Well another week in the house in the house due to COVID 19. Other than walking out our side door (through a small porch) 3 days a week to take in the mail from the box at our front door, we have not been out of the house in an evening short of 2 weeks. Not as bad as one would think, I have been catching up work and in email contact with some friends from college as we check on each and say happy birthday/ happy anniversary as we have had several of same among us these past few weeks. Also found that a friend with cancer has successfully completed her treatment. A friend had COVID 19, luckily a mild case, and is recuperating. My sister told me that a family of our (adult) cousins also has same – but are doing well. So – knock on wood – we are doing okay.
Husband has become terrified of going to the Post Office to mail out items – work I have done and has to go to clients, paid bills, etc. - as the community where the Post Office is located has one of the higher COVID 19 counts in the county - even though I would only be only throwing it in the mail collection box in front of it. I telephoned our local Post Office (I think I have explained that the Post Office which serves our home is considerably further away than 2 others – one of which is where we have our box) and asked and, yes, one can still leave mail in one's home mail box for the postal delivery person to pickup when they deliver your mail. So, our bill payments are sitting in the clip on the small door through which our mail is delivered for it to be (hopefully) picked up tomorrow. The clip is there for this purpose and we have the flag up on the box. Unfortunately this only works with regular #10 envelope sized mail with our box. We have two items that are in 6 inch by 9 inch envelopes which do not fit in the clip, so at some point we will have to go to at least a mail box to mail them. They are not bills and not as urgent, so we are okay with waiting to send them out. The funny thing is that I used these two envelopes for these items as I was afraid that they would be too thick in a regular envelope to fit in the new thin deposit slits in the mail boxes.
Tonight my husband went downstairs for something. He noticed a plastic box on the shelves in the basement with food cans in it – our old emergency food supplies. He said he hoped I had not let the food go past date. I went downstairs afterward to look – I knew it all had to be past date as I had not bought new drinking water since I stopped cooking for our reenctment unit. (I had to buy bottle water for them also, so I would rotate ours into what I used for them and put the new water bought for them, in as our supply just to keep ours from getting old which I why I say this.)
I managed to get the box off the shelf and out – it was heavy and I was afraid of dropping of it, but did not. I put it on a table in the basement and opened it. Apparently it has been over 15 years since we bought emergency food supplies and stored it – a couple of years old and I would be using them – but 15 years?!. Perfectly good looking cans – but much too old to even think of eating – what a waste. If you have similar emergency food supplies be sure to check them and rotate them before they are too old to eat.
I know a lot of you are going through a lot right now. How are YOU handling all everything to keep your home and family running? Any suggestions or tips for the rest of us?
THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK -
I want to wish you a Happy Easter and/or a Happy Passover – the holidays might be very different than usual this year – but they are still are special. In future years these holidays will be looked back on and remembered for how you and yours managed to get through it. For some they might not be happy memories, perhaps even tragic, for others the memories will be better – even funny. All of the memories though will remind us of what can we can do when we need to and that we can survive.
My best wishes for all of you and your families.
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Saturday, April 27, 2019
I'M LATE, I'M LATE - SORRY
Sorry I am late in posting. Third time since I started posting this blog. We have had a full couple of weeks - while still seemingly getting little done.
My mom was ill a week ago Tuesday at 4 am and we had to run to the hospital with her. Since we go to bed around 4 am - the call came just as we had gotten into bed - we were terribly tired while at the hospital. My sister and her husband came and saved us and let us go home. Husband had tried to sleep out in our car - lack of sleep always hits him harder than it does me - and as result of not being able to sleep reached the point where not only was sooooo exhausted, he was also in pain from trying to sleep in the car. Basically that Tuesday was a gone day. Wednesday was still off as we were so off physical schedule - but as you know, I did manage to get my post out on time.
On that Thursday, day before Good Friday and the start of Passover, we went to my mom’s house as she was worried about her mail - most of the afternoon gone. We finished shopping for 2 holiday dinners and that evening I started cooking soup for us for Passover.
Friday we ran some errands and then I made dinner for me; husband picked up a Chinese main dish - shrimp - as it was Good Friday. I made vegetable soup for him and chicken for me - and added what I cooked on Thursday - matzoh balls to both soups. After Passover dinner, I cooked a chicken for Easter dinner - Brunswick stew and put it in the fridge to keep.
Saturday and Sunday between all the normal things we do I worked on the newsletter for my embroidery chapter which had to be out on Wednesday. (Normally I write that Wednesday afternoon and then Wednesday night I write my post.) We also went to church Easter morning and I cooked the Brunswick stew with the previously cooked chicken.
In the middle of all of this husband decided that we had to dewinterize one of our two fresh water tanks in the RV. This consists of letting the water out of the tank, refilling it and adding bleach to the new water and letting it sit. We then emptied and refilled the tank twice over the several days we worked on it.
I was looking ahead to what I had to do in the coming week - impossible!! Mostly I had 4 days - what is now yesterday (Thursday), today (Friday) and next Monday and Tuesday to: go to client in Manhattan, do her books & payroll taxes, take my mom to the doctor (on whichever day of the four doctor could see us), meet up with a member of our reenactment unit to get some government paperwork done at the agency involved, and prepare to give a talk at my embroidery meeting this coming Wednesday. On Sunday I did the payroll tax form for my client (she took no salary this past quarter) and mailed it to her for her to sign and mail out when she comes back to work after being on a vacation so that it will be out timely even if I don’t get there timely. I mailed it out to her on Monday.
Tuesday we drove to Pennsylvania. The system in our RV which lets us pump out the “used” water was not working right last time we went away (end of August) and did not work at all at the start of November when we tried to winterize. Husband made an appointment and the first date available was this past Wednesday. But we had to be there at 8 am! Two states away. This should be a two to two and a half hour drive, but we never know what the traffic will do - and we would be traveling (half asleep due to the very early hour and no or minimum sleep) during rush hour. Husband started to panic. The RV dealer said to us that we could drive down overnight and hook up electricity outside their building - which we have done in the past - but an entire night without a bathroom?! I let it roll around in my head. I came up with the idea of staying at a nearby RV park the night before - if we could find one. Husband did find one and that is why we drove down on Tuesday for a Wednesday appointment. We had to check in at 4 pm and left at 10:30 am to get there. We got stuck on the same two roads in our state that we normally get stuck on. Why do we go that way? If we go the alternative ways either we are driving north a good distance to go south or we are driving through midtown Manhattan - something we avoid with a car, let alone an RV (and which would soon be a very expensive idea do to a new toll coming to drive in Manhattan). So we have to go the way we go.
