Check out Roaste.com For All Your Coffee Needs

When I am buying my mom a gift for a special occasion, I usually include some coffee. My mom loves to drink coffee, so I know that she really appreciates a bag of gourmet coffee to drink. I would consider her a coffee snob, because she is picky when it comes to what she drinks. When we went to visit my aunt and uncle in California, I received an email from my aunt asking me about coffee makers and coffee.  She wanted to get my mom the best coffee for our stay. She ended up getting some at the store so she could pick out the flavor she wanted.  It is similar to asking someone what they want for dinner a week or two in advance.

I would love to own a Gaggia Classic Espresso machine from Roaste.  Roaste  is a gourmet coffee marketplace, selling coffee beans from coffee roasters from around the world. Coffee is delivered to the customer's home. Offering also includes coffee makers and espresso machines.  The site also includes a coffee community, featuring coffee news, coffee recipes and other articles.   I had a job in a bakery where I would make the hot drinks. It was my favorite part, of the job. I would love to be able to have guests over and offer them the hot beverage of their choice. It would eliminate the task of going to a coffee shop and paying those outrageous prices for a grande mocha cappuccino.  It would be nice to have more options than black, cream and sugar.

I love entertaining so it would be a great investment for me. I love when my family gets together and we talk about the Good Old Days. My aunt found old records from 1930’s of my grandpa and my great grandparents. My great grandpa is playing the fiddle. It was so neat to hear them after all these years.  I would also love to have some of the Hario V60 products to go along with the Gaggia Classic. I’d like the Hario V60 Ice- Coffee Maker Fretta to have iced coffee drinks for those summer months when the air conditioner is constantly on and you feel like if you go outside you will melt.  It would be great for those days where you can fry an egg on the sidewalk, not literally of course.

What is your favorite coffee drink? I look forward to your responses

Last Minute Tax Tips from Dunkin' Donuts

Dunkin’ Donuts Retail Coffee

Tax Day Survival Tips

With the tax-filing deadline approaching, don’t panic if you haven’t completed your return. Here are some Tax Day Survival tips to help you avoid stress and enjoy a “delicious” return.

1. Set aside some quality tax time. Brew a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee at home, find the materials you need to prepare your taxes, and retire to a quiet spot to get started. You can complete your return manually on paper, with Free File, or commercial software. If you use a tax professional, make sure to gather all your materials before sitting down with him or her.


2. Consider an extension. If, for any reason, you can’t file your income tax return on time, simply request a filing extension by April 15th. This gives you six more months to complete your return and avoid late filing penalties. Use Form 4868, which you can get at IRS.gov. But you still must pay now what tax you’ll owe to avoid late payment penalties.

3. Check out new tax breaks for certain 2009 purchases. If you bought a home, you may qualify for a tax credit. If you bought a new car, you may be able to deduct the sales tax. Find details about these new breaks at IRS.gov.

4. File electronically. To get your tax refund as quickly as possible, file your income tax return electronically and request that the refund be deposited directly in your account. You can have the deposit split among two or three accounts, including bank accounts, IRAs, health savings accounts, Coverdell education savings accounts, and a TreasuryDirect® account for I bond purchases.

5. Adjust your tax withholding or estimated taxes. Is it bad to be owed a tax refund? It’s nice to have the extra cash now, but getting a refund means you’ve really made an interest-free loan to Uncle Sam. A better strategy is to adjust your tax withholding or estimated taxes for this year so you pay an amount that is closer to the amount of tax owed; this gives you the use of your own money throughout the year.

6. Contribute to your retirement fund. The tax year is over but it’s not too late to put money in a regular or Roth IRA for 2009. Assuming you’re eligible, a contribution to a traditional IRA made by April 15th is deductible on your 2009 return. If you opt for a Roth IRA contribution, you can’t deduct it but will build up tax-free income for retirement.

7. Reap eco-credits. If you added insulation, energy-efficient windows, or solar panels to your home, you not only reduced energy costs but also may now qualify for a tax credit. The credit limit for installing solar panels and other alternative energy additions is 30% of cost; for other improvements, there’s a $1,500 cap. The tax credit reduces your tax bill dollar for dollar.

8. The standard deduction isn’t standard anymore. If you don’t itemize, you may be able to bulk up your standard deduction by adding amounts for being a senior, paying property taxes on your home or sales tax on a car purchase, or for suffering a loss in a federal disaster. But you’ll have to complete a new form, Schedule L, to total up your standard deduction.

Barbara Weltman is an attorney, prolific author with such titles as J.K. Lasser’s Small Business Taxes, J.K. Lasser’s 1001 Deductions and Tax Breaks, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting a Home-Based Business, and trusted professional advocate for small businesses and entrepreneurs. She is also the publisher of Idea of the Day® and monthly e-newsletter Big Ideas for Small Business® at www.barbaraweltman.com and host of Build Your Business radio. Follow her on Twitter at BarbaraWeltman.

Sign up for a free sample of Dunkin' Donuts newest flavor Dunkin’ Turbo HERE
I just signed up for mine and I hope you will too!

