You Don’t Have to Be Scared of Tax Time!

• making the bookshelf easier to use and keep in order
• organizing the paper magazines I use as a resource for writing my blog articles and e-books
  keep track of ongoing projects
• organizing my children’s school and medical records
• labeling important toys (that one was one my youngest twin insisted I add to the list)

No matter what you have around the house and office, you can organize it better with labels and the DYMO LabelWriter450 Value Pack ®.

For those of you concerned about tax season, here is a quick and easy tutorial to help you get ready and stay ready for tax season all year long.

The best way to get ready for tax season is to stay ready all year long. Organization doesn’t have to be hard, complicated or expensive. In addition, if you set up your system right once, you can stay organized with just a little effort. You will need just a few tools to get organized. Gather the following things together:

• DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack
• computer
• large file folders
• pens
• loose leaf binder
• loose leaf paper
• loose leaf dividers
• plastic sheet protectors
• box or large tote bag for storage

Once you have gathered these tools together you are ready to begin.

This is the big pile of stuff that needs help from the DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack.

1.     Get ALL your financial information together in front of you. This means bank statements, bills, credit card statements, pay stubs, mortgage statements and utility bills. If it has anything to do with your money get it all together.

2.    Start sorting things out in steps. Separate the things that have to do with the money that came to you from the money you paid out to others. Initially, you can call this an in pile and an out pile.

Make sure you get the pens, loose leaf book and files close at hand to start organizing things.

3.     Get out the file folders.

4.     Separate things into logical categories. Use categories like bank statements, pay stubs, credit card bills, mortgage payments, money from clients.

Use the file folders to keep things separated into categories. Later you can label these and store them or you can put them in a loose-leaf binder.

5.     Continue to separate your piles into smaller categories.Give each bank item its own folder. This means you may have three bank account folders, four credit card folders, one folder for each job and ten folders for money from clients.

6.     Once you have a category for each item use your DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack to make a label for each folder so items are easy to identify.

7.     Now it is time to get out the loose leaf binder, loose leaf paper, plastic sheet protectors and the pens.

8.     Use your DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack to create a label for the year of the records you are keeping. If this is for your 2015 tax return due by April 15, 2016, for example, you will be using records from 2015, so your label will be for 2015.

9.     Separate all the file folders into two categories one for money that comes in you and another for the money you pay out.

10.    Gather all the folders that deal with money that comes in together, you will work on them first.

11.    Use the loose leaf dividers and the DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack to create sub-categories for money in such as bank statements, investment accounts, pay stubs, W-2s, loans and the like.

12.    Next create two labels with the name, address, phone number and account number for each item that has a file folder. Start with the first file folder. Place one label on a sheet of loose leaf paper, on the loose leaf paper list the balance on the most recent statement from the file folder. Place one label on a plastic sheet protector. Place all the items from the file folder in the sheet protector and place it in the loose leaf binder behind the related sheet of loose leaf paper.

13.    Follow this method for with each file folder in the pile of folders. As you add the sheets of loose leaf paper and sheet protectors to the loose leaf binder, be careful to keep them in alphabetical order so they are easy to find later.

Having a place for everything and putting everyone in its place makes life easier now and in the long run.

14.    Use the loose leaf dividers and your DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack to create major categories such as credit card accounts, mortgage loans, utility bills, loan payments, student loans, supplies, equipment, toll receipts.

This neat, organized loose-leaf binder looks much better  and is easier to use than that big pile of stuff you saw at the top of this article!

This method is a good starting place for most people. It is a good system because it is easy to follow no matter what a person’s level of sophistication. It is also a good system because it is a basic accounting system that can be expanded and used by small and large business owners. Once you have this loose leaf binder, you have all your records in order to give to your accountant and will make her job much easier. Trust me, accountants would prefer to get this nice, neat and labeled loose leaf binder over a shopping back of receipts papers and papers any day!

This article has shown you that the DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack is a great tool for helping you get organized and stay organized. The DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack will help you save time and money. You will avoid the aggravation and hassle of printing sheet labels with your printer. This machine will save you time and money. In fact, if you purchase the 4 LabelWriter label rolls the DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack is now free. Pick one up now because being organized is an important first step in avoiding procrastination at tax time.

Stop by your local Staples store to pick one up. If you need help to find a Staples store near you, with the DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack, click this link for help. If you cannot get to the store, don’t worry. The DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack can come to you. Go to the website  and order it online with ease!

The website is easy to navigate and I was able to find the DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack  with ease.

If you would like to check out more looks at how DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack can help you at tax time, click here to check out some exciting and interesting ideas.

Now that you see how easy it is to get organized and ready for that tax preparation appointment with your accountant, admit it, you feel just a little better don’t you?