The Organized Mother » taxes

Getting my (tax) act together

Organized Mom — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:15:49 +0000

I am so glad that tax season is over. I’m not an accountant or anything like that. It’s just this big, looming monster each year and I always dread it. I normally try to file in February. But this year, between work, family stuff, and total disorganization, I kept putting it off.

I had started out well. I use software to track my expenses, only I wasn’t updating it regularly. I did keep all of my receipts and even filed them by category. But that’s as far as I got.

It’s really hard for me to get things done. I work from home as a freelancer, more than 40 hours a week by the time it’s all said and done. Add a toddler and husband to the mix, household stuff, managing finances… it sometimes seems like too much. I struggle to keep the chaos somewhat under control.

Hey, but at least I do manage to keep our bills paid on time. It’s the small victories, right?

So I’m trying to do better for next year. I have a few things to file and enter into my financial software. If I can do it now, and keep up, the end of the year will be much easier. I do at least stay up on my filing once or twice a month. I’d be much farther behind if I didn’t do that.

I’ll talk more about what I’m doing, what categories I use, and what software works for me. Are you breathing a sigh of relief? Do you do your own taxes, or get it done for you?

(image: morgueFile)

Receipts – what to do with them

Organized Mom — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:16:58 +0000

If there’s something we all have to deal with, it’s receipts. We need them for our taxes, we request them from employees for reimbursement, we keep them in case we should have to return something to the store.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in receipts. And I want a solution.

Right now, I have an accordion file where I drop my receipts by category. It helps when it is time for taxes. But I also have a pile of receipts waiting to go into said file.

All I really want to do is get rid of all of the paper clutter. Additionally, some of those thermal paper receipts just don’t last. If I don’t immediately write down the amount and what it was for, it’ll fade so bad that it will be useless. So what can I do?

I’m thinking of getting one of those little receipt scanners. Something small, but fast so I don’t spend hours scanning and managing my files. I saw some at Fry’s yesterday and I was sorely tempted. But before I can do that, I need to do a little research. Is it cost-effective? Will it really help me reduce paper?

Maybe I can hire my college-age daughter to scan and catalog the receipts for me. (Delegating is another organizational skill that we’ll address later.) But I don’t know if it’s the way to go. Yet.

Do any of you scan your receipts? Does it help you? Is it worth it – for your needs?