It's Tax Time

Oh joy! See this mess.....this is the exact reason I am trying to get more organized this year. I refuse to do this again. I already have my new checking account with debit cards for me and Irv so all of my business expenses will be in one place. Well, they were in one place this year...

See that nice blue book that says Monthly Bookkeeping on the front. I bought that book in January of 2009. I bought it so I could keep a nice record of my spending for my business.

See the blank pages? Yep! I never entered a single thing!

Well, my expenses were all in one place though. The receipts were shoved in between the pages of the nice blue book. No, not in the proper month....all just shoved in there so I wouldn't lose them!

So now I get to sit and sort all of the receipts into little piles for Joann's, Hancock Fabrics, Hobby Lobby, Menards, the resale shops and the Post Office. Then I get to sit and tally it all up. Once I have the totals, I will put it all on a spreadsheet of sorts and it will go to our tax guy with our personal tax stuff. Then we sit and wait for the news.

Why am I in such a hurry to do my taxes? Because IF we get any money back...that determines IF we get to go on vacation this summer....and I love vacation and I want to know ASAP if we get to go so I can start planning.

Last year we were out shopping when our tax guy called. He said, "Well, you are going on vacation." I asked, "Are we going to Hawaii, Colorado or Wisconsin?" He said, "Colorado," and that was just fine with me!

Vacation Dreams

When Irv left our CPA's office on Friday, he told him that we were NOT paying this year and to do whatever he had to do so we get a tax refund! Our CPA is also a good friend of ours, so we can talk to him like that. We can only go on vacation if we get a refund, so there is always a lot riding on our taxes.

We have been friends with Jim since our son Michael and his son Matt played baseball together many, many years ago.

We were at Joann Fabrics when his call came in. He said, "It looks like you will be going on vacation this summer." I quickly asked, "Vacation as in a long weekend, Colorado or Hawaii?". His response was, "Colorado".

I am so excited! When you work hard all year, that vacation......even if it isn't extravagant or to a far off tropical island...means a whole lot. We don't go a lot of places or spend a lot of money during the year, because the truth of the matter is...we live paycheck to paycheck and there is never any extra money.

The money we often get back at tax time...is our vacation...and we need a vacation. It is so much fun to pack up the car and just drive off to wherever we are going. Lately, Colorado seems to be the destination of choice. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love that state. It is amazing. Every day can be a different adventure there...and it is still my dream and my goal to live there one day.

There aren't too many places I want to travel to. I would like to visit the northeast and I would like to do a cruise to Alaska and maybe visit Hawaii. I love wildlife, so anywhere I can see animals in the wild would be fine with me! The zoo just doesn't cut it. Europe some day maybe, but if I never get there, I won't be terribly disappointed. Australia....I think I would love that, but it would take a lot more than a tax refund to get us there!

So, if all goes well between now and the end of June...we will be headed to Colorado for a week or two. I want to visit the Loveland area because that is where I think I might want to live one day, and then we will visit Matt in Telluride if he is going to be around. I know he is planning a summer road trip, so we will see.

Are you able to take a vacation? If not, do you manage to get away now and then for a long weekend? Where do you vacation and where would you like to vacation?