[December Update]
Don’t lose my mind. This is debatable, but we managed to pack everything (using only carry-on luggage!), clean our apartment (which NEVER happens before trips!), and wrap all our Christmas gifts by December 16th (impossible!), I’m going to call it a success. Our flight was delayed and we spent 8 hours at the Philadelphia airport, we had to leave a day early from San Juan, and we traveled with a 2-year-old – so not losing my mind was a fairly unexpected feat.
Drink water. Erm. I was really bad at keeping track of this. It’s such an easy thing to do, so why do I have such a hard time remembering to do it?
Floss. Before we left, yes! Every day! After that, no. But I just made a dentist appointment for next week, so…time to start again! (I am terrible. I realize this.)
Get some form of physical activity every day. YES. I am really proud of this one, since I managed to do 30 Day Shred, Pilates on Hulu, run, walk, lift weights, or do calisthenics each and every day before we left. (And in Puerto Rico, we walked a few miles every day, so I’m counting that as a win, too – it’s not often you can go on vacation, eat everything, and only gain a pound.) Again, it seems like exercise is something that I can make time for, I just often don’t. And it’s especially discouraging this time of year when it’s single digit degrees and there’s six inches of snow on the ground, since my favorite forms of physical activity are walking and running outside.
[January Intentions]
Don’t buy anything. I’m not shopping or spending money outside of medical needs, groceries, bills, etc. for January and February. You’re doing a cleanse from overeating cookies? I’m doing a cleanse from overspending. (Except I just got an iPhone with my Christmas gift card. WHAT.)
Be nicer to Mike. Why is it that we can be most impatient and short with our spouses? (Or…maybe it’s just me?) either way, I am…not always super nice to Mike. I want to appreciate him more verbally and be better at catching myself when I’m not being nice to him. I figure being conscious about it is the first step.
Clean out email. My inbox is in the hundreds and hundreds of emails. I just reduced my work inbox down to the emails that need action taken, which I should do for my Gmail (which is a combo of person and business emails). Any resources or methods or organizing Gmail inboxes/folders/labels/stars/etc is welcome! (I have folders…but I never use them because I forget to look at the folders and forget to respond to those emails.)
Start taxes (read two articles or find professional help…EEK). I am doing my taxes for Little Leaf for the first time as a sole proprietor and have…no idea what I’m doing. I have done my own taxes since I was in college and am fairly good at bookkeeping-type stuff, but I am really unsure of what to do about sole prop taxes. I’m hoping TurboTax can help me.
Finish Why Wait? and firm up my goals for the year. Most of my monthly goals are fairly bite-sized and manageable, so I want to set some overarching visions for the direction I want to go in. I do struggle with having appropriate expectations of myself in the season of life (small child, husband in school), so I’ll need to work at reigning in some of the things that are great but maybe not the right thing for me at this point.
May our Januarys be full of good things, despite the slush and snow, short days and gray skies*.
*(At least in Ohio)
I’ve been keeping my Gmail inbox clean for a few years now (my work email is another story… ugh.) The way I organize it is pretty basic – I archive EVERYTHING. The only emails that are currently in my inbox are ones that I need to respond to. Gmail Labs has a cool feature where you can activate the “Send + Archive” button so as soon as you reply to something, it automatically gets archived. The thread returns when you receive a reply. I like to keep my “Needs Action” inbox to fewer than 15 emails, but sometimes they build up and I clean them out every so often.
As for labels, I use them because I have been using them for a long time, and it’s an easy way to keep track of important things like airline information, receipts + shipping confirmations, etc. I use those for quickly finding things, but Gmail’s search function is pretty stellar so you might not find much use for them. If you find yourself searching for the same type of email over and over, maybe set up a label for that. ALSO: labels can be nested! So you could have a Little Leaf label with your clients nested underneath, if that’s helpful.
Anyway, this is really long but if you have any questions feel free to email me! And if you’re not sure where to start… here’s how I did it. I selected ALL OF THE EMAILS, and then unchecked any recent ones that needed a follow up. Then I archived EVERYTHING ELSE. If there was something from 2 months ago that I needed? I could search for it, but this way was so much easier than trying to go back and find “important” emails from months ago. Good luck!
I have been a freelancer (and thus sole proprieter) for many years, and it really isn’t too difficult. Turbo Tax makes it very simple so you should be able to get what you need taken care of. As long as you have good records of everything, and you have been saving your self-employment tax stuff (or sending it in quarterly!) then you’ll be good to go. Make sure to spend some time and calculate ALL of your expenses though. Everything. Paper. Pens. Internet usage. Phone usage. Anything and everything you use to manage your biz.
The only thing I never did was the “office space” deduction from rent / mortgage, only because you have to have a dedicated space that you only do business work from, and I never did that so it didn’t work for me. The Turbo Tax community forums also have plenty of FAQs.
Of course, my freelance writing is small potatoes compared to your design empire ;) so you might want to talk to a professional the first year. But I think if you have a handle on book-keeping, you’ll have a handle on your taxes.
Hey Ashley – I’ve been reading your blog for a while (came for the no-shampoo, stayed for the constant inspiration) so I don’t feel like a complete shill saying this (though, warning, it’s shilly) … I’m an accountant and I focus on small business and creative entrepreneurs, so let me know if I can help in any way!
