Mountains vs Molehills

I've come to realize the reason why I need to have a resolution of sorts to "declutterfy" this year is because I turn every molehill of a task into a mountain. If I don't have time for the mountain, I don't have time for the molehill. At least that's how it plays out. Do you do this, too? 

It usually goes something like this. Oh, wow, the top of the bookcase sure needs to be dusted. But dusting the top isn't half enough. The top of all the books are dusty, too. I should take them out and dust them. And dust the shelves while they're empty. And pull the case away from the wall and clean behind there. And the bookcase really needs to be repainted. After the surface is properly prepped. What color? Geez, I don't have time for all this right now.

And that's why the top of the bookcase is still dusty. Because the bookcase requires a week or more to clean it, prepare the surface, prime it, paint it, and allow the paint to cure.

This week I've been climbing the mountain of tax preparation. Despite my good intentions to attend to bookkeeping at least once a month in 2012, that didn't happen. Despite my intention to create an inventory tracking system in 2012, that didn't happen. And so on. On the plus side, after all my reading of IRS publications and instructions I think I have a handle on how to track my inventory and account for cost of goods sold. Trying to recreate an entire year after the fact is challenging, but no more than I deserve. I'll get it all done properly and on time, but this would have been a lot easier and more pleasant if I had attended to my molehills over the course of the year before they grew into mountains.

Another plus of actually reading the IRS materials, I found two completely contradictory sets of instructions for the same line on Schedule C. And you bet I emailed the IRS through the feedback section of their website to let them know of their mistake. Take that, IRS!

Oh, you think I should have spent the time calculating my cost of goods sold instead of emailing the IRS? Perhaps you're right.