We were finally past the delays here in New York and about to get onto the New Jersey Turnpike. Easy to do - we have done it more than countless times. We got off the road at the exit to the Turnpike and when we approached the toll booths - we were directed away from them to a side road - there was an 18 wheeler truck - cab and trailer - lying on its side blocking the booths. Now we have to figure all this out. I looked and we had been directed into an industrial park - and one we have been in several times as there is a venue for conventions and we have gone to quilt, woodworking, and toy train shows there. (Heck, I won a judges prize for a doll there.) Relieved that I knew where we were - and there were lots of free parking lots with space to pull into - I suggested husband do the same. He kept driving around as he could not figure out where to pull in and his two (yes, two) GPS devices were arguing over what we should do. Now they are both trying to get us back to the entrance to the Turnpike, but husband has the idea in his head that one or the other will save us. One of them is preprogrammed by him and if we miss a point on the map he entered will keep sending us back to that point until we drive through it. Husband is going on and on about never getting “there” as we don’t know how to go to. I point out to him that we know that one way to where we want to go is to get back on the road we were on and head west - just the longer way. After about 15 minutes of him driving around I managed to get out a map - yes, a paper map - of the state and figure out how to get to the next entrance to the Turnpike on the streets. I find a parallel major road - US1 - which will take us South to where we need to be and then we take a state road - Rte 18 across to the Turnpike and get back on. Husband does not completely trust me on this. I tell him to get back on the main road in the same direction we were going. We end up getting back on it going back where we came from. Between me and the two GPS devices he manages to turn around. I get him off the road onto US1. The GPS that needs to go through specific points continues to try to get us to turn around - he finally managed to get that one shut off. The other one figures out that we are heading towards the next entrance and starts giving us directions to it. He is now happy that he knows where we are going - even though the GPS is giving him the exact same route as I told him - and he did not trust!
I should explain that we have traveled to Pennsylvania or elsewhere beyond it at least 10 trips a year - for almost 45 years. This is not driving in a totally strange area. Even as we headed down US 1 towards Rte 18 as we got close I pointed out to him - “Look, that is the Wendys where we had lunch last year when we went to that quilt show.” As we got closer - “Look this is where we used to drive to get to that nice Japanese restaurant for dinner.” (After all the quilt, etc shows in the area.) So I am comfortable with all this and know we will get to where we are headed. He is still not so sure. We find and get on the New Jersey Turnpike. Strangely I cannot find any information about what happened to the truck and why it turned over. There is nothing in the news for a turned over truck on that day - lots of others, but not even any in same month.
We continue on our trip. While the area near the RV dealer is a relatively new one for us, we have been going there since 2011 and early on in owning the RV there were a lot of problems with it and we might have made a couple of dozen stops there to have it worked on, often while going to Lancaster as this is on the way. We have also been going to a local cultural fair annually for about 20 years which I had figured out was relatively near to this one - same exit from the Pennsylvania Turnpike going opposite ways after exiting it. We find the RV park. Space is good - about 4 rows from the “bathhouse”. We then left and drove for dinner in another area of Pennsylvania. (Husband was getting the most of things he has missed from this trip.) Then back to the RV park and set up for the night as it is suppose to rain. Luckily it is not bad rain.
We are up early (for us) the next morning. I had not fully made the bed the night before as I knew I had to get it apart quickly the next morning. I took all of my bed linens and put them in one large plastic bag and ditto his. I then took apart the bed (two banquette type benches are the base of the bed). We dropped the RV off for repair and asked them to change the oil in the generator as it is about the time to do so and then to change the “dump hose” as long as it will be taken apart anyway for one we think we like better.
We spend the next several hours in their parts department shop, looking at the new Rvs, walking to a nearby shopping center - Home Depot, Staples, a dollar plus store and lunch at (yes) Wendys. While eating lunch I see the RV being driven back to the office from their shop and we head over. It was done. Twice the cost husband had anticipated, but it is working again.
We then set off to the Lancaster area for dinner - stopping at a local store as it is too early for same. After dinner we stop at a Walmart there - their Walmarts are larger than ours and carry different items. We then start home. It is basically the same time we would normally leave for home on one of our trips. Normally we would home around midnight - 12:30 am. The plan was for me to send out the prewritten newsletter for my embroidery chapter when I got home and I had planned to write and post to all of you here on my blog. Somehow it took us to 2:30 am to get home and we don’t know why - no traffic, no extra stops? We took out only the items that had to come out as we needed them in the house and the “snacks” we had brought with us.
Well, so why didn’t write and post on Thursday? Thursday we unpacked the rest of the stuff in the RV - and I cannot find my Diabetes meter, but it has to be there or her and we have a spare, so I am not going to go crazy over it. I sent out all 3 versions of the embroidery chapter newsletter. I had planned to write the post and send it out that evening. But when evening came - I forgot all about it! So here I am writing to you two days late! Forgive me.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Whether one gets diverted from the road on a physical journey or from their journey to getting better organized it happens. No need to get upset with yourself. Just pick up where you left off and continue.
My mom was ill a week ago Tuesday at 4 am and we had to run to the hospital with her. Since we go to bed around 4 am - the call came just as we had gotten into bed - we were terribly tired while at the hospital. My sister and her husband came and saved us and let us go home. Husband had tried to sleep out in our car - lack of sleep always hits him harder than it does me - and as result of not being able to sleep reached the point where not only was sooooo exhausted, he was also in pain from trying to sleep in the car. Basically that Tuesday was a gone day. Wednesday was still off as we were so off physical schedule - but as you know, I did manage to get my post out on time.
On that Thursday, day before Good Friday and the start of Passover, we went to my mom’s house as she was worried about her mail - most of the afternoon gone. We finished shopping for 2 holiday dinners and that evening I started cooking soup for us for Passover.
Friday we ran some errands and then I made dinner for me; husband picked up a Chinese main dish - shrimp - as it was Good Friday. I made vegetable soup for him and chicken for me - and added what I cooked on Thursday - matzoh balls to both soups. After Passover dinner, I cooked a chicken for Easter dinner - Brunswick stew and put it in the fridge to keep.
Saturday and Sunday between all the normal things we do I worked on the newsletter for my embroidery chapter which had to be out on Wednesday. (Normally I write that Wednesday afternoon and then Wednesday night I write my post.) We also went to church Easter morning and I cooked the Brunswick stew with the previously cooked chicken.
In the middle of all of this husband decided that we had to dewinterize one of our two fresh water tanks in the RV. This consists of letting the water out of the tank, refilling it and adding bleach to the new water and letting it sit. We then emptied and refilled the tank twice over the several days we worked on it.
I was looking ahead to what I had to do in the coming week - impossible!! Mostly I had 4 days - what is now yesterday (Thursday), today (Friday) and next Monday and Tuesday to: go to client in Manhattan, do her books & payroll taxes, take my mom to the doctor (on whichever day of the four doctor could see us), meet up with a member of our reenactment unit to get some government paperwork done at the agency involved, and prepare to give a talk at my embroidery meeting this coming Wednesday. On Sunday I did the payroll tax form for my client (she took no salary this past quarter) and mailed it to her for her to sign and mail out when she comes back to work after being on a vacation so that it will be out timely even if I don’t get there timely. I mailed it out to her on Monday.
