TRYING TO FIT THINGS INTO SMALL SPACES OR LITTLE TIME

 Have you ever had to fit more in a space than fits?  Yes, I know – that is what is organizer is about, not having to do this, but sometimes…

Back in the normal times before Covid husband and I would go to the movies just about every week.  There was (is?) an independent theater in a nearby community that we would go to. While it had become a multiscreen theater it had not changed over to the terrible lounge seats – still had old style movie theater seats (same type as in school auditoriums, Broadway theaters, etc) and having once sat in lounge seats at movie theater, we vowed never to do so again.  It is currently still “temporarily closed”.  We went to “late showings” - which at this theater means the movie starts 9:30 to 10:30 pm, as opposed to when we used to go to midnight movies in the old days.  While it has some theaters which are rather small, it does have just about full size theaters.   And it was reasonably priced (even for so for seniors) and had a very nice staff.

This is something we have missed – last time we went to a movie was in late February/early March 2020.  We have instead been having our movie night at home watching movies on TV – which is not the same, not only due to small screen, but missing in the atmosphere of a movie theater.  

Husband has recently got into his head to buy a large screen TV for our living room.  I was shocked.  Husband spent a good deal of time decorating our living room in – more or less – colonial style – which is why I was shocked that he would put a big screen TV in it.  (The TV which is in there – not digital – is in a period looking piece of furniture to hide it.  It does not have a cable hookup as we tend to only watch TV in the living room while putting up and taking down our Christmas tree  - when we watch specific Christmas DVDs and New Year's Eve – when, most years we watch “the ball drop” in NYC through Roku – though one year we watched Animal Crossing's New Year Party instead – I actually liked that better. )  

Between this and the price, the idea of a big screen TV in our living room to watch Saturday night movies shocked me.  This discussion has been going on for about a month or so.  He has decided that the theater we used to go to will never reopen and we are too uncomfortable in the lounger seats in other theaters.  (Though we have found one other theater with “real theater seats”, but it is not near us.)

He has been going back and forth with ideas on what to do – then deciding they are no good, then a new idea and then back again.  Just when I thought he had given up – it is becoming reality.  He has bought one for his birthday which is coming up in a while.  

In doing this we had to figure out a lot of things.  His first idea was to have the TV hung on the wall.  Only wall possible was where the TV set furniture is now.  BUT – that is too close to the heat, would have to be hung off center on the wall, and he found out that one has to help the installer hang the TV – if we could do that, we would not need the installer.  

His second idea was to stand it on something.  An obvious choice to me was a large wooden chest he built – it looks like a hope chest – top lifts, lock on front – but on this one, the key in front is the handle to pull down the front and drawers come out with DVDs in it – so the top is stationary and can have (and does have) things put on it.  That is too low for what he wants – he want to “look up at the TV like one looks up at the movie screen in a theater”.  He went looking for a stand to put the TV on – either one that stands on the floor or one that stands on a piece of furniture.  

He found a stand that he liked how it held the TV at a chain computer store's website.  Problem is that the dimensions are obviously wrong – how could something 4 inches tall hold a TV which is so much longer than that?  We drove to the local location of the store – none on display.  We asked a manager about the dimensions – he went to his computer and looked it up – on their website and read the numbers off to husband.  Husband, a bit impatient, pointed out that he had read the same on his computer and how could the stand be 4 inches tall?  Manager agreed that had to be wrong (both he and husband decided it had to be the shipping box dimensions) – but when husband if the boxes “in the back” could be checked for the dimensions – he was told no, “It is a brown box with no writing on it” - then how do they know which item is in the box.  We left.  

He started thinking again – the TV comes with feet, if we got the smaller size than he was looking at (65 inch instead of 70) and we could figure out what to put over the chest of DVDs to make it longer for the feet – it should work.  

We looked at an assortment of ideas of what we could put the TV on.  (In this entire process since it started we have, in our minds, rearranged the furniture in the living room end wall to end wall, side wall to side wall, end wall to side wall and so on.)  

He finally had an  idea and in his words “went back to works” - Ikea.  We bought today a table from Ikea.  It should fit over and around the chest of DVDs – box stays in place and is usable.  Table is extremely modern in design, of course – but if it makes him happy…

We then drove to Costco to buy the TV and have it delivered – believe me, he has done extensive research on where to buy the TV, warranties, service contracts, setup etc.  Problem is that one cannot buy it at the store and have it delivered – it can only be delivered if it is bought online – we hate to order things and have them delivered, but that is what we had to do – after wasting about an hour and a half driving there and home – even worse these days – the gasoline that was used for the drive there and back!  He has ordered the TV.  The table will sit in our van until early next week when we bring it in and assemble it.  

In addition to this mess we had a “discussion” with our cable company over a 20% increase in price (which they lowered for us), the cold water started dripping in our downstairs bathroom sink – after an hour and a half on hold – they could not help us as they no record of our faucet model and were the Canadian office of the company (reached through the US 800 number) and transferred me to their US office – I hung up as I did not have another hour to wait.  And it is tax season and getting closer to when I have to finish returns for clients – and us.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK – Doing anything today has become hard to do – nothing seems to be easy to do any longer and not just do to Covid and limitations arising from it.  Who ever thought buying a TV would take weeks – maybe even months – of planning, needing to change the plan several times including buying the TV?

