The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

Next year we'll do things differently

Every year we swear next year we'll do things differently.

Every year we curse ourselves for not having done things differently after all.

Every year most of January is written off because we didn't do things differently.

If we just gathered up our receipts at the end of each week and put them into a plastic bag, it would take us 2 minutes

If at the end of each month we matched the receipts to the bank statement and entered them into the spreadsheet, it would take 15 minutes.

If we dealt with it when the credit card statement came through covering the last part of the tax year, we could file our tax return in the middle of May and it would take 20 minutes.

But because we do none of these things the resultant hunting, stressing, finding, stressing, sorting, stressing, inputting, stressing, matching, stressing, tallying, stressing, double-checking, stressing, and submitting takes up way too much time and, if you hadn't guessed, it more than a little stressful.

The tax return has now been submitted.

Of course, next year we'll do things differently.


9 comments

savannah said...

I thought of you and your tax "issues" when I set up my organized system last year! Of course, in theory, I am ahead of the game...

xoxoxoxox

maurcheen said...

Funny, that's one of the things I promised myself this year! I used to meet my accountant every four months to sort and pay VAT which meant I rounded up my stuff a few times a year. But since 31st December we no longer pay VAT (YAY!!!!! 23% of all our earnings!!!) so I only have to meet the accountant once a year. Which means I can't get lazy and leave everything 'til the last moment. :¬)

Geoff Forrest said...

But there is something comforting about consistency?
Still haven't done mine yet.

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Hooooray.

I have company.

hee hee.

And it's not even tax things alone!

Anonymous said...

Should be comforting to know it's over...for now. It's time for that to begin here.

injaynesworld said...

LOL!!! Think of it this way. You got a funny-as-hell blog post out of it. And we can all relate. Honestly, I hate those organize bastards who lord their damn efficiency over the rest of us. :)

Jonathan Chant said...

Sound advice. Kim, if you could email me a mailing address, I'd like to send a chapbook to you.

Eryl said...

It sounds horrible, and I'm glad you've got it all behind you for another year. Do you now have all January receipts in a file?

Kim Ayres said...

Savannah - I'm deeply envious. Hope it all works when you come to use it :)

Maurcheen - a once a year meeting guarantees leaving it all to the last moment... ;)

Geoff - leaving it a bit late?

Guyana-Gyal - I know - the underlying problem affects many different aspects of life. The difference is the power the govt has over us. I wrote more about how that affects us each January a few years back - The Innoncent Have Nothing to Fear

Allen - there's always a sense of relief, but never completely as the fear lingers in case they decide to to believe your submission...

Jayne - knowing I'll able to write a blog post about a dire situation has sometimes been all that's saved my sanity. One example is And I'm Not Looking Forward to the Journey Home - if I hadn't been scribbling a running commentary into the back of my Sudoku book the entire time, I would have ended up in a psychiatric ward...

Jonathan - sounds intriguing - I'll figure out how to get it to you soon :)

Eryl - only January's from last year...

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