Not Too Taxing.

Well, we now have less than 3 months to go until tax day on April 15th.  As a licensed CPA, this is a topic close to my heart (actually, it’s not at all, but considering the ridiculous amount of time I spent studying for that exam and working in public accounting, I feel like I should at least pretend I still have an interest in taxes and accounting…).  Whether you do your own taxes or have them done by a friend or professional, keeping your annual documents well-organized can help make the impending tax deadline a little less dreadful.  I have a few tips for keeping things in order.

Disclaimer: I may be an expert list maker, and the coolest CPA you know, but I do not file taxes for a living.  If you have a complicated tax return, or are unsure of any of the documents you have, you should consult a real live tax accountant!

This is the most important tip I have: start a ‘2011 Taxes’ folder.  Like, right now.  If this is the one tax-related thing you do this week, or even this month, you are probably way ahead of where you were this time last year, and will be right on track for an organized tax season.  If it will help to get you motivated, use a fun, colorful folder.  I like See Jane Work for fun office supplies, and they have a good selection of funky folders that would be perfect for this purpose.

Next, pull out a copy of your 2010 returns (Federal, State, etc.) and put them in the folder.  Your previous year’s returns are your best reference tool for your current year’s filing.  Look through the returns and note all the areas where you had supporting documents in the previous year (e.g., a Form W-2 from your employer, a Form 1099 from your bank or investment institution, a Form 1098 from your mortgage lender, etc.).  Remember that some organizations, like ING for example, do not automatically send you these forms – in these cases you will have to download and print them online.

Make a list of each of these forms (or statements, or receipts) and staple/tape this to the inside of the folder.  As each one of the forms comes in for 2011, check it off on the list and add it to the folder.  If any new documents come in for 2011 that seem tax-related, add them to the list and folder.  They may or may not be relevant, but it’s always better to include them in the mix just in case.  And of course, if you had any major life changes in 2011 (marriage, new children, etc.) be sure to note this somewhere on your list as it will require some changes to your current year’s return.

This system will help you to keep all of your 2011 tax documents in one safe place, and keep track of which documents you have, and which may require follow-up.  And although it probably won’t lower your tax obligation for the year, it should help to make filing a little less “taxing”.

Melicipes.

I just started reading my friend Melissa’s food and health blog, Melicipes, and came across this post about meal planning (if you recall, this is going to be a big part of my Game Plan this year for saving time during the week!).  I decided I had to share it for a few reasons:

A) It’s proof that I’m not the only crazy person out there who tries to do this each week.

B) It’s also proof that I’m not the only crazy person out there who does everything in Excel.  (Not only do I use Excel for more obvious things like tracking our finances, but I planned my entire wedding in Excel and even coordinated a girls weekend to New Hope in Excel with fancy drop down “yes”/”no” options for the weekends everyone was free.  Oh, and I conditionally formatted the document to turn a weekend green when everyone was free.  I love Excel.)

C) It really is a good way to plan ahead and save time and money!   And Melissa has made it really easy with her free template (click on the red link below to download).

I’m going to try it out over the next few weeks and I’ll be sure to post a copy for your reading (and maybe laughing) pleasure.

PS – I personally do not enjoy reading blogs that just promote other blogs and websites, so I promise to do this type of a post sparingly.  But this one really was a must-share!

Meal Planning Template

Season’s Partings.

We spent some time last weekend taking down all of our Christmas decorations.  While it’s certainly sad to lose all that cheerful décor, it’s really nice to get some space back in our living room.  Especially since I refuse to let B put my enormous jogging stroller anywhere else.  He clearly doesn’t get its motivational presence.

Living in a small Philadelphia row home that is over 150 years old, we have basically no storage.  The only closets we have are in bedrooms, and those were only created in the ’80’s when the house was re-habbed.  We do, however, have a fairly large attic and we fully leverage this space to store things like sporting equipment, luggage, off-season clothing, and infrequently used kitchen appliances (ice cream maker, anyone?).  I store most stuff in clear plastic storage bins or in a box with a large white label so I can easily find what I’m looking for.  Our 3+ boxes of holiday decorations and wrapping supplies are no exception.  I try to keep my holiday stuff as organized as possible, because you really only pull it out once a year which makes it too easy to forget what you have, where you put it, how you used it last year, etc.

For tree decorations, I highly recommend using boxes made specifically for storing ornaments; they really are the best at keeping delicate ornaments from breaking.  I also save tissue paper from gifts each year, cut it into quarters, and use it to individually wrap ornaments before putting them in the box.  Any extra tissue can be used as padding for smaller ornaments.  The boxes we use have cardboard dividers that can easily be removed and folded flat so you can store other things in there as well.

I’m also a big fan of our Christmas light organizer, pictured above.  Yes, it stores your lights nicely and neatly, but the main reason I’m into it is that it makes it so much easier to string your lights up in the following year.  Planning in advance for anything is my forte, so this fits right in!  You don’t have to worry about crumpled up wires or knots to undo; all you do is unwind the lights and string them around the tree.  And even B, who has a fairly low tolerance for most of my neat-nick antics (except, evidently, when it comes to keeping jogging strollers in the middle of the house), loves this organizer.  He’s actually the one who told me to blog about it because he thinks it’s so handy.

The last holiday tip I have is to think about how you are storing things, and what you can do now to make decorating easier next year.  Are there certain things you like to display together, or earlier in the season?  For example, I have faux pine needles, pine cones, holly berries, and mini presents that I display on my mantel every year.  I make sure to store these things together at the top of a box where they are easily accessible, because I usually decorate the mantel before we’ve gotten our tree, or at least before it’s ready for its trimmings.  Holiday season is busy enough; you will be happy early next December if you did some of this planning now.  After all, at the time of this post, there are only 347 days, 3 hours, 49 minutes, and 47 seconds until Christmas 2012!

