Ah yes, it's almost February. For our family, that means it's officially TAX TIME. Mike is an Accountant and, if he had it his way, he thinks everyone should begin their taxes on February 1st.
(I think I just heard a roar of laughter from across the nation...)
Bless his heart, right?
We recently got an Income Tax Organizer from Smead and Mike is actually giddy to get started on our taxes this week. Finally an organizational tool that makes HIS life easier!
It's a file folder with six divided pockets to organize tax paperwork for categories like deductions & credit items, charitable contributions, medical expenses, mortgage interest and more. Instead of tossing all of the tax-related receipts through the year in one file folder and separating everything out when we do our taxes in February (or for most of you...April), we can put the paperwork in the right section throughout the year, making tax time much easier for Mike! It was so cute watching him agonize over which labels to put on which file tabs. Welcome to my world of organizational bliss, honey!
We also got a monthly accordion file to sort receipts and other paperwork for each month. It can work instead of a file cabinet and can be taken on-the-go.
Why would I need this, you ask? Simple: I have an issue with paperwork. For one, I keep too many receipts. You wanna know why? Because everyone requires a receipt for everything anymore! I always think, "What if I need this for a return...?" or "What if it breaks or fades or shrinks or goes on sale in the next two weeks???" So I file it away and may or may not ever find it when I actually need it.
In the past, I've organized non-tax receipts by category (groceries, clothing, gifts given, household, etc) but some receipts belong in multiple categories (I blame Walmart and Target for this issue!) and I forget where things are filed when I need to return something. (I know what you're thinking: YES, I do return that many things. I'm a horrible impulse shopper and often find myself with too many wants vs. what we actually need.)
Now that we have this fun new monthly accordion file, I'm going to sort all of our non-tax receipts by month. In January 2012, all of the receipts for January 2011 will be shredded.
I spent about an hour this weekend pulling all of my old receipts, labeling them "2010" and sticking them in the December section. I'm starting with a clean slate this month/year with a new system for our paperwork and receipts. I'm ready to know what goes where and am hoping to be able to find the things I'm looking for in our office!
I'm excited that our paperwork will have an expiration date for purging purposes. We'll see if this new system helps me cross #22 ("Develop a workable system for paperwork in the office") off my list of 101 Goals in 1001 Days - ? Here's hoping!!!
(I think I just heard a roar of laughter from across the nation...)
Bless his heart, right?
We recently got an Income Tax Organizer from Smead and Mike is actually giddy to get started on our taxes this week. Finally an organizational tool that makes HIS life easier!
It's a file folder with six divided pockets to organize tax paperwork for categories like deductions & credit items, charitable contributions, medical expenses, mortgage interest and more. Instead of tossing all of the tax-related receipts through the year in one file folder and separating everything out when we do our taxes in February (or for most of you...April), we can put the paperwork in the right section throughout the year, making tax time much easier for Mike! It was so cute watching him agonize over which labels to put on which file tabs. Welcome to my world of organizational bliss, honey!
We also got a monthly accordion file to sort receipts and other paperwork for each month. It can work instead of a file cabinet and can be taken on-the-go.
Why would I need this, you ask? Simple: I have an issue with paperwork. For one, I keep too many receipts. You wanna know why? Because everyone requires a receipt for everything anymore! I always think, "What if I need this for a return...?" or "What if it breaks or fades or shrinks or goes on sale in the next two weeks???" So I file it away and may or may not ever find it when I actually need it.
In the past, I've organized non-tax receipts by category (groceries, clothing, gifts given, household, etc) but some receipts belong in multiple categories (I blame Walmart and Target for this issue!) and I forget where things are filed when I need to return something. (I know what you're thinking: YES, I do return that many things. I'm a horrible impulse shopper and often find myself with too many wants vs. what we actually need.)
Now that we have this fun new monthly accordion file, I'm going to sort all of our non-tax receipts by month. In January 2012, all of the receipts for January 2011 will be shredded.
I spent about an hour this weekend pulling all of my old receipts, labeling them "2010" and sticking them in the December section. I'm starting with a clean slate this month/year with a new system for our paperwork and receipts. I'm ready to know what goes where and am hoping to be able to find the things I'm looking for in our office!
I'm excited that our paperwork will have an expiration date for purging purposes. We'll see if this new system helps me cross #22 ("Develop a workable system for paperwork in the office") off my list of 101 Goals in 1001 Days - ? Here's hoping!!!
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6 comments:
We filed are takes days ago! But I still on of those tax folders!
I'm with you on the obsessive need to organize paperwork! But I inevitably can't be bothered to pull out the hole-punch thingy and binder every time I pay a bill and need to file it, so I end up using one of those accordian files and have labels for each kind of bill (electricity/gas, water, tv/internet/phone, credit card statement, etc) and make sure everything gets thrown in the right pile as I've paid it. Then it's not so much of a hassle to sit down for 20 minutes once a month and truly file everything away where it belongs and in date order.
How sad are we, though? I mean, really, on our deathbeds, will we be sitting there thinking 'Darn it! If ONLY I'd kept my electricity bills a little more organized, I'd be able to die happy and in peace. Now I'm going to have to come back and haunt all of you because I have unfinished business to attend!' ;-)
xoxoxoxoox
My taxes are pretty much done, just waiting on a few final papers to make sure my numbers match. Of course, since I do taxes for others every year, I agree with Mike. Feb. 1st everyone should start!
Have you heard of Neat Receipts? (Did I tell you about this already)? Its a mobile scanner (just over the width of piece of paper and about 2 inches big). It comes with its own software, and you can file all your receipts like that. And it even comes with auto labels in the program that let you decide where on your taxes it needs to be filed - and when tax time comes around you just print out a report (or generate a pdf and send it to your accountant, um, husband) and its all done for you!
You can also scan all your recipes (i.e. the magazine pages I keep tearing out saying I'm going to try) and anything else! I'm having so much fun and going more paperless by the day.
It won't help with the physical receipt needed to make a return, obviously, but it will help with all the other long-term filing. And the IRS now allows scanned receipts - so you no longer need to keep all the charitable donation, Goodwill, etc slips...
Check it out!
Just waiting on one form, and our taxes will be done. I'm not an accountant, but I am a computer nerd. :)
This may be a stupid question but what do you do with your "taxed" receipts? I heard of people saving them and deducting the sales tax. We don't do that. Should we? Does your husband have any other tax hints for us :) We always can't wait to file and usually file as soon as we have the paperwork. Can't wait for the return!
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