Tax Season

I met with my CPA this morning. Ahhh....it's that time of year.

For any of you reading this that have ever stepped foot in my office, you might already realize that I am not the most organized person on Earth. (Big understatement, you may be thinking!) So today I went into my CPA very proud of myself. I had a 7-pocket folder. Each folder had it's own little section (SendOutCards, Real Estate, tax forms, receipts, personal expenses, etc). I figured I had all my bases covered.

Hey, for an unorganized person, I was doing good! But she gave me some great tips to stay organized for next year. As simple as an excel spreadsheet, and what columns I want to track. She suggested I have separate spreadsheets for my SendOutCards business and for my real estate business. She even gave me an assignment to fill the spreadsheet out every month. For me, this simple advice is exactly the thing I needed.

I have Quicken, I have Microsoft Money, I have other assorted organizational software just hanging out on my computer waiting for the proverbial rainy day when I will decide to devote some time to learning how to use them. The problem is, every time I open them up, I am overwhelmed. And time is a precious commodity. I can't waste it on something like this. So my paperwork just piles up waiting for me to figure out how to organize it.

So my hero of the day is my accountant!

Until Next Time,

Jacki