/self promotion
I either star something in gmail (I have it sorted for priority and then everything else) or don’t – if it’s not starred I know I can junk it later. Each night I try to take 20 minutes to sit down and go through the starred stuff – then it labeled and usually archived unless I’m waiting on a response and need to keep it as a reminder. If that’s the case I’ll unstar it, but leave it in the inbox – I always make my labels crazy colors so it draws my attention. It sounds like a lot but once you get into the routine of it, it will make your life SO much easier!
I particularly appreciate your note about being nicer to Mike. Not because I think you’re a bitch (I’m not there to judge to that level), but because I think it’s really easy for couples to take one another for granted … to assume we’ll always stand by each other’s side no matter how much crap we dish at one another … to misdirect our frustrations with the world towards the ones we love the most. I’m not sure what the balance between you and Mike is like. In my house, Sweets is smooth and steady. I’m the hot-head (or “the more passionate one” as I like to describe myself). So, he generally takes my wrath a lot more than I take his. We generally try to be fair to one another, but this is a good reminder to be consciously kind to the ones we love. Thanks.
H+H accounting in Munroe Falls. You bring the numbers and Dave will fit them on all of the needed forms and knows all of the tax laws better than turbo tax.
I just got so excited to see that you’re using my ebook/workbook! Hope it’s helpful :D
I love your intentions posts- it makes me want to reflect as well! Ugg. Taxes. I am trying to figure out them for my bf’s graphic design business and I wish that understanding taxes was not like trying to read a new language. Plus he hired 4 employees. Eeek!
And it is hard being nice to our partner sometimes especially when you feel stretched thin with time.
But the fact that you notice (which some partners don’t or don’t care) means you can adjust yourself when you feel the not-niceness coming on! I always say something in my head to calm me down like “Hawaii” when I am getting annoyed or irritated and then I am able to adjust.
I love that one of your goals is to be nicer to Mike, that’s cute :) I definitely think when I’m in a bad mood I will take it out on Eric before I would ever say anything to anyone else… I try really hard not to though. It’s another one of my MANY fears about having kids that I will have less patience and not put as much effort into this then. Ugh.
Anyway, your goals are great- it sounds like you did a good job with your December ones. I am also not the best about flossing and tend to have a panic before I go to the dentist that I must do it every single night. I was recently thinking I may do some kind of reward chart for myself in the bathroom to make myself floss every night and not just when I have time (obviously the have time thing is made up since it takes me 1 minute to do this haha).
physical activity is definitely a goal of mine for this year too. i need to get more active even if it’s just walking the stairs at work more than once a day. great goals, good luck!
Using filters in Gmail can be helpful, too. You can click the tab from within the email and set up a “filter messages like this” then apply a label or send them to a folder and then every time one of those emails show up, zip zap! into the proper folder they go!
Be nicer to spouse is the nicest thing I’ve read on the internet in a long time. And one thing I will be adding to my life intentions.
Thanks for the brilliantly simple, yet life-changing idea!
For Gmail, I made a “01 To Do” and “02 To Read” and “03 In Progress” labels. The numbers are just to move them to the top of your list. Then you can go into Labs and set up Multiple Inboxes. You have to enable the lab first and then go back in to settings and it will be its own tab and then you can configure it from there so your To Do, To Read, In Progress (or labels would work best for you) are under your regular inbox. That way it’s all on the page, but you still technically have 0 Inbox.
Good luck on being nicer to Mike! I keep thinking that I really need to stop nagging Lee, but what does one do when someone persists in not doing what they’re asked to do?! ;)
I think considering you were on vacation in December you did really well with your goals! Good luck in January :)
If competing is more your style, try the Email Game for gmail (http://emailga.me/). I love it! It forces you to make an immediate decision about an email, and keeps track of your “score” each time. Best way I have found to get my inbox to zero.
I love how awesome you did at your december goals. and I’ve gotta tell ya,… we do need reminders to be nicer to our spouses. some days its hard not to be overly critical of our spouses and actions (or inactions). Best of luck with your january intentions. and happy 2013. xo
These are great intentions for the month, and Happy iPhone!!!! That must be such an exciting feeling. You’ll rock taxes, and remember you can claim your Paypal fees. Such a great trick :)
Maybe you can send my lazy butt a text when you are about to work out so I have someone to hold me responsible! I definitely do NOT workout everyday, but I am trying really hard to look amazing in my wedding dress!
Wonderful intentions for the first month of the year, Ashley, and I want to take a page out of your book and start writing down mine each month. :) And congrats on winning on your December intentions.
Taxes as a business owner… they scared me a lot, and I ended up working with an accountant on mine the first year. The good thing? They aren’t too challenging to figure out, and they are a lot less intimidating once you speak to someone about it and get your bearings straight on them. (At least, that’s how it was for me.)
Best of luck with your January intentions!
Reading your posts makes me wish we could smoosh Ohio and Missouri together.
You’re so inspiring! I am with you on not spending any money in the next few months. We have some unexpected bills/changes to our budget this month so I need that time to see where we are going to land with it anyway, so that’s a great idea. I don’t know how well I’ll do but I’m going to try.
And flossing. I’m good about it two weeks before the doctor and two weeks after. And then not so much. I really need to fix that!