You can make these and other ordinary, personal expenses tax deductible.

How would you like to get paid $11 for every 25 miles you drive?

How would you like to write off half the cost of restaurant meals with friends?

How about writing off a vacation at the beach with the family?

You have to make these personal expenses into business expenses. The easiest way to do this is to start a part time, home based business.

Your business will have expenses. Rent, or mortgage payments, salaries, auto, travel expenses, etc. It is no different from other businesses in this regard.

The IRS has special rules for writing off business expenses. They can be deducted from the business income first, before any taxes are paid on the income. The business only pays taxes on any income that is left after all expenses are paid.

These rules apply to your part time business as well. Most businesses start small; Dell computer started in a dorm room, Apple computer in a garage, Snapple Beverages in a Brooklyn apartment, etc.

You have to give your previously personal expenses a business purpose, so that they become business expenses.

Instead of giving your children allowances, you give them a pay check!

I have employed my boys to distribute flyers throughout our housing development, soliciting people who might want to sell their homes.

As long as their compensation is reasonable and they are paid via company check you can now deduct their salaries as business expenses. The fact that you require them to put the money toward their college savings or their wedding is no one