Organizing your tax documents

Preparing your tax documents each year does not have to be a daunting task. Having everything ready and organized for when you sit down and do your tax returns, helps cut down on time needed to actually complete them, tremendously.

Get yourself in a good position to be perfectly prepared to complete your tax returns next year. If your taxes have been filed, place all your receipts and documents into an envelope or a folder, label it and store it away with the past 7 years worth of tax documents.

If you have received your notice of assessment, place that document in a new folder labeled and to be used for your next year's tax documents. This document contains a lot of information that you will be using on your next year's return so it's good to have it handy.

Label few envelopes where you will keep the documents as you receive them throughout the year: for instance you will have one for medical bills, charity donation receipts, metropasses etc.

Keep these all together in your "tax 2009" folder and next year going through your tax return will be a breeze!

Spring cleaning - organizing your clothes

As the temperatures are rising (well everywhere else except Toronto) - it's a good time to start taking small steps towards changing from your winter to summer clothes. Here are some of the first few steps you can take towards smooth transition to summer season wardrobe:

- Select few items that you know you will no longer wear until next winter:

• some of these items need to be dry cleaned before being stored away
• some sweaters and pants just need to be washed
• take a few of these per day and start preparing them for being stored away for the rest of the summer

- Once clean - start putting these items of clothing away: in storage, back of the closet, another room in your home, in the bins under your bed ...

- You can do the same for the shoes or accessories, simply pick a few that you will no longer be using and start finding them a new home - all while making room in your closet for the summer clothes to be displayed back from the storage

- Clearing your wardrobe:

• Before storing that sweater for the rest of the summer, think about how many times you wore it this past winter? You will easily come across many of your clothing items or accessories or shoes that you haven't used all winter - this probably means that you won't use it next winter either. Therefore, instead of storing them, start putting a pile together that you can take to your local Goodwill store.
• You might also notice while going through all your clothes that you have too many of the same items and can decide to give some of these away, either to charity or family members, friends etc.