How Can Getting Organized Now Save Me Tax Season Stress?

Let me ask you something. Does the thought of tax season fill you with dread? You know, sifting through mountains of scattered papers and missing receipts?What if you could transform that annual scramble into a calm and organized process? And trust me, doing taxes for a living, I would love to see that and even uncover some hidden savings.Well, stick with me today because I'm going to show you exactly how to make that happen and I'm going to do that on today's show.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence. Hey there and welcome back to your daily Financially Confident Christian. As always, I'm Ralph and I'm super happy that you're able to join me today.And we continue to seek to answer that big, hairy, audacious question. And that's how can I become a financially confident Christian?And we are in our series Smart Money for Back to School and Beyond talking about equipping your family for a thriving school year. Now if you missed yesterday's show, we we talked about preparing for those higher fall and winter utility bills with some savvy energy saving tips.So I'm going to encourage, if you missed it, to go check it out.You can see all of our shows and hear all of our shows@financially confidentchristian.com well, today we're going to build on that, looking ahead and we're going to start talking about, yes, that dreaded year end financial management. We're going to talk about how to get organized for tax planning. But we're going to do it now and not later to save yourself a ton of stress.Don't down the road. So today's big question is how can getting organized now save me tax season stress later? And listen, you're going to save me a lot of stress too.Well, maybe you have this feeling. It's April and tax season is in full swing. You're sitting there, you're scrambling through piles of papers.You're searching for those lost statements. You've got that meeting with somebody like me. Or maybe you're where you're working on the weekends to get your taxes done.You're trying to remember those donations and trying to find all of those expense receipts. And that tax season struggle, it feels chaotic, it feels stressful.You feel like you're rushed due to scattered documents and really truthfully incomplete records. And if you're not careful, that can lead to misdeductions.It can lead to frantic scrambling and fear of errors or audits and Listen, I do this for a living. Nobody wants an audit. And it puts this heavy burden of anxiety on you and this disorganization surrounding your taxes.And if you're not careful, that will hinder peace and it truly gets in the way of efficient management. But here's the thing. Tax preparation shouldn't be this one time scramble. If you want to do it right.It's really a year round process of diligent record keeping on a week by week or at least month to month basis. Because organization brings clarity, organization reduces stress. And hey, let me just tell you something right now.Organization ensures what the main principle of the show is. And that's why stewardship. Well, let's look at a few biblical examples right from the Bible.The first one, the first principle, let's talk about orderliness, that's a big word. But thought that was so important for what we're talking about today. So look at the book of First Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 40. And it says this.But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. Hey, as a type A personality, I love the idea of fitting and orderly. And the application of this is pretty strong as it relates to taxes.And honestly, for your whole financial life, an orderly financial record keeping system is a wise application. It just is. So if you want to, you want to follow the biblical principle here, everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.Let's look at another biblical principle, and that's diligence. And I use this particular Bible verse from the book of Proverbs, chapter 21:5 on the show all the time says this.The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. And how does that fit today? Well, it fits like this. Diligent tax recordkeeping is a plan. See, it's all about planning.It's all about not waiting to the last minute, you know, and having that, that shoebox, if you will, that's kind of a funny thing in our trade is a shoebox that people bring in with all their receipts. But diligent tax record keeping, that plan can lead to financial profit. See, it pays itself in dividends.Well, let's look at the third biblical principle, and that's accountability. Hey, we all need to be accountable.Let's look at the book of Romans, chapter 13, verse 7, because it instructs us this, give to everyone what you owe them. If revenue, then revenue, if respect, then respect. And this is often talked about, give unto Caesar what is due to Caesar as it talks to taxes.But it also directly gets into that faithfully managing your tax obligations. Because all of these things lead us to this big thing and that's getting organized for taxes now.Not waiting till the last minute, not waiting to, you know, it's tax season, I gotta go scramble and find that stuff. But getting organized for taxes now is an act of responsible stewardship. And in the end the benefit is this.It's going to ensure that you have accurate obligations, it's going to optimize your financial position and hey, if you do it right, it's going to bring peace from being prepared. So now you might be saying, Ralph, I love the idea, that sounds like a fantastic issue. But, but how can we do it?You might be asking this question, how do, how do I transform this dread of tax season? And trust me, listen, haven't done taxes for 30 years now. People dread tax season.But you're asking this very important question, how to transform the dread of tax season into calm, organized process. Well, I've got a single solution for you today and it's really pretty simple.It's just consistently set up a system now to organize all your financial documents and those receipts throughout the year. It's all about being proactive to prepare for a stress free tax season next year. And here's the benefit from it.You're going to be building a year round financial organization. So here's your one action step for today with the goal of getting organized for year end tax planning. This is what I tell all of my clients.First thing I want you to do is create a dedicated tax and financial documents spot. Now you notice I said spot because everybody's situation is different. But I really encourage you set up one central easily accessible place.Maybe that's a physical box or maybe it's a folder, maybe hey, you're a more of a tech person. You have