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'Ask
The Organizer'
How to Relieve Tax
Time Stress
By Regina Leeds, The Zen
Organizer
Nothing I have to share is going
to make your date with Uncle Sam
on April 15th pleasurable. There
is something about preparing for
one’s taxes that is the
emotional equivalent of being
called to the principal’s office
when you are in grammar school.
(I presume you let a pro do the
actual return.)
Let’s take some of the sting out
of the process. If you have all
of your receipts and papers
organized, the process is
reduced to a few hours of
mechanical arithmetic. Let’s
get started with these easy to
follow steps. You will find
detailed instructions in all of
my 'One Year to…' books.
Space & Time
Be sure you set aside a few
hours for tax-time work. If you
work in fits and starts it’s not
only going to take longer,
you’ll probably make a mess in
several spots around your home.
Clear the area you have chosen
as your designated work zone.
You won’t be able to concentrate
on your paperwork if the area
looks like Katrina just blew
through. A good way to tackle
this is to set the timer for 15
or 20 minutes. I like to say
you want to move as if your hair
were on fire. That is the image
you need to make your ‘Speed
Elimination’ a success! What are
you looking for?
Here are a few of the
usual suspects:
invitations to events that
have passed
magazines, newsletters and
periodicals older than two
months
newspapers older than two
days
expired coupons
receipts for miscellaneous
items you can’t deduct on
your taxes
department store sales that
have passed
duplicate catalogues
Now is not the time to find an
old love letter and drink in the
romance. Set it aside. It was
lost in the debris. It can wait
a few hours to find a place of
honor.
Cemetery or Power Source I’m
thinking about your file cabinet. This is where you want to store your
business files after they are created. What most people have is a
cemetery in their cabinet drawers: a monument to past interests,
accomplishments and projects. Take some time to clear this out. Your
best friends will be a shredder and some sturdy garbage bags.
Create
a separate area for material you need to hold onto but not deal with on
a regular basis. A prime candidate is ‘tax back up’ material. Save
your return forever but hold onto the back up papers for 3 years if you
are a private citizen and 7 if you file as a corporation. Caveat: those
are the Federal guidelines.
Each
state has its own time requirements. The state of California, for
example, requires you to hold onto this material for 4 years. Check
with your tax preparer, tax attorney or CPA to be sure you are doing
what they suggest.
Tools
make the man … or woman. You want to work with office tools that make
you more powerful.
Here are the basic items I get for all of my clients:
manila folders (I save colors for projects)
long tabs
hanging file folders
one
box of ‘box bottom hanging file folders’ in the two inch wide size
a
label maker
There
are famous organizers who say you should file every file folder
alphabetically. I say cluster related items into categories. You will
save space. That’s what box bottom hanging folders allow you to do.
Here’s
a practical example. Let’s say you have a large family and everyone
drives a car. If you have a folder for each vehicle, they will be
scattered throughout your system. If you create a category called
‘Automobiles,’ you will have all the cars in one area … in alphabetical
order of course!
It might look like this:
Automobiles (your tab name)
BMW
Camry
Humvee
Mercedes
Saturn
Now all of the paperwork (repairs, purchase,
insurance etc.) for each vehicle is in one folder
and all vehicles are in one area of the file
cabinet. If you have a lot of material you can use
more than one box bottom. Just don’t go wider than
two inches: the material will be too heavy and the
folder will tear. We’re trying to save time not
make more work down the line!
The
Bottom Line
If the world of organization has been an area of
challenge for you, consider this: getting organized
is just a skill. If you wanted to play a musical
instrument like the piano, master a sport like
tennis or learn how to dance, what would you do?
You’d read some good books, find a qualified
teacher, practice and hope to reach your individual
potential. Getting organized requires the same
steps. It isn’t solely for those who seem to have
been born with a natural proclivity for order.
Learning a new skill is one of the best ways to keep
our brains active and stay youthful.
There’s no time like the present to begin the
journey. And "One Year to an Organized Work Life,”
“One Year to an Organized Life” or “One Year to an
Organized Financial Life” will help you create a
file system that will make you powerful at home and
certainly more valuable at your place of employment.
Big Blend Radio
- Regina Leeds and Russell Wild were featured guests
on The Success Express business radio show on March
3, 2010. To meet the rest of the guests and listen
to the entire show, please
click
here. To listen to the interview with Regina and
Russell, please double click the Play Button below.
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'Ask
The Organizer'