TAX TIME IS HERE

 Well here it is again – tax season!  I am sure I have must have mentioned this, but just in case I haven't – I am an accountant.  Not a big fancy one such as you see in movies or on TV, but a small practice practice one.  To give you an idea of what I mean – a friend of mine was marrying a CPA – he said he worked for a small firm – the sort of companies which only have a bookkeeper to deal with keeping track of expenses, deposits, etc (keeping the books as it is called).  He thought he was working with clients like mine as his clients did not have full bookkeeping department.  I laughed and explained that to me that was a large company – if my clients had a bookkeeper  a set of books beyond their checkbooks I considered them a big company!

Over the last couple of decades my practice has shrunk – I am down to one business client (plus my husband and my craft business – which I do the accounting as the owner) and 4 tax clients - one of whom is a dear friend and I have to annoy her again as she has not filed a return in 3 years and will be losing her refund on the oldest return if she does not file that return by April 15 this year.  It is enough work for me to still be able to say that I am accountant and these clients, with the exception of my friend, have been with my father or my prior boss for decades and decades.  In one case I do a tax return for the daughter of one of my dad's old business clients – first work I did in accounting when I was 12 was adding up the payroll of her father for my father.  So the annual contacts between the clients and myself is a good deal of catching up the year that passed on a personal level.  Oh, one client died last year.  His son/executor said that I would still be doing his return this year – but I have not heard from him and am guessing that his accountant will be doing his dad's final returns.  That cuts down the number of clients I have by one.

I have finished one return so far this year and I am good way along with a second return.  Still waiting to get the info for the third return – and of course my friend needs a bit of pushing (why should she lose out on her refund).  Somehow with the pandemic – even with keeping me in the house most of the time – it is harder to do the returns these years.  I have also done the business client's return – it was due by March 15 not April 15 – and started on our business return.

What does this have to do with organizing?  I have to fit all of this into my schedule in addition to everything normal I do.  I have to get the returns done on time – which means early enough for me to mail the returns to clients and allow them time to review the returns and mail them out in a timely manner.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
DON'T wait until the last minute!  Get your taxes prepared early – you can always hold until the last minute to mail out.  (If you need to – find out which Post Offices near you will be open late on April 18 and will postmarking the late mail  - yes, this year one has until the 18th to file their taxes. When I had a lot of clients, inevitably, several would need to file extensions and my husband would drive me late on April 15 to that post office and sit outside in the car as there would not be any parking available due to people filing their taxes at the last minute – my dad always said that at the main Post Office in Brooklyn employees would be outside with sacks for people to drop their taxes into, so they did have keep the actual office open late.)

When going late on April 15 to mail out I have seen any number of people standing in the Post Office filling out their taxes forms leaning on the walls as they are that late – don't let that be you!

USING YOUR CELL PHONE CALENDAR TO GET AND STAY ORGANIZED - IN THE HOUSE AND FOR SHOPPING TRIPS

 We are expecting another large snowstorm this coming weekend.  I have been checking to make sure we will have the food we will need if it does snow.  In the interim we will get one or two days with heavy rain – and husband does not like to drive in same these days, so we will need to make a food run tomorrow I guess.  

In the interim I pulled 4 slices of white bread and 2 of rye from the freezer.  This would allow us to have sandwiches as they will be defrosted when we need them.  Husband HATES frozen bread.  I don't like it, but deal with it better than he does.  

Due to my switch in cell phones (and, yes, I still hate the new one – it will have to do something to redeem itself to change my mind) I am not even sure which app I am suppose to be using for my shopping list as I now have 3 different memo apps!  In years past (before the pandemic) I would keep my shopping list in my various (over the years) cell phone.  One never forgets it that way and if suddenly while out it is decided to food shop – there it is!  During the most of the pandemic I did not want to have to take my phone out in public, so  I had a small piece of paper on the fridge and wrote down what we needed to buy.  More recently I have gone back to having my list in my phone – I also add non-food items from around the house this way as the phone generally travels around the house with me.  (Not that I get a lot of phone calls or texts, but husband likes me to have it with me in case I fall “and can't get up”.  No, he would not hear me screaming, but that is another story all together.)  Hopefully I will remember which app I used – yes, I am starting to get that old.  

We bought a set of new sheets and pillowcases.  We had 2 sets of white and one of light beige as we bought same when had bedbugs – easy to see the bugs on the bedding if it is of a light color.  Unfortunately over the ensuing 10 plus years it has also been easier to see the stains on them.  We bought tan sheets – light enough to see bedbugs on it but dark enough to hide the stains – and no, after we got the bedbugs that time we have not had any sense – but whether that means we can relax or if it means our hard work at avoiding them has worked we don't know.  Then again, my leading culprit for where they came from is a tax client of mine and he moved out of state and is no longer a client.  Husband helped me changing the bedding.  I hate changing bedding more than other job.  Being short I also have short arms and I have figured out that is why I hate changing bedding – my arms are too short to deal with queen sized sheets and blankets easily.  Husband helped this time (either the first or second time in 40+ years of marriage – he may have helped when I made the bed made up before we got married for when we returned home.  (Good thing it was – we got home in the wee hours of the morning and would have ended up sleeping on an unmade bed.)  It made it a bit easier.  I guess I will ask him to help from now on.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
How do you use your electronic devices to help you organize?  In addition to my shopping list in my cell phone I have reminders for chores which need to be done – including weekly reminders to take out garbage, do the laundry – even run backups on my computers.  The phone calendar you always have with you (you know you do) should be used to help you get and stay organized – use its alarms to remind you.