Game Plan.

 

 

I am a creature of habit; until I get the hang of something and it becomes routine I feel completely out of sorts and it totally stresses me out.  And usually it’s about trivial things, but this whole working mom thing is the big leagues.  Wow it’s tough.  I survived last week, but barely.  I also only had a 3-day work week.  And I’m not sure I would have made it any longer than that! It’s amazing how little time you actually have before/after work with a 3-month old.  Every minute needs to be spent wisely, each task calculated to be as efficient as possible.  If I’m going to succeed at all I’m going to have to push my already top notch organizational skills to a whole new level.  Forget the endless lists and preparing that B loves to tease me about (well, really complain is a better word).  That stuff is for amateurs.  For surviving this type of challenge I need to sharpen even the best tools in my arsenal.  It’ll almost be like a new sport: extreme list-making & uber-planning.

Here is how I plan to tackle each work week to keep things as stress-free as possible.  I was already doing a few of these things in my previous “civilized” life, but I’m hoping to step up my game.  I’m sure working mom readers are laughing at me for even trying to alleviate stress, but I am going to attempt it.  Please feel free to poke holes in my game plan – I’m very open to criticism.  Or, if I’ve inspired you to try along with me, I’d love to hear about that as well.  And PS, these tips are really not restricted to any sort of lifestyle, I’m just being overly dramatic about going back to work so I designed them for that purpose…

1. Meal Planning.  At some point over the weekend, figure out meals for the week.  Go to the store for things we need and prepare as much of the meals as I can ahead of time.  I know this sounds totally sucky, who wants to be at the store on Saturday morning when you could be watching Kitchen Crashers and E! THS?  But trust me it’s totally worth it.  I try to do it most weekends, but obviously life gets in the way and we miss a week here or there.  On those weeks I try to do a very quick and small produce and dairy shop as early into the week as I can and we supplement with some healthy things we try to keep in our freezer.  And there’s always pizza.  Our credit card company has an online feature that allows you to sort your annual statement by merchant – I added up all the charges at pizza places and I’m way too embarrassed to reveal to you how much we spent on pizza in 2011.  Let’s just leave it at “a lot”.  But hopefully I can plan better this year and bring that figure down a little…

2. Pack lunches and/or snacks for the next day.  Actually, this one is arguably not much of a time saver since you’re now spending evening hours preparing food, which is tough when A’s witching hour hits from 7:30-8:30.  But I will at least grab breakfast items and a few healthy snacks for the next day so all I have to do is pick up a salad or a sandwich at some point during the work day.  At least it’ll save me a little bit of time and money.

3. Pack all bags for work the night before. Especially important if attempting to work out before/during/after work.  Ha, that’s a good one.  I don’t think I’ll ever have time for that again, but I’m ever hopeful so I’ll leave it in here.  Also leave shoes, phone, SEPTA pass, and keys in one central spot, and make sure they are somewhere visible on first floor near bags.  Since it’s winter, place jacket and scarf/hat/gloves nearby.

4. Plan outfits for the week.  On Sunday nights, check weather for the week and figure out what to wear on each day.  Also consider meetings or other engagements that may require special attire.  Each night, take outfit out of closet for the next day, including all undergarments and accessories.  It’s amazing how much quicker you can get ready to go somewhere if you have your clothes laid out in advance.  You don’t even have to think, just put the clothes on and go.  And if I’ve tried everything on over the weekend, I don’t need to spend those 5-10 minutes in front of the mirror in a bad outfit trying to convince myself it doesn’t make me still look 4 months pregnant, only to rip it off, freak out, and start over.  It’s really a huge time saver.

5. Prep for A’s Day.  We are fortunate enough to have A’s wonderful Grandma’s watching her during the week while we’re at work.  One of the MANY perks about this is that we don’t need to have her fed, dressed, and ready to go anywhere in the mornings.  Thank god.  Just getting myself ready these days puts me at stress level midnight.  But there are still some things to get ready for her and my plan is to make sure I have everything complete and organized the night before, eliminating any morning chaos and confusion.

Since I’ve only been doing this a whopping 2 weeks (which weren’t even full weeks) I’m sure this will be a work in progress.  But for now, this is my game plan and I’m sticking to it!

The Thrill of It All: Co-Worker Kitchens.

I am so excited to be inspiring some of my friends and readers to be more organized.  Check out the recent comment by the elusive “An Elf” on this post.  By the way, Elf, I’m 99% sure I know who you are…but keep leaving clues in your comments, I do enjoy a good riddle.

Another case in point: this morning had potential to be a totally crappy Monday.  I haven’t settled into a good groove yet with this whole working mom thing, which is tiring and stressful (more to come on that later this week though), and I was wondering how I was going to get through the day, let alone the rest of the week.  But my friend and co-worker LBR cheered me right up when she said Keep It Neat inspired her (and her husband) to do a kitchen pantry clean-up and reorganization project over the weekend.  They even went to The Container Store to get fun new storage containers.  I got so excited just thinking about them purging old stuff and organizing the rest into nice neat rows, and I don’t even have a clue what her kitchen looks like!  It made my cranky morning much more tolerable.  And the fun didn’t stop there.  Later in the day LBR told me that her husband called, and I quote her from intercompany IM, “he said he was feeling a little stressed at work, but when he thought of our newly arranged cabinet, he felt a lot better.”  And that’s coming from a dude.  Love it.