January is filled with a LOT of chores that I really don't like!
I just HATE to take down the Christmas tree. I'll stall most of the year repacking the Christmas decorations, and have to dust them off before they can be put up again. It takes me so long to get all of the Holiday things in place that it seems a shame to have to pack them all up right away. I'm keeping one scrawny, fake Sitka spruce up for the entire year, so that I can show off the ornaments that my quilting bee has given me. That takes some of the sting out of facing the new year.
Today I spent several hours sorting papers. I have a large plastic bin under the knee hole of my office desk, and all my paid bills, and cards, and items that don't seem to have any other place accumulate there during the year. I sorted through all those papers and began to pull them into stacks that made sense
I have all our paychecks, deposit slips and checks in one group. In another I have receipts for prescription drugs, to back up what should be on my computer. There's a stack of invoices or receipts that will be used for taxes. I have a stack of things pertaining to gifts given last Christmas. And the largest stack of all holds paid bills. There's also a smaller stack of things I wish to punch and file in our personal information book.
So, this is the start of gathering information for tax season. I don't usually have this part started so soon, but in the back of my mind is the thought that it might be nice to have the data pulled together BEFORE we go off to Florida for a week. Then, I should be able to sit near the water, read my book and just be a lounge lizard!
We use Quicken to organize our checking. Luckily, the categories make it easy to pull data together for taxes. Our CPA sends a planner to guide my data gathering, so I'm less likely to overlook something we need for taxes. Unfortunately, Elegante Mother has not let me put her checkbook on the computer, so I'm searching her registers for information for her taxes, too.
I need to schedule time to quilt. I find that if I don't claim a chunk of time and tell everyone that's what I'm doing, that my time gets eaten up with household chores, or things for the others that could have been done some other time.
Chores.......I don't even like the word,, now! I want to be CHORE-FREE! What about you?