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If you have read part 1 of my preparing for busy season blog, you know that I mention enjoyable and fun things to do to get ready for busy season. In part two we will get to the things that I would classify as the “not fun” or things that are almost painful to me at times – Chores around the house.

Now that you may have kicked yourself for not doing any of the previously mentioned part one items, you can start realizing that all that is left is stuff that, well let’s be honest, is generally not that enjoyable. After a few months, you may look around your humble abode and realize that it looks like a frat party took place there; as cleaning is the last thing you feel like doing after a long day at work Therefore, here are some tips to keep your home from looking like your house was used as the set of Old School.

 Give the house a good scrub down prior to the ensuing onslaught of billable hours.

Let’s face it, if you start with a clean house around New Years, you can hopefully keep it looking somewhat civil in the upcoming months.  However if you start out with a mess, you potentially could end up with something looking like a pig sty that a small dog could mysteriously disappear in.

Going along with the cleaning theme, take down your Christmas decorations early.

Now some may call me a Grinch for taking them down right after Christmas, but would you rather be out there on Sunday, your one day off doing it when it is -10 out or beforehand (when it is likely still -10 out. But semantics)? The other alternative that I have seen and may be a culprit of is leaving them up till basically spring.  Now let’s face it, you don’t want to be that guy with what was a 15-foot-high inflatable Santa that is now laying disheveled on the ground and has killed your lawn. Your neighbors will not be fans.

Now that your house is or isn’t clean, you can start thinking about what you are going to eat for the foreseeable future for dinner.

Making dinner every day likely isn’t a viable option so here is a great one I have used in the past: Frozen Crockpot Meals.  You can prepare all of the ingredients before busy season and put them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer.  Then when you feel like having one, you thaw it out and toss them in to cook. A good word of advice here though is to pick meals that take somewhere in the general vicinity of how long you will be at work so that you can start them before you leave and they are ready when you return.  Or if you are fancy (unlike me) and your crock-pot has a delay timer you just ignore the above. This is a great alternative to reheated pizza/spaghetti/frozen meals 4-5 days a week.  And it will likely help your waistline.

Try and get any menial tasks that will arise during busy season done before hand.

Things like oil changes and Dr. visits can sometimes be pushed forward and save you the hassle of finding time  when you start feeling like a vampire during the week and end up at work from sunup to sundown.

 

 

 

By: Andrew Ziolo, CPA 


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