Tuesday we drove to Pennsylvania. The system in our RV which lets us pump out the “used” water was not working right last time we went away (end of August) and did not work at all at the start of November when we tried to winterize. Husband made an appointment and the first date available was this past Wednesday. But we had to be there at 8 am! Two states away. This should be a two to two and a half hour drive, but we never know what the traffic will do - and we would be traveling (half asleep due to the very early hour and no or minimum sleep) during rush hour. Husband started to panic. The RV dealer said to us that we could drive down overnight and hook up electricity outside their building - which we have done in the past - but an entire night without a bathroom?! I let it roll around in my head. I came up with the idea of staying at a nearby RV park the night before - if we could find one. Husband did find one and that is why we drove down on Tuesday for a Wednesday appointment. We had to check in at 4 pm and left at 10:30 am to get there. We got stuck on the same two roads in our state that we normally get stuck on. Why do we go that way? If we go the alternative ways either we are driving north a good distance to go south or we are driving through midtown Manhattan - something we avoid with a car, let alone an RV (and which would soon be a very expensive idea do to a new toll coming to drive in Manhattan). So we have to go the way we go.
We were finally past the delays here in New York and about to get onto the New Jersey Turnpike. Easy to do - we have done it more than countless times. We got off the road at the exit to the Turnpike and when we approached the toll booths - we were directed away from them to a side road - there was an 18 wheeler truck - cab and trailer - lying on its side blocking the booths. Now we have to figure all this out. I looked and we had been directed into an industrial park - and one we have been in several times as there is a venue for conventions and we have gone to quilt, woodworking, and toy train shows there. (Heck, I won a judges prize for a doll there.) Relieved that I knew where we were - and there were lots of free parking lots with space to pull into - I suggested husband do the same. He kept driving around as he could not figure out where to pull in and his two (yes, two) GPS devices were arguing over what we should do. Now they are both trying to get us back to the entrance to the Turnpike, but husband has the idea in his head that one or the other will save us. One of them is preprogrammed by him and if we miss a point on the map he entered will keep sending us back to that point until we drive through it. Husband is going on and on about never getting “there” as we don’t know how to go to. I point out to him that we know that one way to where we want to go is to get back on the road we were on and head west - just the longer way. After about 15 minutes of him driving around I managed to get out a map - yes, a paper map - of the state and figure out how to get to the next entrance to the Turnpike on the streets. I find a parallel major road - US1 - which will take us South to where we need to be and then we take a state road - Rte 18 across to the Turnpike and get back on. Husband does not completely trust me on this. I tell him to get back on the main road in the same direction we were going. We end up getting back on it going back where we came from. Between me and the two GPS devices he manages to turn around. I get him off the road onto US1. The GPS that needs to go through specific points continues to try to get us to turn around - he finally managed to get that one shut off. The other one figures out that we are heading towards the next entrance and starts giving us directions to it. He is now happy that he knows where we are going - even though the GPS is giving him the exact same route as I told him - and he did not trust!
I should explain that we have traveled to Pennsylvania or elsewhere beyond it at least 10 trips a year - for almost 45 years. This is not driving in a totally strange area. Even as we headed down US 1 towards Rte 18 as we got close I pointed out to him - “Look, that is the Wendys where we had lunch last year when we went to that quilt show.” As we got closer - “Look this is where we used to drive to get to that nice Japanese restaurant for dinner.” (After all the quilt, etc shows in the area.) So I am comfortable with all this and know we will get to where we are headed. He is still not so sure. We find and get on the New Jersey Turnpike. Strangely I cannot find any information about what happened to the truck and why it turned over. There is nothing in the news for a turned over truck on that day - lots of others, but not even any in same month.
We continue on our trip. While the area near the RV dealer is a relatively new one for us, we have been going there since 2011 and early on in owning the RV there were a lot of problems with it and we might have made a couple of dozen stops there to have it worked on, often while going to Lancaster as this is on the way. We have also been going to a local cultural fair annually for about 20 years which I had figured out was relatively near to this one - same exit from the Pennsylvania Turnpike going opposite ways after exiting it. We find the RV park. Space is good - about 4 rows from the “bathhouse”. We then left and drove for dinner in another area of Pennsylvania. (Husband was getting the most of things he has missed from this trip.) Then back to the RV park and set up for the night as it is suppose to rain. Luckily it is not bad rain.
We are up early (for us) the next morning. I had not fully made the bed the night before as I knew I had to get it apart quickly the next morning. I took all of my bed linens and put them in one large plastic bag and ditto his. I then took apart the bed (two banquette type benches are the base of the bed). We dropped the RV off for repair and asked them to change the oil in the generator as it is about the time to do so and then to change the “dump hose” as long as it will be taken apart anyway for one we think we like better.
We spend the next several hours in their parts department shop, looking at the new Rvs, walking to a nearby shopping center - Home Depot, Staples, a dollar plus store and lunch at (yes) Wendys. While eating lunch I see the RV being driven back to the office from their shop and we head over. It was done. Twice the cost husband had anticipated, but it is working again.
We then set off to the Lancaster area for dinner - stopping at a local store as it is too early for same. After dinner we stop at a Walmart there - their Walmarts are larger than ours and carry different items. We then start home. It is basically the same time we would normally leave for home on one of our trips. Normally we would home around midnight - 12:30 am. The plan was for me to send out the prewritten newsletter for my embroidery chapter when I got home and I had planned to write and post to all of you here on my blog. Somehow it took us to 2:30 am to get home and we don’t know why - no traffic, no extra stops? We took out only the items that had to come out as we needed them in the house and the “snacks” we had brought with us.
Well, so why didn’t write and post on Thursday? Thursday we unpacked the rest of the stuff in the RV - and I cannot find my Diabetes meter, but it has to be there or her and we have a spare, so I am not going to go crazy over it. I sent out all 3 versions of the embroidery chapter newsletter. I had planned to write the post and send it out that evening. But when evening came - I forgot all about it! So here I am writing to you two days late! Forgive me.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Whether one gets diverted from the road on a physical journey or from their journey to getting better organized it happens. No need to get upset with yourself. Just pick up where you left off and continue.
Thursday, April 18, 2019
KEEP ON TOP OF CHORES AND APPOINTMENTS BY SETTING UP REMINDERS
Another week, another post. This is actually good for me. With the exception of, I think, two times since I have started this blog several years ago I have not missed posting on what is Wednesday night to me and Thursday (very) am to everyone else. (12:15 am Thursday as I start to write this, for example.)
Do you have trouble doing tasks which have to be done over and over on some sort regular basis? I did, well I still do although I am much better at it now. I use my mobile phone to help with this as I do for many other things.
