Category: Projects

September 19, 2024 – Leather Care

September 19, 2024 /

Boy, do I like to trot out old stuff. I bought these boots in 1995 and I wore them a lot until 1999 when I started to develop in-grown toenails on both feet. From that time on, I wore them extremely sparingly, once every couple of years. I am happy to say that was the last time I had surgery on my toes to solve that problem. Unfortunately, the toe of the boot is too constrictive for daily wear.

But, the leather still looks good even if the plastic ribbing is cracked. They could stand for another coat of oil and I think I will have the heels replaced. I bought new square toed boots for our vow renewal last year and I wear them every couple of weeks but I am thinking that I should put these boots back into service. I will not wear them daily, but keeping with philosophy, I should use them or get rid of them.

My wife has some boots too. I haven’t done anything to them because I never thought about them. I learned long ago not to touch a women’s clothes. Last time I washed a denim jacket to be helpful, I had to replace it. She was saying that they looked a little scuffed up. So, I offered to oil them for her. I did warn that the color would be effected but she was OK with it.

What I like to do is start with mink oil. It is a natural product that soaks into the leather. This keeps the leather supple, even after 30 years. I may or may not apply multiple coats of oil, if it looks like the leather is sufficiently whetted, I stop there. I dress the top with a beeswax product made for leather. It too has some oil in it but it is mostly for topical protection and looks.

Both of these products not only protect the leather but also offer some protection for water absorption. Most wet feet happen with water seeping through the seam. This process wont stop that, nothing will. Might as well protect the shoe though.

This is what I do, what about other products? Well, a little goes a long way so I am working with stuff I bought long ago. I will say that I am not a big fan of synthetic products. These would be things that come in spray bottles or come with silicone compounds. They stink and perform no better in my opinion.

When it comes to shoes, the other traditional treatment is shoe polish. This adds some color as well as a little bit of protection. In my experience, the protection is surface deep. It tends to be gone after a week or so. Treating other wearables like holsters and belts also has a propensity for these coatings to rub off. Unless you fancy brown or black smudges, keep these on shoes only.

I do treat some of my dress shoes with polish. I do that because the leather finish is worn and I don’t think the leather conditioner is the right look. This is reason there were so many shoe shiners years ago. The polish evens everything out even if it doesn’t last long.

Generally, leather treatment is leather treatment. So, what I do to boots could theoretically be done with any leather. I reserve my tender love and care to shoes and products that are durable and can be repaired. I have a pair of waterproof, low hikers and they weren’t cheap shoes. That being said, the sole (tread rubber) has peeled off twice. I glued them back to the spongy substrate and the still work. The point being is that I am not going to invest lifetime care into things that will not last a lifetime.

One last point before I leave this. Most modern shoes are not actually leather but synthetic. I would be less militant about synthetic products but I also feel like, ‘what is the point?’ If they are not built to last forever, then I don’t see the value in the time and product to slow the inevitable.

End Your Programming Routine: Treat you leather well and it will literally last your lifetime. One thing I found is spend a little time up front and then the ongoing maintenance will be much easier. On my boots, I will clean them off and rub the wax in. That should be good to go for a couple of years at the rate that I wear them.

September 17, 2024 – Wiping Your Data

September 17, 2024 /

I am a connoisseur of techno junk. All of that comes off of the secondary market. As a result, you never know what procedures are put in place to protect the former owner. I suspect that companies do some things, but really why would I as a former owner want to put chance out to the universe.

I had our old phone system sitting around for a few months. The reason is because I wanted to clean them before I got rid of them. I will acknowledge that getting any real, usable data and having that fall into unscrupulous hands is a very small possibility. That being said, who would want to buy something with other’s junk on it either? We as consumers need to do our due diligence to protect ourselves as best possible.

I will admit that when I get something second hand that has data on it, I take a look at it. I never intend to do anything with it, but more as a curiosity. Who were these people, what did they do with this, what did they replace it with and those kinds of questions. I never invest much before I start over, I suppose it is that due diligence look.

I don’t have anything to hide, but people don’t need to know that I received calls from a household in Germany in 2023. I feel like it is more protecting them, not so much me. The main unit is a cell phone that has a wired connection. So, this is as good as handing over a cell phone to a stranger. I took the SIM card out. Probably, information could be obtained through the provider but at that point, it is out of my hands.

I have sitting in my shop a robotic vacuum. The reason it has not gone to the recycler is that it is still configured to run. This is a device that has a map of my house, down to how the furniture is arranged. It also has a connection to my internet, albeit it is a guest connection. But still, there is no reason just to hand that stuff over to parts unknown.