a dedicated digital folder, maybe says something like taxes 20, 25 on that.We actually encourage our clients to use either an envelope system.You know, I'll say to my clients, listen, just get one of those big manila envelopes right on there the tax year and start putting all those documents throughout the year into it. Now you also can use digital storage. I'm one that believes in it. I scan documents in and, and put them in digital storage.But I just want you to start by choosing one system that works for you and making that your commitment for the year. So second thing I'm going to encourage you to do is let's get this, let's get this party started. As they say, start the process.File one recent document. So immediately go look for one financial document.Maybe that's your bank statement, maybe that's a utility bill because you're writing off an office in home. Or maybe you had a major purchase and you want to see if that's deductible at tax time.But start to build momentum in that new system because that's going to start to build a habit. And, and it's going to make the system feel real because you're going to actually be doing it. So that's the second step.And then I just want you to identify one or two key categories to continue that momentum, to continue that process. You know, really think about the potential deductions that are relevant to you.Maybe you're somebody that does a lot of charitable giving throughout the year, so you want to make sure you're keeping those receipts. Maybe you're a small business person, you have this side hustle that we talk.We'll be talking about that in the next few days about how to make extra money with a side hustle. But this is a very important time to start setting aside those receipts so you're.You're not scrambling when it comes to time to figure out your taxes. Hey, maybe you're unfortunately in a position where you've got a lot of medical expenses.And these medical expenses seem to be going up and up and up.Well, this is a great time as you're going through those treatments or as you're spending that money on those medical expenses to start keeping track of those things instead of waiting till year end and trying to figure out, hey, what happened last March. And this is a commitment. It's a commitment to consistently collect receipts and records for one of these categories moving forward.Just pick the one that's most impactful to you. And then the last thing I'm gonna remind you to do, and I think this is really important, is set a monthly review reminder.Hey, just put it right on your calendar or put it on your phone and just say, hey, you know what? I'm gonna put this recurring reminder on my calendar for maybe 15 or 20 minutes, just once a month. Once a month is gonna be my monthly.Hey, I'm gonna remember Ralph, and I'm gonna do my tax checkup. And during this time, make it a sacred time, you know, quickly file any new documents.Think about the things that we talked about today, the things that you're going to need. Review your spending.Maybe you can think about some new tax deductible items that you hadn't thought about, hey, I just recorded a show about the big tax change from this big beautiful bill. And I'll put a link to that in the show notes.But I would encourage you to go listen to that because there are some tax planning opportunities based on that that you should start planning for now. So, so you're not scrambling a tax season.And trust me, this is really going to help you because it's going to fight that struggle, it's going to fight that stress of those chaotic tax season preparation times. And listen, people tell me coming to see me is like going to the dentist. They just dread it sometimes. I don't know how to take that.But hey, maybe if you're more organized, it doesn't feel that way. So it's going to help you create order. It's going to help bring clarity for your financial records.And more importantly than most things, I think it's really going to help you avoid missing some valuable deductions or opportunities. I don't know how many times clients have said to me, you know, Ralph, I wish I had really kept track of that.And I'll say to him, well, can you go back and no, Ralph, I don't really have way to get those records. But it's really going to empower peace, it's going to empower confidence, and hey, it's going to make you more efficient at tax time.How about we pray together today? Father God, we just thank you for the resources that you provide for us and our calling to be accountable.And Lord, we have to confess that tax season often brings stress. And most of the time, Lord, it's stress due to our own disorganization and many times it's due to our fear.So we ask that you would grant us wisdom in managing our financial records and really keeping things in order. Lord, help us to be diligent in setting up and maintaining an organized system.Guide us to meet our obligations faithfully, Lord, as your word commands, and to optimize our financial position for your glory. And Lord, may our preparation of this bring us peace and honor you in the whole process. And we ask this in confidence. In Jesus name, amen.Listen, proactive organization for taxes isn't just about avoiding a headache. Yes, it will help you avoid a headache, but it's really also about wise stewardship that brings peace. And hey, don't we all want peace?So I'm just going to encourage it again, take that step today to set up your financial document system. It doesn't have to be complicated. And then file that first item because hey, the truth is you're moving towards true freedom.And now I want to ask you for a favor. If this episode or if this show has resonated with you, I want to encourage you to share it with somebody else who might need to hear it.Hey, one of the things that's certain about life is death and taxes. So this show is impactful for anyone who needs to file taxes. So just, hey, you can share our website with them.That's financiallyconfidentchristian.com. send them a text, send them an email. Said, hey, you want to get organized for tax time now in August? Hey, listen to this show.This guy's got some great ideas. Now, tomorrow we're going to be talking about another way to boost your income as fall approaches.I promise we talk about this and we're going to explore some savvy fall side hustles.Yeah, I'm going to help you earn some extra income, perhaps maybe for that holiday prep so you're not stressing about it, so you don't want to miss it. So make sure you join me tomorrow. Now let's all go out there and be those financially confident Christians. You can do this. I have confidence in you.Have confidence in yourself. Stay financially savvy. God bless you. And you have a great day today.