At the start of the year (actually usually just as December is ending for the coming year) I will go through my Lotus Organizer and put in repeating tasks for the coming year. I have quarterly repeating tasks - such as doing payroll tax forms for clients or extra computer backups. I have monthly tasks - monthly computer backups, setting up new spreadsheets for our craft business to keep track of inventory (even though we have had no sales since December - I update the spreadsheet monthly anyway) and changing the sponges I use for cleaning. I have weekly tasks - laundry, changing towels - kitchen and bathroom, changing the bed, regular weekly data backup, and so on. I also have daily tasks - for example - check email - yes, I need a reminder for this. I do not need a reminder to wash the dishes from dinner and later at night from pre-bed snack as I do them as we finish the meal. I also have annual reminders - these I set up to repeat for 5 years (I am thinking of 10 years next time) - birthdays, anniversaries, when other tax forms are due (for clients & us), and so on.
I also will add various events as I find out about them. I know that our reenacting unit meets monthly on the a certain day of the month - I set up the meetings on my calendar (both in the Organizer and my mobile phone which keeps a separate calendar as it does not sync - the Organizer is synced with my old Palm Centro which I carry around the house as a PDA). When the events schedule is set up for the year I add those to both calendars also. My embroidery chapter has a “fiscal” year - the meeting year runs from September of one year through June of the next year and as soon as I know the meeting dates - again a specific day repeating each month - they are added to both calendars. I add appointments I make as I go along. I add trips we make reservations for to the calendar - I start the year with the one for our July 4ish trip already in the calendar as we have to book a year in advance to make sure we get the RV space we want - and we are generally not there on July 4 itself - we are not happy with the RV park and the area we visit being that busy.
What do you do to keep track of when to do things or what your plans are? When I was younger I was able to keep much of this in my head, but I no longer can. (Heck, I put down a check today and 10 minutes later could not remember where I put it down - finally remembered.) Having a reminder ring helps one stay on track. I am about to go upstairs as I am backing up my desktop computer for the month (did the quarterly back up while we had dinner) and the reminder just went off in my mobile phone to see if it if the backup is done - it was not finished when I checked half an hour ago. Be right back - feel free to talk among yourselves, get a snack, or make a bathroom run while I check........ No not done yet. I reset the reminder for another half an hour. But, the laundry will need to be shifted between washer and dryer - and another load put in the washer in 2 minutes, 24 seconds.
See how this works? Trust me if you just try to remember to do everything - it does not work. Don’t just use reminder on your mobile phone for personal stuff - use it for work also. If you work at computer at work (or home) you can put the reminders on it instead - or also. If you are low tech - and I find nothing wrong with low tech (I am the first one to scream if some company or government agency says that something has to be done by computer or with a mobile phone, not for me but for others - well sometimes for me as I prefer the privacy of not having any number of things on my cell phone for security) use a paper calender and an alarm clock to remind you - or even a timer if you have to go back to finish something. Darn laundry reminder has gone off. Be right back.......
Back again. You need to decide what you need to be reminded of. Some items all you might need to do is to put them on the date(s) or day(s) of the calendar so you will see them to do them. Others you might need to have an alarm go off to remind you to stop what you are doing and do what you are suppose to do. (My backup and laundry have sound reminders to remind me.)
Yes, sometimes life gets in the way (or you just really need as a personal matter not to do something on the day you have it scheduled) and things do not get done. I admit to not changing the bedding yesterday as I normally do on a Tuesday (gasps are heard “she did not do something on her schedule after she said to schedule things so you remember them). My elderly mom had a problem that started extremely early on Tuesday morning. Monday night to us and we had to run to help her just as we had changed and gotten into bed - at 4 am. By the time we were back home - and then only were able to do so by the grace my sister meeting us at the hospital with her husband so we could leave (and they had slept as normal people do from earlier in the evening). I had sent my husband out to the car for him to sleep but that had not worked. It was 10 am by the time we finally were able to go to bed. Husband, exhausted, fell asleep. I could not, while waiting to hear from my sister what the findings were about mom. After text messages and telephone calls I was finally able to fall asleep - for about an hour. When we got up for the day it was late in the day even for us and I just had no energy to deal with the bed and said to myself the very unladylike “F it”. (Mom was given a prescription to try for the problem and is staying with my sister at least through the holidays, which for us will run through next week and we will figure out what to do to keep her safe and well - she is 90.)
THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK -
1 - Use your technology to keep you on schedule or a paper schedule and clock if you prefer to use same.
2 - Realize that things occur which will throw you off schedule - it is called life and one never knows what will happen. Just get back on schedule as soon as you can. (And schedules are not written in stone - if you never get to do something, such as write your blog post on Tuesdays, you can move it to another day - Wednesday, for example the day you actually post it.)
3 - I wish you a good holiday with those you love.
Do you have trouble doing tasks which have to be done over and over on some sort regular basis? I did, well I still do although I am much better at it now. I use my mobile phone to help with this as I do for many other things.
At the start of the year (actually usually just as December is ending for the coming year) I will go through my Lotus Organizer and put in repeating tasks for the coming year. I have quarterly repeating tasks - such as doing payroll tax forms for clients or extra computer backups. I have monthly tasks - monthly computer backups, setting up new spreadsheets for our craft business to keep track of inventory (even though we have had no sales since December - I update the spreadsheet monthly anyway) and changing the sponges I use for cleaning. I have weekly tasks - laundry, changing towels - kitchen and bathroom, changing the bed, regular weekly data backup, and so on. I also have daily tasks - for example - check email - yes, I need a reminder for this. I do not need a reminder to wash the dishes from dinner and later at night from pre-bed snack as I do them as we finish the meal. I also have annual reminders - these I set up to repeat for 5 years (I am thinking of 10 years next time) - birthdays, anniversaries, when other tax forms are due (for clients & us), and so on.
I also will add various events as I find out about them. I know that our reenacting unit meets monthly on the a certain day of the month - I set up the meetings on my calendar (both in the Organizer and my mobile phone which keeps a separate calendar as it does not sync - the Organizer is synced with my old Palm Centro which I carry around the house as a PDA). When the events schedule is set up for the year I add those to both calendars also. My embroidery chapter has a “fiscal” year - the meeting year runs from September of one year through June of the next year and as soon as I know the meeting dates - again a specific day repeating each month - they are added to both calendars. I add appointments I make as I go along. I add trips we make reservations for to the calendar - I start the year with the one for our July 4ish trip already in the calendar as we have to book a year in advance to make sure we get the RV space we want - and we are generally not there on July 4 itself - we are not happy with the RV park and the area we visit being that busy.
What do you do to keep track of when to do things or what your plans are? When I was younger I was able to keep much of this in my head, but I no longer can. (Heck, I put down a check today and 10 minutes later could not remember where I put it down - finally remembered.) Having a reminder ring helps one stay on track. I am about to go upstairs as I am backing up my desktop computer for the month (did the quarterly back up while we had dinner) and the reminder just went off in my mobile phone to see if it if the backup is done - it was not finished when I checked half an hour ago. Be right back - feel free to talk among yourselves, get a snack, or make a bathroom run while I check........ No not done yet. I reset the reminder for another half an hour. But, the laundry will need to be shifted between washer and dryer - and another load put in the washer in 2 minutes, 24 seconds.
