If you’re going to be itemizing when it comes time to do your taxes, you’ll want to make sure you claim every possible thing you legitimately can from the expansive list of tax deductibles.

While some deductions are obvious (qualified medical expenses and charitable contributions come to mind), others are a little more “out there”.  Consider a few of these deductions people can take–if they can document them and if they have any idea they even exist.

Travel laundry service.  Seriously.  If you’re traveling on business and you need to have your clothes laundered, save the receipt (and keep a currency converter handy).  That dry cleaning bill you rang up in Russia after the unfortunate borscht spill is deductible.  If your white blouse ran into some BBQ sauce in Memphis and you let the hotel cleaners take care of it, you can write it off.  The government is willing to cut a break for your sloppy co-worker who can’t avoid the whole mustard-on-the-tie problem at conferences.

Job-hunting food. If you were out looking for a job and decided that you’d do better interviewing on a full stomach, you should’ve saved the receipt.  You can claim 50% of dining expenses directly related to your job search.  Moral to the story?  You may just be able to afford to super-size that value combo if you’re on a job hunt.

Larger breasts. It’s possible to deduct breast augmentation surgery expenses–even when they’re not anywhere close to being a medically necessary procedure.  Wait–you shouldn’t necessarily book a date with the plastic surgeon for you or a loved one.  The torso receiving the boost needs to belong to an exotic dancer.  Under those circumstances, the enlargement becomes a valid business expense.

Cat food. Don’t get excited.  You’re probably not going to be able to put Snowball’s meal tab on your list of tax deductibles.  It can happen, though.  The IRS gave the green light to this write off when a scrap yard owner claimed that cats were the only way to keep the joint free of dangerous snakes.  He needed to keep cat food on hand to attract an army of snake killers.  Snake-eating cats are a legitimate business expense in some areas.

Clarinet lessons. The late, great Artie Shaw would undoubtedly approve of this one.  At least one family was able to convince the IRS to allow them a deduction for their kid’s clarinet lessons.  No, the IRS agent wasn’t a music lover.  The deduction went through because the clarinet lessons were shown to be a medical expense.  Apparently, this particular woodwind can help alleviate an overbite.

There you have it, a list of five tax deductibles that you probably won’t hear while H&R Block helps you complete your returns.

Interestingly, I learned that there is an urban myths of sorts surrounding a certain tax deduction.  There are many people out there who think they can get a deduction for donating blood.  People ask about this regularly and some off-handedly mention it as if it’s on the first page of the Tax Code.  It isn’t.  Nor is it on page 14 or page 943.  It’s not in there.  Not only is it absent, the IRS is actually up-front about saying you can’t do it.

Whether you like it or not, giving blood won’t improve the bottom line number on your 1040.  The expenses of whaling captains involved in sanctioned whaling activities, however…  Well, that’s a different story.

There are literally hundreds of valid tax deductions hidden throughout the Code.  You probably won’t be able to use many of these, but you and your accountant should check carefully for every break to which you’re actually entitled, even if you’re not a whaling captain with cats on a boat riddled with snakes.