To Tax or Not to Tax

This was the day, February 23, 2012, a day that I had been dreading, worrying about, pondering endlessly on techniques to be as ready as I could be, a day that some look forward to and others cringe and want to just hide away. What day am I talking about? Why tax preparation day. Now, I don't mind it, as we usually get a little something in return, however getting our documents together, that is where I fail considerably. I put things in places that I think my brain will remember but then forgets ten minutes after have filed it in my no-fail filing system. Yes I am being sarcastic once again. For my husband and me, itemizing is our best route as we pay a lot of out of pocket expenses when it comes to medical and dental. Yet with itemizing, comes the task of maintain all documentation for the accounts. If I can get the receipts and medical paperwork into the same room, than I am on a roll. I've tried binders, pretty multi-colored folders, pocket files, large file cabinets and small portable files boxes. I just can't seem to get into a routine/system of placing things where they are supposed to go.

Now in 2010, I actually was on task and on target. Documents were put where they belonged. So what is the problem this year? Well I'll tell you. My family likes to play room hopscotch. The room, in which my office is in at this very moment, is in the front of our home and was the original office when we first moved here in back in 1992. It worked perfectly; there was only a desk and a book shelf. In 1997 when I was due with my second son, the office was moved to a desk down in our family room which remained there for about 11 years. About three years ago my older son wanted a large room, so we make him a room downstairs and wha la, old office/bedroom was free again and I moved it back upstairs, but not for long. My mother came to live with us in the fall of 2009, so my office was moved back downstairs and file boxes had to be stacked next to it. Does anyone know what happens when you stack more than three boxes high if they are to be entered daily? Well for me, I got lazy and just started dropped the papers on my desk or on the book shelf, rather than take the time to file them where they needed to go. 

So this only strengthens my quest to get myself on a completely organized schedule. It always seems to be the same song and dance year after year, with the exception of 2010 – dig through the boxes and papers to be sure I have all my documents and W-2’s to get my taxes filed before April 15^th. Well I got it done with 22 days to spare…phew! Another project completed and will add this to my list of accomplishments, however I won’t feel that this is fully accomplished until I am organized so that if you asked me to located a document, I’ll know right where to go to find what I’m looking for and I won’t need a pair of search dogs to sniff it out. Wow, glad I got rid of the mystery stench that would have certainly thrown them off the document search trail.