See how this works? Trust me if you just try to remember to do everything - it does not work. Don’t just use reminder on your mobile phone for personal stuff - use it for work also. If you work at computer at work (or home) you can put the reminders on it instead - or also. If you are low tech - and I find nothing wrong with low tech (I am the first one to scream if some company or government agency says that something has to be done by computer or with a mobile phone, not for me but for others - well sometimes for me as I prefer the privacy of not having any number of things on my cell phone for security) use a paper calender and an alarm clock to remind you - or even a timer if you have to go back to finish something. Darn laundry reminder has gone off. Be right back.......
Back again. You need to decide what you need to be reminded of. Some items all you might need to do is to put them on the date(s) or day(s) of the calendar so you will see them to do them. Others you might need to have an alarm go off to remind you to stop what you are doing and do what you are suppose to do. (My backup and laundry have sound reminders to remind me.)
Yes, sometimes life gets in the way (or you just really need as a personal matter not to do something on the day you have it scheduled) and things do not get done. I admit to not changing the bedding yesterday as I normally do on a Tuesday (gasps are heard “she did not do something on her schedule after she said to schedule things so you remember them). My elderly mom had a problem that started extremely early on Tuesday morning. Monday night to us and we had to run to help her just as we had changed and gotten into bed - at 4 am. By the time we were back home - and then only were able to do so by the grace my sister meeting us at the hospital with her husband so we could leave (and they had slept as normal people do from earlier in the evening). I had sent my husband out to the car for him to sleep but that had not worked. It was 10 am by the time we finally were able to go to bed. Husband, exhausted, fell asleep. I could not, while waiting to hear from my sister what the findings were about mom. After text messages and telephone calls I was finally able to fall asleep - for about an hour. When we got up for the day it was late in the day even for us and I just had no energy to deal with the bed and said to myself the very unladylike “F it”. (Mom was given a prescription to try for the problem and is staying with my sister at least through the holidays, which for us will run through next week and we will figure out what to do to keep her safe and well - she is 90.)
THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK -
1 - Use your technology to keep you on schedule or a paper schedule and clock if you prefer to use same.
2 - Realize that things occur which will throw you off schedule - it is called life and one never knows what will happen. Just get back on schedule as soon as you can. (And schedules are not written in stone - if you never get to do something, such as write your blog post on Tuesdays, you can move it to another day - Wednesday, for example the day you actually post it.)
3 - I wish you a good holiday with those you love.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
SCANNING TO MAKE IT EASIER TO FIND PAID BILLS
Last October - October 26, 2016 post I posted on the usefulness of having a printer and a scanner to help one get organized and keep papers organized. Here’s an additional thought on that subject.
I am good - really good - at keeping track of bills to pay and paid bills, after all, I am an accountant. I have a paid bills file next to my desk - one of those large wallet things with sections in it. When I pay a bill I post it in my Quickbooks program, mark it paid, attach any charge slips, etc and then file it in the appropriate section of the paid bills file. I generally have a section for each credit card and type of bill. The credit card we use most often actually has two sections - bills paid January through June and bills paid July through December as there are a lot of charge card slips. The sections for taxes have folder in them to further divide the bills. I will not go into all of the sections right now as I am already digressing too much.
Early in January I pull out all of the paid bills from the year before. Other than tax related bills, the bills are put into an old manila folder box which is redated with a black marker for the year of the bills in it. These bills will sit in this box until around May when I go through my other files for last year, add the paid bills, tax returns, etc and box them up in a box in the top of my office closet. I pul out the oldest box up there - when I do this for last year I will be pulling out the 2007 box - basically shred what is in the box, relabel the box with the new year and store it all in the box, which is returned to the top of the closet.
The tax related bills when pulled in January for the prior year I combine them all in one folder which will generally not be used until towards the end of the following year and put them where I will be putting clients’s tax information. The remainder of the tax info folders, now empty, go back in the paid bills file.
Okay, that is the background of my paid bills.
We have a VERY small RV. We have a contract from a company for road service for the RV in case it breaks down, has a flat tire, etc. Sort of like the Automobile Association of America (of Canada, etc.), but for RVs. (Yes, these companies often also cover one’s cars and AAA will cover some RV problems but one will not have a specialist in RVs come if one calls AAA.)
When paying bills late last Friday (after business hours anywhere in the lower 48) I noticed that I have the renewal for this RV road service policy is due April 25. I double checked that I did not have the bill and then did what any wife would do - I asked my husband if “we” (meaning he) has an online account for the company. He did.
He attempted to sign in and was told that since the account was expired more than 90 days ago, he no longer had an account. He tried to sign in with their alternate method, in case he made a mistake in his sign in info. This required the RV manufacturer’s name from a list and the RV’s VIN number. The list of RV manufacturers was rather short and our RV was not on the list. Husband starts to get upset.
As usual his first reaction is that I did not do something I should have done - or did it wrong. “Are you sure you paid the bill last year?” I told him I did and would get the paid bill for him. I climbed up and took down the box of last year’s paid bills. I went through all of the bills - I could not find it. So - what do we all do? I went through them again. No paid bill.
Perhaps it was with the tax related papers? The RV is not tax related, but our car and van are partially so and I tend to keep the car related bills together. No, not there - again I checked twice.
I looked the payment up in Quickbooks Yes! I did pay it - on March 31 and it cleared the bank on April 7 last year. I found the copy of the canceled check in with the bank statement. (This was in the drawer in the file cabinet for personal items - having the info from Quickbooks made it easy and, well, quick to find.) Proof I paid it and it was not my fault.
But a copy of the bill? Then I remembered. Last year I scanned in one of each type of bill to the computer with the idea that if something happened to me, husband could bring up the scanned copy of a bill of that type and see what I did when I paid it. (The bill is scanned in, and then the items I send - check, stub, envelope - are scanned on the last page of the file.) So there was a scanned copy of the bill in that file. I printed out the first page of the bill - showing all the info needed and set it aside to telephone the company on Monday.
Thinking about this over the weekend I decided two things. First, I would create a separate folder in the paid bills, tax related sections for all car related items. Second, it was so convenient to pull up the copy of the missing bill that I will scan in all paid bills in the future. Understand, I will still keep the hard copy as they have the assorted credit card slips and other supporting papers attached to them and I will not scan in all these attachments, but I will scan in the bills themselves for quick and easy reference if needed. I plan to set up a folder for “paid bills” with 12 folders in it - one for each month - and label the scan of each bill with the check number which paid it. I hope this will make it easier in the future to quickly find bills for reference.
