Preparing for taxes

Organizing your papers for tax time

“Being organized not only saves time, it can also save you money,” says a CPA in an article “Plan now to get a jump on tax time.” (he’s not the only one who says that, of course!) He reports that some taxpayers are still showing up with disorganized tax records, leaving it for him to sort out. This can be costly.

For those itemizing deductions, those receipts have value and should be added up to get you a better deduction. In my article, “Take the Pain Out of Organizing Your Taxes,” I wrote about being prepared for tax time and the value of organizing your tax papers early.

Some articles on the Internet that might help in organizing for taxes are:
http://www.organizetogether.com/taxes.html
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/itax/news/20001117a.asp
http://www.containerstore.com/browse/tips/organize_before_you_itemize.jhtml

Checklists to Get Organized

Manage Your Tasks

When there becomes more than one task to something you’re doing or researching, it becomes a project. Some projects only involve a few tasks, while others are more extensive and take many tasks to complete.

This is where a checklist can help you manage all the tasks relating to a project, or series of actions relating to a big task.

Getting organized is a project if it clutter needs to be removed. It involves preparations (like getting sorting boxes), purchasing items to store items in, setting the day to tackle an area, then sorting the items, getting them into their storage or display places, removing the things you’re not keeping, and finishing with a vacuum or dust sweep of the area not previously visible before.

If you’re planning to sell the items you’re not keeping, than another project is made — a garage or yard sale. This involves a different series of tasks, and another checklist should be made to ensure everything gets done for a smooth sale.

Click here for a good checklist for a garage or yard sale.

For a library of other useful checklists for the household to help you stay organized, click here.

Cyndi Seidler
Professional Organizer
www.organized-living.com

Order of Importances

Value of what’s important

One of the things people do when creating “a to-do list” is to prioritize their tasks. This is a good thing in that it helps a person focus on what’s most important. When the list is followed as written, a person can accomplish what they set out to accomplish.

On the other hand, the mental “to do” list is one that a person makes a mental note of and then tries to remember it. Even important actions can be forgotten, or loose importance, this way.

For instance, my daughter is moving out of state and I thought she had most of the important things taken care of. However, I come to find out, some of those important things have not been dealt with and are now surfacing as last minute emergencies.

In wondering why these were not dealt with, I find out that other activities were valued higher — like, final farewell socializing with friends over a period of 3 days. Although this is a “nice thing” for her, it doesn’t deal with the really important issues she’s faced with to make this move a smooth event.

So, I guess when it comes to the order of importances, we should look at what will problems will happen if something is not done within a certain time frame, who that affects, and if that is worth putting something else in higher priority.

I’m off to help my daughter handle some emergencies now … don’t ask!