Happy new year, pass the bleach

Okay, so I’m a schmuck who makes New Year’s resolutions. Kinda sorta. Maybe. It depends.

This is how it goes.

On New Year’s Day, I take down the Christmas tree, throw a sheet over it and stick it in the coat closet. In my world (and it took me 6 years to bring Dude around to it, although he won’t ever completely be around to it), you decorate a Christmas tree once about every ten years. And only once.

Next: Taxes. This means bookkeeping.

If I’ve been a good girl all year, this will only take me 2 or 3 days. If I haven’t, well … a week. It involves the following:

• Paring files.
• Sorting receipts.
• Tossing, shredding, burning.
• And other activities indicative of office-spring-cleaning.

What do I end up with? A clean office, clean files, and my cursor on the TurboTax SEND button the minute Dude’s W-2 hits our mailbox.

• Next: Hard drives.
• Next: Storage room.
• Next: Projects A, B, and C

Get the drift?

I might not get all of this done, but I like to spend the new year cleaning out the past year and preparing for the new one. I simply cannot make any New Year’s resolutions until I burn through the past, look to the future, and figure out where I need to go next—

—which means I usually end up making my New Year’s resolutions on or about November 12.