Oh, in case you are wondering - I telephoned this past Monday and had a terribly odd conversation with an employee of the company. He first was confused as our plan ended April 25, 2016 - huh? I told him that I had our canceled check for the year ending April 25, 2017,which cleared our bank on April 7, 2016. (See how useful the payment info is.) “Oh, yes. There is an error, I see the payment. I’ll update the computer. I then asked him if this means that we have had no coverage for the past year - despite paying for it. He, of course said no. When I pushed him as it what would have happened if we needed service - “Service would have called us and we would have found the error and fixed it.” What if I needed the help, say last Friday - they keep business hours in the office? “Oh, you would have just paid for the service call and we would have reimbursed you.” The fact that I would not have known who to call and would have needed to have money to pay them for the tow, well that did not make sense to him. He wanted me to renew by credit card over the phone. “Do you even still deal with my brand of RV, since it is not on your list of RV companies?” Of course they do, just that if one gets a new policy it has to come through the RV company - which makes no sense as to why the company is not on their alternate ID for sign in list. I asked him to mail us a bill to pay.
He seemed a little too quick and pat with the answers and husband went looking on the Internet, Yes, this has happened to a number of people. Our RV company has it’s own road service company now - so they would not be signing us up with them. In addition they have dropped the inexpensive basic policy we had for one which is more than three times as much cost. So after all this we are looking for a different company - but at least I will be able to find the paid bills as we go forward as they will be scanned into the computer.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
I feel odd about this thought it is different than my usual posts for same and it is not intended to be religious or political, although it is a bit of both, but I intend it to be more of a any person to any person idea.
As the Jewish people celebrate Passover and the Christians celebrate Good Friday and Easter this week, please take to heart the idea of all of us being siblings. Be a little nicer to people in your daily life - strangers as well as those you know.
Say please and thank you a bit more - even in situations where you might not normally think to do so. Hold the door open for someone - even if they capable of doing so on their own. Help a mother who is juggling child, purse and lunch tray as she tries to move a high chair. Smile at someone who looks a bit upset - it is an amazing feeling when one does this and the other person smiles back and then, at least, seems a little less upset - a bond between two people of only seconds. (These are all things I have done during the past week - and try to do when I can.)
Let us - even those not of a religion celebrating these holidays - be a bit more neighborly to those we see during the day. Not only will the other person feel better, it is amazing how long the memory of the smile from a stranger lasts - no matter which of us initiated it.
Our world is in a state today that I, for one, find scary. Perhaps the more of us who show small kindnesses to others, the better the world can be.
I am good - really good - at keeping track of bills to pay and paid bills, after all, I am an accountant. I have a paid bills file next to my desk - one of those large wallet things with sections in it. When I pay a bill I post it in my Quickbooks program, mark it paid, attach any charge slips, etc and then file it in the appropriate section of the paid bills file. I generally have a section for each credit card and type of bill. The credit card we use most often actually has two sections - bills paid January through June and bills paid July through December as there are a lot of charge card slips. The sections for taxes have folder in them to further divide the bills. I will not go into all of the sections right now as I am already digressing too much.
Early in January I pull out all of the paid bills from the year before. Other than tax related bills, the bills are put into an old manila folder box which is redated with a black marker for the year of the bills in it. These bills will sit in this box until around May when I go through my other files for last year, add the paid bills, tax returns, etc and box them up in a box in the top of my office closet. I pul out the oldest box up there - when I do this for last year I will be pulling out the 2007 box - basically shred what is in the box, relabel the box with the new year and store it all in the box, which is returned to the top of the closet.
The tax related bills when pulled in January for the prior year I combine them all in one folder which will generally not be used until towards the end of the following year and put them where I will be putting clients’s tax information. The remainder of the tax info folders, now empty, go back in the paid bills file.
Okay, that is the background of my paid bills.
We have a VERY small RV. We have a contract from a company for road service for the RV in case it breaks down, has a flat tire, etc. Sort of like the Automobile Association of America (of Canada, etc.), but for RVs. (Yes, these companies often also cover one’s cars and AAA will cover some RV problems but one will not have a specialist in RVs come if one calls AAA.)
When paying bills late last Friday (after business hours anywhere in the lower 48) I noticed that I have the renewal for this RV road service policy is due April 25. I double checked that I did not have the bill and then did what any wife would do - I asked my husband if “we” (meaning he) has an online account for the company. He did.
He attempted to sign in and was told that since the account was expired more than 90 days ago, he no longer had an account. He tried to sign in with their alternate method, in case he made a mistake in his sign in info. This required the RV manufacturer’s name from a list and the RV’s VIN number. The list of RV manufacturers was rather short and our RV was not on the list. Husband starts to get upset.
As usual his first reaction is that I did not do something I should have done - or did it wrong. “Are you sure you paid the bill last year?” I told him I did and would get the paid bill for him. I climbed up and took down the box of last year’s paid bills. I went through all of the bills - I could not find it. So - what do we all do? I went through them again. No paid bill.
Perhaps it was with the tax related papers? The RV is not tax related, but our car and van are partially so and I tend to keep the car related bills together. No, not there - again I checked twice.
I looked the payment up in Quickbooks Yes! I did pay it - on March 31 and it cleared the bank on April 7 last year. I found the copy of the canceled check in with the bank statement. (This was in the drawer in the file cabinet for personal items - having the info from Quickbooks made it easy and, well, quick to find.) Proof I paid it and it was not my fault.
But a copy of the bill? Then I remembered. Last year I scanned in one of each type of bill to the computer with the idea that if something happened to me, husband could bring up the scanned copy of a bill of that type and see what I did when I paid it. (The bill is scanned in, and then the items I send - check, stub, envelope - are scanned on the last page of the file.) So there was a scanned copy of the bill in that file. I printed out the first page of the bill - showing all the info needed and set it aside to telephone the company on Monday.
Thinking about this over the weekend I decided two things. First, I would create a separate folder in the paid bills, tax related sections for all car related items. Second, it was so convenient to pull up the copy of the missing bill that I will scan in all paid bills in the future. Understand, I will still keep the hard copy as they have the assorted credit card slips and other supporting papers attached to them and I will not scan in all these attachments, but I will scan in the bills themselves for quick and easy reference if needed. I plan to set up a folder for “paid bills” with 12 folders in it - one for each month - and label the scan of each bill with the check number which paid it. I hope this will make it easier in the future to quickly find bills for reference.
