with Britt Reints
Forget the 9 to 5; Full Time, All the Time is a blog about the mobile working life - when you have the freedom to work from anywhere and the responsibility of always having your smartphone turned on. Britt Reints works as a freelance writer while traveling fulltime in an RV with her husband and two kids. She explores balancing real-life bills with an unconventional work life, and finding time to maintain relationships with family and friends.
You can also find Britt at InPursuitOfHappiness.net.
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It’s tax time.
Or rather, it’s tax time for people who put off doing their taxes until the last minute. People like me.
While I was gathering all of my paperwork this morning in preparation, I lamented my lack of 1) an accountant, 2) a consistent filing system, and 3) ability to be a real grown up. I do this every year.
As I sorted through the receipts I’d stored on Evernote, the emails I’d labeled “taxes” and archived on GMail, and the additional expenses I found going through my bank statements, I wondered why I hadn’t just picked one system to use for the entire year. Perhaps I could have done a mini-gathering each month, at least. Better still, I could have contracted an accountant to take care of all of this for me.
If I’d been working with an accountant, I probably wouldn’t be taking the one-eye-closed, deep breath as I calculate, waiting to see if what I’ve set aside all year will be enough to cover my tax liability. I’d probably be paying quarterly taxes, too, like the really responsible freelancers. Instead, I’m hoping and praying my monthly transfers to a savings account were adequate.
I hate this annual dance. Hate it. And yet every year I only confront my terrible accounting at tax time, when the current year is already a quarter over (HOLY COW, 2012 is 25% done!), and I feel like I’m already behind the next eight ball. Already defeated, I resolve to get through this tax deadline and think about next year… later.
Like, April 15, 2013 later.
*hangs head in shame*
Tell me you have at least one irresponsible habit you haven’t been able to shake.
I’m a horrible procrastinator. Not on my taxes because that freaks me out, but I still haven’t made arrangements to move the RV that has to be moved in 2 weeks. I start getting things done when they start waking me up at 4am. It’s terrible.
Lisa | April 11th, 2012 at 12:55 pm