At our house…we have a little arrangement.
My husband does the taxes…I do the toilets.
It’s a nice arrangement. It works for me.
Since we are self-employed…tax time is not a pretty one around here. We never rush to get our taxes done early so that we can get our (what are those things called again?)…oh yeah… tax refund.
Yeah, we don’t get one of those. We always get to write a big check on April 15.
We’ve never had the benefit of our employer paying for half of our social security tax…so we get to pay the whole amount. (ouch)
And, there are SO many crazy details to figure out…with mileage…expenses…supplies…what percentage of the house can we write off…
Oh, there’s so much fine print. And so many details. And forms. And details.
Therefore, I’m completely and totally thrilled that my husband is willing to read all of the fine print and details on all of the forms and figure out our taxes.
I would MUCH rather clean the toilets. (And we have four little boys…so uh…well…you know…)
So that’s our arrangement….Matt does the taxes…I do the toilets.
Now, he doesn’t think that’s fair…since he only has to do the taxes once a year…and I have to wash the toilets…well…more often than that.
But I’ve assured him over and over as he labors over the piles of forms and crunches numbers on the calculator until three in the morning for several days in a row…that I’m really okay with it. Really.
So, we got the taxes done and turned in yesterday…so his job is over for a while.
As for me…our little tax write-offs have done a number in both bathrooms…and I’m gonna go grab the toilet brush.
(Huh. Is there any way we can use a percentage of the toilet brush as a tax write off? Yeah…probably not.)
Just curious? Which would you rather do…toilets or taxes?!
Catherine says
I’d rather do the toilets anyday. Much less complicated … and if anybody complains about the state of the toilets they are invited to try and do a better job themselves. (Not something you can really say to the tax department.)
Lisa says
Toilets, anyday!!!!!! I did our taxes for awhile, and, believe me, I don’t lose sleep over the toilets……
owlhaven says
Taxes. Definitely. But with all our little ‘deductions’ we always get a refund, so I have that little extra bit of motivation….
Mary, mom to many
Niki Nowell says
I’d rather do toilets, BUT (no pun intended) BOTH jobs fall to me. I’m going to file a complaint with the guy in charge. :)
We are in the same boat as you two, being self-employed and all. This will be the LAST year I stay up until wee hours of the morning stressing and crying and throwing things. O.K. I didn’t actually throw anything but a tantrum – and a quiet one so my three little deductions wouldn’t wake up. Maybe I should have called Matt for advice. :)
Marie says
I’d take taxes any day!! They’re not nearly as bad as toilets!
Heather - Doodle Acres says
I’d rather pay someone to do both!!! LOL
Kendra at Handprints On The Wall says
I can totally relate! I’ve been doing our bookkeeping and taxes for our small business for the past three years, and it is a CHORE!! My venturous husband just started another business, so now I have to do partnership taxes too! I just got them mailed out yesterday. Boy, I hope I did it right! I always worry that I forgot something. I’d much rather do the toilets ANY DAY!!
Devildogwife says
I’d much rather do taxes. lol! I always do our taxes, and hubby is very grateful for that. ;) Then again, I clean the toilets too. ;)
SAHMmy Says says
I’d much rather do taxes (we do get a large refund every year) but I do both!
Superchikk says
I do both. But we recently started paying someone to do our taxes (a private accountant, not the places you see advertised on TV), and I will say it’s worth every penny. My husband is a minister and there are all kinds of crazy rules that seem to change all the time and I cannot be responsible for knowing them all AND keeping my sanity.
The Happy Housewife says
Taxes! I told my husband when we got married… I don’t do bathrooms! He has cleaned the bathrooms since the beginning. It was hard when we deployed because then I had taxes and toilets!
Sally says
I do both in our house, too…but I eould choose taxes over toilets!
Sarah says
Normally I would say taxes but this year was a PITA. We had to do 3 different state taxes, yup scrubbing the nasty toilet would of been way more fun.
Kim from Canada says
This is my first comment here, but I wanted to add a tidbit: our close friends are self employed and, where we live, they can write off their dog and any dog-related expenses (i.e. food, vet) – sighting the dog as a security need. Go figure.
BTW, the dog is a poodle crossed with jack russell terrier :)
Marla says
I’d rather do toilets anyday! We too have 4 boys (with very bad aim). We also are self employed. So…I have to do both. I really dread tax time. Staying up till all hour of the night crunching numbers. I hate to admit it, but it makes me cry. When we were just a DBA, it wasn’t too bad. Now that we are an LLC, I could just scream!!
The (Almost) Amazing Mommarino says
Toilets! With a toothbrush!
ANYTHING but taxes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kari says
TOILETS!!!!!!! I think I’d even do your toilets and mine to keep from doing taxes. We wimp out and pay someone but the last few years, I got all the stuff together. One year, I thought, “if I can get the stuff together, surely I can do the taxes.” I was surely wrong. I botched things, we had to file an extension and then pay someone anyway. So, even though we always get to write a big check too and then another check to someone who crunches the numbers for us, I just try repeating the following mantra: “thank you for all the benefits that my taxes provide: social security (at least for now), the maternity leave I took this year, the freeway widening project that shortened the time I’m on the road, etc.” And when I write the big checks for property taxes I repeat: “thank you for the parks, and the fire department, and…”. (there, I think I got my gratituesday in on a Sunday. I’m early this time or really late because this post was a week ago?)
Nice talking to you tonight Laura.
jamie says
Taxes. I am squeemish.