Oh, in case you are wondering - I telephoned this past Monday and had a terribly odd conversation with an employee of the company. He first was confused as our plan ended April 25, 2016 - huh? I told him that I had our canceled check for the year ending April 25, 2017,which cleared our bank on April 7, 2016. (See how useful the payment info is.) “Oh, yes. There is an error, I see the payment. I’ll update the computer. I then asked him if this means that we have had no coverage for the past year - despite paying for it. He, of course said no. When I pushed him as it what would have happened if we needed service - “Service would have called us and we would have found the error and fixed it.” What if I needed the help, say last Friday - they keep business hours in the office? “Oh, you would have just paid for the service call and we would have reimbursed you.” The fact that I would not have known who to call and would have needed to have money to pay them for the tow, well that did not make sense to him. He wanted me to renew by credit card over the phone. “Do you even still deal with my brand of RV, since it is not on your list of RV companies?” Of course they do, just that if one gets a new policy it has to come through the RV company - which makes no sense as to why the company is not on their alternate ID for sign in list. I asked him to mail us a bill to pay.
He seemed a little too quick and pat with the answers and husband went looking on the Internet, Yes, this has happened to a number of people. Our RV company has it’s own road service company now - so they would not be signing us up with them. In addition they have dropped the inexpensive basic policy we had for one which is more than three times as much cost. So after all this we are looking for a different company - but at least I will be able to find the paid bills as we go forward as they will be scanned into the computer.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
I feel odd about this thought it is different than my usual posts for same and it is not intended to be religious or political, although it is a bit of both, but I intend it to be more of a any person to any person idea.
As the Jewish people celebrate Passover and the Christians celebrate Good Friday and Easter this week, please take to heart the idea of all of us being siblings. Be a little nicer to people in your daily life - strangers as well as those you know.
Say please and thank you a bit more - even in situations where you might not normally think to do so. Hold the door open for someone - even if they capable of doing so on their own. Help a mother who is juggling child, purse and lunch tray as she tries to move a high chair. Smile at someone who looks a bit upset - it is an amazing feeling when one does this and the other person smiles back and then, at least, seems a little less upset - a bond between two people of only seconds. (These are all things I have done during the past week - and try to do when I can.)
Let us - even those not of a religion celebrating these holidays - be a bit more neighborly to those we see during the day. Not only will the other person feel better, it is amazing how long the memory of the smile from a stranger lasts - no matter which of us initiated it.
Our world is in a state today that I, for one, find scary. Perhaps the more of us who show small kindnesses to others, the better the world can be.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
HOLIDAYS AND TAXES - UNRELATED SUBJECTS
Hello again.
We did not go away for my husband’s birthday due to, yes, rain again. There is no point in going to outdoor market when a good chunk of the outdoor vendors will not be, especially if one is going to travel 3+ hours each way and pay over $20 in tolls to go there.
I have been busy finishing up client’s tax returns and have only one left to do and I am waiting for the information to do it. So I started on our personal and business returns. Money goes back and forth between us and the business - something is on our credit card for the business or vice versa, so the first thing I have to do is make sure what the business owes us is the same amount on the business’s books and on our books. Sometimes I post something on one set of books and forget to post it on the other. That took 2 days to work out - and the end of 2015 I got it to match, so the differences were all last year - finally both the business and our books agree.
Next week is holiday time - Monday night is the start of Passover and next Friday is Good Friday, followed, of course, by Easter Sunday. If you are having people in for the holidays - do you have your house ready? Now is the time to start. Try to do better than throwing everything in that extra room with door that stays closed when people are over. - You thought I didn’t know about that? I started doing this when I was a kid - cleaning my room meant throwing everything in the bottom of the closet - this would result in my finding the leftover Halloween candy sometime the following August - luckily I never had bugs or other little visitors as a result of that. Try to actually toss out some items - or take them for donation. (I took 5 suitcases today for donation - one hard side rolling bag and the rest were soft bags that I managed to fit into the rolling bag. - a little more room in a closet for other stuff.) Plan out your menu if you doing the cooking or assign who will bring which dish if you have an arrangement where everyone brings part of the dinner. I keep my recipes for the holidays on the computer. They used to be in a cooking program (technically they still are, but it needs a parallel printer to print them out and that means running cables...) I printed them out and scanned them (remember I posted last October about how great and important it is to have a scanner and a printer - this is one example) into the computer. Now I can print them out when needed. I print the recipes I will use and throw them out as they are finished with - easy to see what still needs to be done. Even if you not are not going to be responsible for the hosting or cooking - make sure that everyone’s clothes will be ready for them to wear for the holidays.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Income taxes (here in the U.S.) are due April 18, a week from this coming Tuesday. There is still time to get them finished. If you find that you will not have them done - whether because you are too busy to do them, can’t find info, or did not get info from someone needed to prepare them, you can file for an extension of time to FILE. It is not an extension of time to pay - so make sure you have paid in enough for your taxes - from withholding or by filing estimated taxes - to be at least as close as possible. If your income is the same as last year as far as you know -then make sure you have paid in at least the same in taxes as your taxes were last year - 110% of last year’s if you have a high income.
There is a form from IRS to file to get the extension - it is automatic and you will have until October 15, 2017 to file. Depending on your state you might also have to file a form for an automatic extension or it might just be automatic. Again, this is an extension of time to FILE the return, not to pay the taxes.
If you do get an extension try to prepare and file your returns as soon as possible so if you do owe additional taxes you will pay as little in possible in any penalties and interest for paying late - and if you are getting a refund, don’t you want the money as soon as possible?
If you have not filed your taxes in the past - get them filed also. The April 18 date may be important for you too. If a return is filed more than 3 years late you will lose any refund due you and if you owe money on the returns you are adding penalties and interest to what you owe - every month and if you have not filed a return - then IRS (and the state’s) 3 years to go after you for taxes owed does not start to run and they can come after you until you file a return (then they have 3 years) or forever.
If you get a large refund you might want to change the amount withheld for taxes or pay less in estimates - a refund may be exciting, but IRS and your state is using your money. If you can pay less in advance without underpaying the taxes that is money in your pocket (or even better your bank account) during the year on which you can make (the current tiny rate of) interest or you can pay down a bill and pay less interest.
If you owe money - file your returns even if you cannot pay the amount due. Pay as much as you can and attach a letter explaining. Depending on how much you owe, a payment plan from IRS (state) maybe easier than you think to get - but you are paying interest (and will pay penalties for underpaying your taxes) until the amount due is paid off.
Another reason for paying your taxes is that there is a scam in which someone calls you and rather threateningly tells you that they are from the IRS (state) and you owe taxes - which won’t worry you if you know you don’t owe any taxes. In case you haven’t heard this - IRS (state) will not call you for payment of taxes without having mailed something to you first. Don’t fall for this scam. (Or similar ones claiming that if you do not pay immediately with a gift card your utilities will be shut off.) One thing to remember is that IRS, states, utilities will never tell you to buy gift cards to pay off an amount owed - especially not Apple gift cards. They will not want you to wire money to them. (There are postal laws that can be used against fraudsters, so they want they want the money otherwise sent to them - by wire, UPS, FedEx, etc.- to avoid the postal laws.) They will want payments by check. (They may also take credit cards and charge you a fee for using same.) Also if anyone ever calls claiming to be from the government or a utility and threatens you for payment. If you are unsure, ask if you can call them back - a refusal to allow you to do so is another indication that they are not legitimate. Call the government agency or the utility directly and ask them if this was a legitimate call. If you have a tax preparer - you should be able to call them for help. But again - if one is not delinquent, then one knows that one does not owe the money. Personally I do not talk to anyone who calls. We have our answering machine on all the time and we screen our calls (originally as we did not want to have to tell all the people who thought we were a pizza place, a doctor, or an eyeglass store that they were wrong, but now it is so we don’t talk to any of these con men). IRS has a link on the first page of their site to information about current scams.