This is a related scenario but I am becoming aware of old devices and vulnerabilities. The rough outline is old applications that are no longer supported by manufacturers offer a potential home for malware. This could be inadvertently installed and get access to a network. I am a little on the fence on what to do here. Probably the best thing is disconnect old devices from the network or segregate to a guest network an protect active data.

That seems like a subject for another day. But in this day and age of everything can connect, everything wants an account and everything is collecting data, it is a good idea be thinking longer term in security strategy. It is not so much the money but the time to deal with all of these things that could be the real killer. My advice is to clean everything you can before disposing of it, no matter the mechanism.

End Your Programming Routine: I used to believe that I have nothing to hide. I still think that is true, but I also think that no doing due diligence with electronics disposal is like leaving a stack of 100 euros laying at a park bench. It may not be immediately useable, but somebody could figure out how to convert it into something that they want. Don’t just surrender potentially valuable information, think about what you are doing and the consequences.

July 23, 2024 – Are We Done Yet?

July 23, 2024 /

The last major component has been added to my office. Something that started in the winter of 2021 is done… almost. The actual last thing that I want to do is replace my chair with something more becoming of sitting in it all day long. I have decided that my chair sucks a lot.

My chair is not new. Technically that is an upgrade. But the TV is new (to me). This is the component that knits all of my techno junk together. It acts as a second monitor, I have it connected to the VCR, the Blue-Ray player and the X-Box 360. All of those qualify as techno junk in my book.

If you recall three years ago, I actually wired my office for surround sound. My thought was that I was going to finally put those speakers in a home they deserve. I did mess around with them early on but unfortunately, the space does not totally work. My speakers are way too large for the space.

Thinking back retrospectively, I could have built my office differently to accommodate for the speakers I have. That would have involved moving the door more centrally in the space.. But, I would have lost out on some of my usable space for my couch and that does get used.

Like everything in life, it is a compromise. I have considered purchasing some micro speakers like the Bose brand and then I really could make it happen. After all, everything is wired and ready to go. I haven’t totally ruled that out but that would then violate one of my tenants. That is putting to use the techno junk that I have lying around.

Sometimes I turn on the local news on mute while I am working. I enjoy it and it makes me feel more connected. Like this is some kind or war room or control center. Technically, it is the home of AltF4 and is probably the single place I spend time in my life. Nine hours of working beats 6 hours of sleeping. That is actually my justification for the chair.

Like all done projects, it is not totally done. I need to wire the TV output to the receiver. I am still on the lookout for a subwoofer. I occasionally see one at a good price but the timing is not right. I want it to be both cheap and easy. I am weighing the real want for surround sound. I don’t have an actual remote for the TV. We have another Panasonic TV. I can use that remote for the advanced functions. It will cease to be a goal and more like a ‘some day’ desire.

End Your Programming Routine: I feel good that all the old misfit toys now have a home. I don’t know if I will ever sit down and watch a VCR tape in full surround sound, but I could. I feel like one of those TV shows where I can hack into any piece of data and solve a crime or get information. Yeah, it is a fantasy but it is done with a $12.50 TV and a bunch of cast off electronics (including the computer).

April 9, 2024 – Archiving, The Old Fashioned Way

April 9, 2024 /

What happens when your cloud drive starts to fill up? I am not there yet, I have probably only used a quarter of it. But what I didn’t know was that the cloud function synchronizes everything to my hard drive and I don’t have a free terabyte to do so. So, I am going to start archiving some stuff off of the cloud.

Many years ago, I was in charge of the physical act of backing up when I worked at the lab. I would burn data to DVD on a month by month basis. This is an option for things that don’t need immediate recall. I tried my DVD burner and while it could read disks, the write portion failed.

I thought about my options. I moved my mechanical hard-drive from my laptop to my desktop computer. This is a decent option because a mechanical drive failure can be re-built from the One Drive synchronization. Then, I resynched everything to that location. That at least gave me breathing room.

At some point, that is going to run out of room as well. So, I thought about media again. Each podcast I make runs between 1-2 GB with the raw files and these are things that I really don’t access other than to look for episode numbers or certain content. I decided to order another DVD burner. I was just about to start archiving things and then a thought occurred to me, what about Blue Ray?

