ethnic, so- cial and geographic bound- aries to teach awareness of our nation's natural re- sources. The U.S. Fish and Wild- life Service awards certifi- cates of appreciation to all students who enter the con- test. One hundred winners in four age categories and Best of Show receive awards as well as being published in the yearly California Junior Duck Stamp calendar. The Best of Show art- work from each state is sent to Washington D.C. to com- pete in a national contest, and the national winner is featured on that year's Fed- eral Junior Duck Stamp. The Junior Duck Stamp competition is similar to the service's prestigious Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp — Federal Duck Stamp — national art con- test. Migratory bird hunt- ers are required to posses a Federal Duck Stamp; how- ever, junior stamps are ac- quired solely for their col- lector and environmental education value. Proceeds from the sale of Junior Duck Stamps are used to fund conser- vation education, awards and scholarship programs. Junior Duck Stamp Pro- gram entry forms and teach- er's guides may be obtained from www.fws.gov/ref- uge/Sacramento/JDS.html. California entries must be postmarked March 15 or earlier and mailed to Ju- nior Duck, c/o Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, 752 County Road 99W, Wil- lows, 95988. CALIFORNIA JuniorDuckStampcontestseeksentries COURTESYPHOTO New traveling Junior Duck Stamp Art Bin is available for teachers and group leaders to borrow to add in creating students' artwork. Mary Hunt By Gene Serr February is Black His- tory Month, and the Shasta Historical Society will cel- ebrate this with a special free program at the Cas- cade Theatre in Redding at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28. The program will be a live, dramatic theatrical performance that will ex- plore the lives of four lo- cal pioneer African-Amer- icans. The program will il- lustrate what it was like to be a person of color in those days, and will also demonstrate a much larger human struggle. These individuals pos- sessed the will and deter- mination to make a bet- ter life for themselves and those who followed them. Tehama County resi- dents are particularly wel- come to the program since two of these pioneers are as much a part of Tehama County history as they are of Shasta County history. The program is ti- tled "The Fight: Perspec- tives, Possibility, Prom- ise, & Pain." The pioneers whose lives will be exam- ined and honored are Al- vin Coffey (1822-1902), Phoebe Coulbourn X (1818- 1876), Pleasant (W) Logan (1825-1899) and Eddie Ma- chen(1932-1972). The presenters will in- clude Dr. Lea Tate, Michele Woods, RN, Amanda Flow- ers Peterson and Fred Ma- gee. Tehama County histori- ans will recognize Coffey and Logan as pioneers in both Tehama and Shasta counties. Coffey first came to Cal- ifornia from Missouri in the Gold Rush of 1849 as a slave. After much travail and hard labor, he was fi- nally able to buy his free- dom and bring his family to California in 1857. He first ran a laundry in Red Bluff, then bought land in the Elder Creek area and raised mainly turkeys for many years. At the same time he kept up mining in- terests in Shasta City. PD Logan first came to California from Arkansas Territory in 1850 to mine with brothers and cousins in the Trinity River. An- ticipation of the Civil War caused him and his family to migrate to California in 1860. He bought land in Te- hama County near the Cof- feys. He later bought land in the Cottonwood area, in- cluding what became Lo- gan's Ferry. Both Coffey and Lo- gan were instrumental in starting the desegrega- tion of schools in Califor- nia. The Oat Creek School south of Red Bluff (1866), sometimes called the Lo- gan School, is believed to have been the first non-seg- regated school in the state. Coffey is also credited with being the first and only black member of the California Pioneer Soci- ety. A shocking secret is that PD Logan was actually white, not black. He was of- ten considered black since he was married to a black woman, was an ardent abo- litionist and friend of John Brown, and worked with Coffey and others on var- ious black causes. In addition to the three early black pioneers, those who attend will also hear the story of Redding pro- fessional boxer Eddie Ma- chen. He won 50 of his 64 heavyweight bouts, scor- ing 27 knockouts. The pre- senter will be Dr. Lea Tate, clinical psychologist and amateur boxer. Everyone is welcome to come and enjoy this cele- bration of the lives of a few of the best-known black pi- oneers in the area. BLACK HISTORY MONTH Tehama County pioneers to be honored in Redding Most people file their tax return because they have to, but even if you don't, there are times when you should. You may be el- igible for a tax refund and not know it. This year, there are a few new rules for some who must file. Here are six tax tips to help you find out if you should file a tax re- turn: Generalfilingrules Whether you need to file a tax return depends on a few factors. In most cases, the amount of your income, your filing status and your age determine if you must file a tax return. For example, if you're sin- gle and 28 years old you must file if your income was at least $10,150. Other rules may apply if you're self-employed or if you're a dependent of another per- son. There are also other cases when you must file. Go to IRS.gov/filing to find out if you need to file. New for 2014 — Premium Tax Credit If you bought health insurance through the Health Insurance Market- place in 2014, you may be eligible for the new Pre- mium Tax Credit. You will need to file a return to claim the credit. If you purchased cover- age from the Marketplace in 2014 and chose to have advance payments of the premium tax credit sent directly to your insurer during the year you must file a federal tax return. You will reconcile any ad- vance payments with the allowable Premium Tax Credit. Your Marketplace will provide Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Mar- ketplace Statement, to you by Jan. 31, 2015, contain- ing information that will help you file your tax re- turn. Tax withheld or paid Did your employer with- hold federal income tax from your pay? Did you make estimated tax pay- ments? Did you overpay last year and have it ap- plied to this year's tax? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you could be due a refund. But you have to file a tax return to get it. Earned Income Tax Credit Did you work and earn less than $52,427 last year? You could receive EITC as a tax refund if you qualify with or without a qualify- ing child. You may be eli- gible for up to $6,143. Use the 2014 EITC Assistant tool on IRS.gov to find out if you qualify. If you do, file a tax return to claim it. Additional Child Tax Credit Do you have at least one child that qualifies for the Child Tax Credit? If you don't get the full credit amount, you may qualify for the Additional Child Tax Credit. American Opportunity Credit The AOTC is available for four years of post sec- ondary education and can be up to $2,500 per eligi- ble student. You or your dependent must have been a student enrolled at least half time for at least one academic period. Even if you don't owe any taxes, you still may qualify. However, you must complete Form 8863, Education Credits, and file a return to claim the credit. Use the Interac- tive Tax Assistant tool on IRS.gov to see if you can claim the credit. Learn more by visiting the IRS' Education Credits Web page. The instructions for Forms 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ list income tax filing requirements. You can also use the Interac- tive Tax Assistant tool on IRS.gov to see if you need to file. The tool is available 24/7 to answer many tax questions. TAX TIPS Six tips on who should file a 2014 return Thankyou! PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. 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