Aaaand it’s just about the end of the year. That means I have to start thinking about what my resolutions for next year are going to be, as well as doing taxes.
Let’s start with resolutions. This year I wanted to get in shape, to read more, and to spend more time on my hobbies. Did I accomplish any of those? Well, I did work out more this year than previous years. In fact, I did quite a bit of running this year, I feel better, and I lost a little bit of fat. It’s amazing how good working out makes you feel. Sometimes I’ll go for a run in the morning and I feel great for the rest of the day. It’s like it gets me started for the day, kind of like what most people rely on coffee for.
Next up was reading. Did I read more this year? No (unless you include reading forums online, in which case, yes, I absolutely read a lot this year, lol). But I still have a bookcase full of books that I bought with the intention of reading, but haven’t read most of yet. They’re almost all non-fiction books, ranging from finance to art to foreign language. I will go to bookstores and pick up books that I totally plan on reading, and then end up not reading them. I also buy a lot of used books on Amazon and do the same thing with them.
And next up is hobbies. Did I spend more time on my hobbies? No. Why? Mostly cuz I was working a lot, so I guess that’s a legit excuse, right? Except it’s not, really. I recently took an interest in painting and have been wanting to learn how to paint. I’m really not very good, but I do enjoy it.
So my resolutions for next year: keep exercising, actually read some of the books I have, and try to paint a few days each week.
On to taxes. I always do my taxes myself to try and save money and I always wonder if I’m leaving money on the table. It also seems that each year my taxes get more an more complicated. It was easy when I was just working and that was it. Then I started investing and had to pay taxes on dividends and capital gains. Then I bought a house and a mortgage made everything more complicated. My best friend keeps telling me to just hire an accountant. He uses a chartered accountant Five Dock and says he just drops everything off and it all gets taken care of. I may actually have to give that a try, seeing as how I spend hours and hours on mine and I’m still not sure if I’m getting all the money back that I could be.