TwitterMar 21 2010
Taxes, receipts, Excel, resolutions . . .
Soooo, my internet went down…again for a couple days. Combine that with my life swamping me in… The Kids on Spring Break, Caring for Zac, Tax Season, Working, My Business… and you have a bunch of days blank. But I’m back today. 
I’ve spent a lot of time this week on something I’m not particularly fond of…book keeping. You could say that I’m finally doing that aspect of our business after all this time. Oh, I’ve been keeping receipts. That’s one thing that I do do. I keep most of them in a file. In my two drawer, Rubbermaid, file cabinet. Others are “stored” in various forms: emails, pay pal history, bank statements… So, since it is that “most wonderful time of the year”, and I’m not referring to Christmas, I needed to gather all that information together into one neat pile and present it all to my friend/tax lady/accountant.
You could say I’ve spent a lot of time on that project this week. Which spurred the following public announcement, made because I believe this will help me hold to my resolution…my New Year’s Resolution/Goal for 2010–yeah, yeah, I know a little late, but better late…–is to get my act together with this whole finance thing. My friend/tax lady/accountant pressed me to allow her to teach me how to use Excel. She claims that its’ simple. The way she said it you could easily envision “simple” with a bold, capital S. I need to let her teach me since, as she says, “it will make your life so much better.” Well, all I can say is that’s a steep promise to make. I mean…make my life better. Wow. Here I am working day and night on my business and my inner healing work all for the end goal of making my life better and a simple thing like Excel is going to accomplish that for me. Amazing. Who knew?? So much for the view of people who live, breath, eat, and dream numbers and columns. LOL. 
“Frankly,” I told her “I wish I had the money to pay you to do it all. Because I would.”
I want you to know that I love my friend/tax lady/accountant. From the day I met her five years ago there was an instant bond between us. So I am thankful to her for what she is about to do. But then on the other hand who ever knew then that I would have her to thank for a better life?
But seriously, enough of my punchy, I need sleep, pounding words out on my key board, I mean all this. I’m going to finally go where I’ve never gone before. I’m going to learn how to keep track of my financial life. My personal life needs me to. My business needs me too even more…
Here’s an amusing antidote for you…for my whole life I’ve been surrounded by book keeping/accountant types who LOVE this sort of thing. They live and die by it.
Now two amusing facts/stories that reveal who those people are:
One of them is my “ex”. He went to college for his accounting degree and was in that profession for nearly 12 years. He lives in Excel. I mean this literally. His entire life can be found in there. If there’s anything that has numbers, I promise you it’s on a spread sheet. Now I’m not putting him down. Frankly he amazes me with his skill at creating those calculated sheets. See all the years of our marriage I groaned and ran from the bills, check book, anything that resembled book keeping. I didn’t do any of that, but I did keep every single receipt–well okay almost every single receipt–and pass it along to him. This was a crucial thing for me to do…if I wanted peace. He had to have those receipts. Because, see, he had coloumns to fill in. No receipt…a space would go empty.
I’ll tell you those blooming recipts caused more than one arguement…
The other is my mother. She is the duplicate of my “ex”. She’s all over numbers. Works them with the ease of Julia Childs with food. I gave her quite a lot of concern as to what would happen to me, being so number resistant.
Back in the early days of my marriage I was the one who handled the check book. A serious mistake… Well something was going on with my check book so she took everything from me–months and months of stuff…–and tried to reconcile it. After hours of stabbing away at those large number buttons on her huge accountant/calculator thing– that remains a mystery to me to this day– that steadily spit out miles of white receipt tape imprinted with black numbers, she tore it off and declared it completely unsaveable. “Close the account,” she said. So I did.
But that really didn’t solve anything…Ergo, the “ex” took over. Which as I think about it may be the very reason he decided to go to college for accounting. Well, look at that. My weakness inspired another human being to greater things in life…
Night, love ya,
Theresa Jane
-I hope tax season is going well for you! It’s served to transform mine
We have found so many things that we have in common since becoming friends. This is not one of them. I was the Herkimer County Humane Society accountant when I lived in NY. I managed a Gift Shop in NY and had to count the money there. I have always been the money girl in both marriages. The checkbook needs to be to the penny. Kip must give receipts to me, although doing on-line banking I have the total of what his receipts are before he even gets home. I have a spreadsheet on excel for our household spending. I have a file cabinet filled with files for each and every paper bill or statement that comes into this house. The last math class I took was in 9th grade. I went to BOCES to learn how to cut hair so I didn’t even go to college. I had been taught by my parents how to manage money and keep great records. I have to give them credit for all they taught mt brother and I. They always used the reason for all our lessons starting around age 10 that if they died today would we know how to take care of ourselves and the home. We learned to cook, clean, shop and save money. I think I would go completely crazy not knowing how much money comes in and goes out at least every month. I wish you luck in the learning of numbers. I think it would feel very good to prove to your ex and your mom that you can do it all. I really think it will make a difference in your life and save you money. Good luck!
I hope Zach is feeling better, and his numbers keep getting better.
I’m impressed at your order and promptness in dealing with your bills and so forth. I marvel. I personally am just not the type to want to do any of it. I will do so much of so many different things. With relentless hours devoted to whatever it is and takes. It’s just that those numbers and totals and tracking of it all…not me. On this topic my mind is drawn to the movie, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and the accountant in there. I was moved nearly to tears in the scene where he explains how he is different then others in that he shows his love and concern through making sure everyone’s form and documents are all filled in and in order. The reason for the tears was It was the first time I appreciated my “ex’s” accounting drive to keep all the numbers in neat tidy rows.
We all are wired a certain way. We all have our “thing”. Our gift. Our interests. What makes us tick. And we are each to be respected an honored for who we are–I just wish the US government got this and didn’t put us all through the grueling April 15th gig we have to endure each and every year.
And I do agree with your statement, which surprised me btw, about me feeling very good in proving to my ex and mom that I can do it all. You know you have something there. Although book keeping and number/expense tracking has always been something that will cause an unmonitored moan to exit my lips it is also an area that has caused an underlying inferiority feeling within me. Which I have to think goes back to my posts on my feelings of worthlessness, and fuels that issue to some degree. They have both had many a moment where they have had their comments to me about my “inadequacies” in the this area…
And Zac, well over the weekend I was noticing a sudden improvement in him. He is laughing more and interacting with peacefulness in a manner I haven’t seen in a looooong time. Thank God.
Theresa Jane
To me you are a Wonder Women in so many ways. I would never be able to work at the pace you do. The money thing has to be done, if not by you then may you be blessed to have someone to do it for you. I completely agree about the fact that different people excel in different areas. We can’t all be expected to be great at everything, and we shouldn’t be made to feel bad if we lack in some way.
I am so glad to hear that Zach is getting back to is old self. You are a great Mom and I hope you know what a difference you make in his life.
My dream is to have someone else do the whole money thing. I believe that day will come. But in the meantime I’ve got to suck this thing up and get with it. Because if not me, then who?????
Thank you for your kind comments. As always there are meaningful to me.
Theresa Jane