I do have to give you a bit of disclaimer. I am not a CPA, just a garden variety of accountant and tax preparer. The information I have given (other than the fraud warnings) may or may not apply to you. It is always a good idea to use a legitimate tax preparer (IRS has a directory of tax preparers who meet certain education standards and have a good history of no problems with returns on their website). You can also find free help depending on your return and circumstances through various programs - check at your local library for these programs. IRS’s website is irs.gov
And don’t forget - it is never too early to start preparing for next year’s returns.
We did not go away for my husband’s birthday due to, yes, rain again. There is no point in going to outdoor market when a good chunk of the outdoor vendors will not be, especially if one is going to travel 3+ hours each way and pay over $20 in tolls to go there.
I have been busy finishing up client’s tax returns and have only one left to do and I am waiting for the information to do it. So I started on our personal and business returns. Money goes back and forth between us and the business - something is on our credit card for the business or vice versa, so the first thing I have to do is make sure what the business owes us is the same amount on the business’s books and on our books. Sometimes I post something on one set of books and forget to post it on the other. That took 2 days to work out - and the end of 2015 I got it to match, so the differences were all last year - finally both the business and our books agree.
Next week is holiday time - Monday night is the start of Passover and next Friday is Good Friday, followed, of course, by Easter Sunday. If you are having people in for the holidays - do you have your house ready? Now is the time to start. Try to do better than throwing everything in that extra room with door that stays closed when people are over. - You thought I didn’t know about that? I started doing this when I was a kid - cleaning my room meant throwing everything in the bottom of the closet - this would result in my finding the leftover Halloween candy sometime the following August - luckily I never had bugs or other little visitors as a result of that. Try to actually toss out some items - or take them for donation. (I took 5 suitcases today for donation - one hard side rolling bag and the rest were soft bags that I managed to fit into the rolling bag. - a little more room in a closet for other stuff.) Plan out your menu if you doing the cooking or assign who will bring which dish if you have an arrangement where everyone brings part of the dinner. I keep my recipes for the holidays on the computer. They used to be in a cooking program (technically they still are, but it needs a parallel printer to print them out and that means running cables...) I printed them out and scanned them (remember I posted last October about how great and important it is to have a scanner and a printer - this is one example) into the computer. Now I can print them out when needed. I print the recipes I will use and throw them out as they are finished with - easy to see what still needs to be done. Even if you not are not going to be responsible for the hosting or cooking - make sure that everyone’s clothes will be ready for them to wear for the holidays.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Income taxes (here in the U.S.) are due April 18, a week from this coming Tuesday. There is still time to get them finished. If you find that you will not have them done - whether because you are too busy to do them, can’t find info, or did not get info from someone needed to prepare them, you can file for an extension of time to FILE. It is not an extension of time to pay - so make sure you have paid in enough for your taxes - from withholding or by filing estimated taxes - to be at least as close as possible. If your income is the same as last year as far as you know -then make sure you have paid in at least the same in taxes as your taxes were last year - 110% of last year’s if you have a high income.
There is a form from IRS to file to get the extension - it is automatic and you will have until October 15, 2017 to file. Depending on your state you might also have to file a form for an automatic extension or it might just be automatic. Again, this is an extension of time to FILE the return, not to pay the taxes.
If you do get an extension try to prepare and file your returns as soon as possible so if you do owe additional taxes you will pay as little in possible in any penalties and interest for paying late - and if you are getting a refund, don’t you want the money as soon as possible?
If you have not filed your taxes in the past - get them filed also. The April 18 date may be important for you too. If a return is filed more than 3 years late you will lose any refund due you and if you owe money on the returns you are adding penalties and interest to what you owe - every month and if you have not filed a return - then IRS (and the state’s) 3 years to go after you for taxes owed does not start to run and they can come after you until you file a return (then they have 3 years) or forever.
If you get a large refund you might want to change the amount withheld for taxes or pay less in estimates - a refund may be exciting, but IRS and your state is using your money. If you can pay less in advance without underpaying the taxes that is money in your pocket (or even better your bank account) during the year on which you can make (the current tiny rate of) interest or you can pay down a bill and pay less interest.
If you owe money - file your returns even if you cannot pay the amount due. Pay as much as you can and attach a letter explaining. Depending on how much you owe, a payment plan from IRS (state) maybe easier than you think to get - but you are paying interest (and will pay penalties for underpaying your taxes) until the amount due is paid off.
Another reason for paying your taxes is that there is a scam in which someone calls you and rather threateningly tells you that they are from the IRS (state) and you owe taxes - which won’t worry you if you know you don’t owe any taxes. In case you haven’t heard this - IRS (state) will not call you for payment of taxes without having mailed something to you first. Don’t fall for this scam. (Or similar ones claiming that if you do not pay immediately with a gift card your utilities will be shut off.) One thing to remember is that IRS, states, utilities will never tell you to buy gift cards to pay off an amount owed - especially not Apple gift cards. They will not want you to wire money to them. (There are postal laws that can be used against fraudsters, so they want they want the money otherwise sent to them - by wire, UPS, FedEx, etc.- to avoid the postal laws.) They will want payments by check. (They may also take credit cards and charge you a fee for using same.) Also if anyone ever calls claiming to be from the government or a utility and threatens you for payment. If you are unsure, ask if you can call them back - a refusal to allow you to do so is another indication that they are not legitimate. Call the government agency or the utility directly and ask them if this was a legitimate call. If you have a tax preparer - you should be able to call them for help. But again - if one is not delinquent, then one knows that one does not owe the money. Personally I do not talk to anyone who calls. We have our answering machine on all the time and we screen our calls (originally as we did not want to have to tell all the people who thought we were a pizza place, a doctor, or an eyeglass store that they were wrong, but now it is so we don’t talk to any of these con men). IRS has a link on the first page of their site to information about current scams.
I do have to give you a bit of disclaimer. I am not a CPA, just a garden variety of accountant and tax preparer. The information I have given (other than the fraud warnings) may or may not apply to you. It is always a good idea to use a legitimate tax preparer (IRS has a directory of tax preparers who meet certain education standards and have a good history of no problems with returns on their website). You can also find free help depending on your return and circumstances through various programs - check at your local library for these programs. IRS’s website is irs.gov
And don’t forget - it is never too early to start preparing for next year’s returns.
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