Laura Moreno

This post is sponsored by Powerizer . As always, all ideas and opinions are entirely my own. I always feel a little bit sad after the holiday season ends, but there's something cathartic about putting my house back in order. For instance, it's nice to reclaim the area of my living room that was taken over by our tree and gifts! But it's very rare that I can put away our decorations without noticing the various messes that the holiday season left behind! So in case I'm not alone in noticing that my house could use some post-holiday cleaning, that's exactly what today's post is all about! I'll start by showing you how to use Powerizer Complete (my favorite do-it-all cleaning detergent) to deep clean 7 areas that are commonly affected by post-holiday grunginess, like the fridge, oven, etc. Following that, I'll share a few clever tips and tricks that will come in handy for the rest of your post-holiday cleanup tasks! Once you've read this post, you'l...

When many of us think of taxes, we usually think of federal taxes. Yet, it's mighty important to consider that you pay taxes in your state of residence as well. After all, the state taxes that you pay are added on top of what you pay in federal taxes. State income tax, sales tax, property tax and estate/inheritance taxes can all start to add up. It's easy to look up states with the highest tax burdens and those with the lowest tax burdens, so I did just that. Here's what I found. Highest Tax Burdens for Residents One of the reasons some East Coast states are so expensive has to do with taxes. It's worth noting though, that the state with the highest tax burden, Connecticut, also has the highest per capita income in the country. However, if you aren't among those earning that higher income, the taxes can quickly get out of hand. In Connecticut, you will pay 5% income tax, and 6.35% sales tax, and the inheritance tax, after a $2 million exemption, can go as high as 16...

California: Good News! Your taxes, tops in the country, are no longer the top reason businesses are leaving the Bronze Golden State. It's not that taxes have improved; rather, your laws and regulatory climate have exceeded taxes as the reason businesses are departing. That's not just my view; it's the view of one of the nation's leading business relocation experts, Joseph Vranich. Mr. Vranich has published his annual report on business relocations from California, titled "It's Time for Companies to Leave California's Toxic Business Climate." Mr. Vranich took his own advice: He moved his business from Irvine, California (the same city I resided in) to Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. In an article in Western Journal Mr. Vranich notes: I moved for three reasons - taxes, regulations and quality-of-life. First, I'll have greater freedom in my business now that I'm free of California's notorious regulatory environment and threats of fri...