Those Pesky Pieces of Paper...

They're everywhere you turn...in a drawer, dog-eared in a book, stuffed in your wallet or crammed in a file--your subtle attempt at organization and accountability.  Yet, every year, it's the same thing, pulling all of those receipts together for tax time.  Yup!  It's that time of year again.  Just when you breath that sigh of relief that the last Christmas gift return is made and you are looking to the upcoming Super Bowl and Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes, you remember that there's a stack of paper and Uncle Sam gently nudging you "to get it together".

Each January, Jake and I open our credenza and stare wide-eyed and the file of receipts from the previous year.  From donations to business expenses and everything in between we vow that next year, we will start with separate files for each group.  But like any resolution, life gets in the way and old habits die hard when you're in a hurry with day to day nuances, so the stuffing begins.  It's well-intended at first, so few in the file that you can organize them appropriately next week.  Then the file balloons a little during the first quarter and you vow that when you turn in your taxes to the accountant in March or April, you'll reorganize then.  Well, you're so exhausted by the rigor that the IRS puts you through, you feel as if you are owed a break--receipts be damned, you can do them over the summer but before half the year is up.  Fast forward to "back to school" and getting re-organized for the new school  year and the file is already starting to look like it ate a ticker-tape parade.  By that time, it's too far gone and you know that you'll just organize it over the Christmas break when you have "plenty" of time.  Yea right!

So here we are, receipts of all shapes and sizes.  Handwritten notes grace their margins and in reality it's a little like a trip down memory lane when you sort them at one time.  A timeline of sorts--your personal year-in-review.  Easy to tell if the year was good (fat file) or if it was lean.  It's a great time to set goals for business planning, technology upgrades and personal savings.  Those tiny, tangible tickets of your memories are there for you to study and assess in preparation for your future while appreciating the blessings of your recent past. 

Organizing them throughout the year just wouldn't be right...

Brooke