The Tax Extenders Act Passes

There was a flurry of activity over the weekend before the 109th Congress disbanded. House Resolution 6111 passed and then moved to the Senate where the legislation, estimated to cost up to $45 billion, passed in a landslide.

The Tax Extenders Act is big enough to put a little something in everyone's stockings. For big industry, there's a measure to clean up abandoned coal mines and another that opens up drilling rights in a big portion of the Gulf of Mexico.

But there's something there for folks like us as well. The Tax Extenders Act extends the above-the-line deduction for tuition expenses, and the state and local sales tax deduction for two years. It also extends the deduction teachers get for buying classroom materials with their own cash.

The tax credits for residential energy efficient property were extended for one year. Also, the Tax Extenders Act made a bunch of changes to Health Savings Accounts, including allowing one-time rollovers from IRAs into HSAs.

Pre-Texting Is Now Illegal

Before Hewlett-Packard admitted it had hired private investigators to pose as reporters for the purpose of illegally tapping into their personal phone records, I often wondered how everyone got that kind of information.

I knew I could go to the web, pay anywhere from a few bucks to more than $50 and find out all kinds of personal information.

But it never occurred to me to pretend to be someone else in order to see who someone has been talking to.

Well, as of this weekend, Congress passed legislation that would make it a federal crime to obtain someone's telephone records without his or her approval.

All I can say is, about time.

The measure, which passed the House in April – that's 9 months ago for those of you keeping track at home – was finally passed Friday night in the Senate. It clearly spells out new federal criminal penalties for those who buy and sell fraudulently obtained records.

Be Safe and Secure With Your Holiday Lights This Year

On Saturday, my husband Sam and I walked home after a Christmas open house we attend in our neighborhood each year. It wasn't that cold and in the dark, the Christmas lights twinkled merrily.

I really love the houses that go all out – and have so much respect for the homeowners who put up all those lights. It sure isn't easy, and it can really pump up your energy bill for the month.

If you want to save money on your Christmas lights bill, you might want to use the new LED holiday bulbs, that only use 5 to 7 watts per string. Another choice is to use miniature lights, that use 70 percent less electricity.

If you're putting up lights outside, be sure to use outdoor lights only. But whether your lights are inside or out, you'll want to put them on a timer.

Even if you do choose to light your house all night long, there's no point in having icicle lights blinking during daylight hours.

Zillow.com Allows Homeowners and Agents to Upload Information

I was in San Francisco last week, when I heard something exciting might be brewing with Zillow.com. Zillow is a site that tells you how much your house is worth and in some parts of the country, it's extremely accurate.

Sure enough, on Thursday, Zillow announced it would allow homeowners and agents to upload any information they want along with an unlimited number of photos. In addition, Zillow introduced its "Make Me Move" feature. Regardless of what Zillow thinks your house is worth, you can plant your "for sale" flag, and name your price – any pie in the sky price – that you will gladly accept if someone offers it.

Rich Barton, founder of Expedia.com, also co-founded Zillow. When we talked this week, he told me that everyone has a secret price in their head – a price that will make them move. "We're trying to tap into that," he told me. And give their 3 million site visitors another reason to stick around.

LL Bean Deal for the Holidays

Like everyone else, we buy a lot of stuff on the web. That's especially true around this time of the year.

This year, Sam found what he thought was an exceptional deal. At LL Bean, there's an offer on the website for $10 gift card for every purchase of at least $50.

Sam read that to mean that he'd get a $10 gift card for each $50 worth of order, or about 20 percent off. So, Sam got online and started ordering. Just before he hit the "checkout" button, he read the terms of the offer again. Then, he called the company for clarification.

Turns out that you only get one $10 coupon for each order over $50. But, you can have as many separate orders as you like.

So every day, Sam is placing another order. There's no shipping charge. And, when he's done, he'll get about $70 worth of gift cards.

But if he hadn't read the fine print, we might have blown it.