Coffee Bean Direct Review

I love a great cup of coffee. I really enjoy hazelnut or French vanilla. It seems like there are a million brands to choose from and some are great and others well are not so great. I am somewhat of a Coffee Snob. So when I had the chance to try a sample of coffee from Coffee Bean Direct I was excited. Coffee Bean Direct is an online business that sells many different brands and flavors of coffee and tea. The prices are really good too. They even have really nice coffee and tea gift baskets that would make an excellent gift for someone you love filled with coffee or tea and little treats as well. Most people like to enjoy a little treat a long with a nice cup of coffee or tea.

Not sure what kind of flavor you would like to try you could always order one of the Sampler packs which come in both coffee and tea varieties. You have many choices when it comes to flavors. You can either order your coffee in whole beans or already ground. It comes in Regular or Decaf as well. The tea categories include Black teas, green teas, herbal teas and Wulong teas. They also offer other teas.

I got to sample the Hazelnut coffee. As soon as I opened the box, I could smell the coffee. It smelled so good. My son decided he wanted to smell it too. He thought it smelled pretty good. I couldn’t wait to try it. The coffee was so flavorful and tasted great. I savored the coffee in my mouth as I drank it. It was full bodied and very aromatic. It filled my house with the warm scent of coffee. It was delicious.

So, if you want great, fresh coffee please order from Coffee Bean Direct. They bring it straight to your door. It would be great on a cool day.
You can get a 5 pound bag of delicious Coffee for about 5 dollars per pound! What a great deal! They also have monthly specials with great bargains. You can sign up for their newsletter and get all the information and deals right in your inbox.

Thank You to Coffee Bean Direct for providing me a sample of coffee to try.

Shopping at TJ Maxx!!!

I love TJ Maxx. My family has been shopping at TJ Maxx for as long as I can remember. I would go with my mom when I was younger and I would sit in the chairs by the door when I got bored or when she was checking out. I am definitely a bargain shopper and I love a great deal. It is so much fun to see how much stuff you can get for a set amount of money.

I am always amazed at the prices of quality brand names that they sell at TJ Maxx. I think that some people don’t shop there because they think that the clothes are defective. That is not the case at all. It isn’t some knock off brand. It’s just that they might have had a surplus so they passed on the deals to us. One of my favorite past deals was a Ralph Lauren tank top. It was originally 40 dollars and I got it for 5 dollars. I have bought a lot of my son’s clothes from TJ Maxx. They have most of the normal brands of kid’s clothes that big department stores have just at a much better price. TJ Maxx also has a nice little toy selection too. Some of Noah’s favorites came from TJ Maxx or Marshalls.

TJ Maxx isn’t just clothes. They also have house wares and décor items. TJ Maxx carries bedding, picture frames, fragrances, even hair dryers and flat irons! The selection changes frequently. You never know what kind of treasures you will find each time you visit TJ Maxx. With it being Back to School time, TJ Maxx and Marshalls is a smart place to shop for your kid’s new clothes. You really get more bang for your buck. Your kid’s can look great without it emptying your pocket book.

I went shopping today at TJ Maxx as part of the Back to School Event. They were having a store wide Clearance sale. There were lots of great deals. This Back to School Event commemorates 25 years of TJ Maxx working with Save the Children. Save the Children is a wonderful charity that helps children in the US and all over the world. Keep a look out for the 99 cent reusable bags that they have at TJ Maxx. For every reusable bag they sell TJ Maxx will donate an article of clothing for a child in need. With just 99 cents you can help clothe a child which no doubt is a wonderful much needed gift.


My pajama pants are really cute they look really comfortable too. I didn’t realize that they were Nautica until I got home. I paid $12.99 for them they were originally 34 dollars.

I really love my new box grater. I have a thing about cheese graters. I have one that I have had for as long as I can remember and it is really hard to use. Now I have one I don’t have to hold while grating. It has a little Tupperware bowl on the bottom that you can use to catch the cheese. No more escaping little pieces of cheese. You can put the lid on the bowl when you are done and store the cheese and it stays fresh. Freshly shredded cheese is delicious but as you know it has a really short shelf life. I paid $9.99 and it was originally 20 dollars.

As some of you may know Noah’s Birthday is next Sunday so I thought I would take the opportunity to get him another present. I got him a really cool John Deere Tractor toy. When you wave your hand over the cab it moves forward. When it bumps in to something it moves on its own backwards. I think that is really cool because my son tends to crash cars, trucks, and trains in to walls. My plan for the tractor to be a Birthday present was a short lived one. He saw it in the cart and I told him he could hold it but it was a birthday present. Yeah didn’t happen. When we got home I went ahead and let him have it. It’s open and he has been playing with it since we got home. I paid $7.99 and it was originally 12 dollars.

The last thing I got was gourmet COFFEE. TJ Maxx sells gourmet food items. They carry different things than the grocery stores. The stuff you would find in a gourmet food store for a fraction of the cost. I got some Hazelnut coffee. It smells so good. As soon as I put it in the car and got in I could smell the coffee.

I am very happy with my purchases. I got some really cute Nautica pajama pants, a big box cheese grater, a John Deere Tractor toy for Noah and a bag of gourmet coffee all for 38 dollars.

Shopping at TJ Maxx has always been an important part of my life. I always save a bundle by shopping when I shop there. I hope you all go and check out the treasures that they sell at TJ Maxx. Don’t forget to pick up a reusable bag as well.

Thank you TJ Maxx for letting me be a part of the Back to School Event!