It turns out that DVD only holds 4.7 GB of data making this project take forever (over 20 disks). The newest quadruple layer Blue Ray burners can do up to 100GB per disk. That is for me, I ordered one of those. I am waiting for it to arrive and then I will start archiving certain items particularly all of the AltF4.co content.

Do I think that there is any perfect solution? Ideally, I would have a backup array of hard-drives that had infinite storage and access at my finger tips. The downside of disks is that they can degrade and technology moves on. I think about the stuff I have on 3.5″ floppy drives that I have never accessed since I moved to a computer without a floppy drive. The good news is I still have a floppy drive in an old computer if I really wanted the files and you can buy a USB floppy drive for $30.

It is definitely a new world. My laptop does not have an optical drive or even an expansion slot. Policies on business owned computers prevent any sort of plugin devices, everything is moved electronically via the network. Disk images have to be ‘mounted’ in a faux drive fashion to emulate physical media. In many ways, a physical device is simpler and easier. I don’t like all that run around to get around having the device.

Other options would be an external hard-drive but those are not infallible either. I might eventually do both, but for now I just want to make sure that I do not have a problem. I am going with BD-R at 25GB per disk.

End Your Programming Routine: In the old, old days the professional way to go was tape back-up. That still may be used, I don’t know. We had Zip and then Jazz drives, then CD, DVD and now Blue Ray. It is not likely that I will really ever need these files again, but I hate to just delete them if I can get them into a easily storable and compact fashion. It is my life’s work after all.

March 27, 2024 – The 1990s Called, They Want Their Fountain Back

March 27, 2024 /

Spring is in the air. No, it is not exactly here but I think that we are past the worst of winter. A water feature that I purchased for my wife’s birthday a couple of years ago sat idly on the deck. I know for a lot of people, the sound of water brings serenity. Not me, but she wanted it on.

She came in frantic saying that it was broken. I feared that freezing weather might break the glazed clay structure. I had drained all the water, but that wasn’t enough as the base had split. I felt bad because nerves about upcoming biopsy was getting the best of her. Sure, we can replace it but that isn’t going to calm nerves the night before a hospital stay and potentially life altering information.

Back in the late 1990s there was a trend to to have these small, table-top, serenity fountains. We had one as well (from here on out, I will call it mine). It had sat in storage for years (and years). I remembered that we had it, so I sprung into action.

The one I had was home built, meaning the pump was purchased separately from the bowl and the bedrock and the focal rock. We had used a piece of bamboo to conceal some PVC tube from the pump and it never quite flowed the way we wanted it. After a month or so of running, the bamboo would break and then I would run around and try to find a suitable replacement. To top it off, I filled the bowl with aquarium gravel and that took all of the volume in the bowl so it was always running dry.

Being much older and wiser (and tool richer) now, I thought I will drill a hole in the focal rock for the water to come out of. Forget the bamboo and the tubing and it will look a lot nicer too. The roughly and poorly adhered slices of slate cemented together broke in three pieces. but I did get a through hole in two of the pieces. So, I forced the PVC tubing through the two so that they would roughly look like they belonged.

I have some work to do still. But, you can see it is working and I think it looks better than it did before. I want to put some hardware cloth down for the rocks to sit on. I tried a couple of steel rods that I had with some window screen over the top. It kind of worked, but I didn’t have time to wait for serenity.

Changes to make.

  1. Weld up a steel super structure.
  2. Purchase hardware cloth (wire mesh) and cut to fit the bowl
  3. Layer the window screen on top of the hardware cloth
  4. Adhere the two pieces of focal rock back together and place
  5. Finally, add the base rock
  6. Maybe, embellish a little more with craft store or aquarium finds
  7. And now we are back in the 1990s, but much better

End Your Programming Routine: This fountain does not make the noise of the outdoor fountain. But, I think it has the potential to look nice and it does take it out of storage. I can also put it in a place that my wife can enjoy it while going through treatment even if winter continues.

February 27, 2024 – My First Stiches

February 27, 2024 /

Back in my day… I started middle school in 1986. As a sixth grader, we were required to take a whole year of survey classes. We had art, choir, shop class and home economics. I didn’t think too much of it. While my family lived a home economics lifestyle, it wasn’t something that I had done much of it, but I had been around it my whole life. We baked cookies and learned how to sew.

Our project was to make a drawstring bag using a sewing machine. We had to supply our own fabric, but that was easy because my mom had a whole chest of it. I remember completing it in a couple of days. I don’t remember much about it but I am guessing that I probably didn’t do the best job. Sewing is a skill that requires practice.

Learning to use the sewing machine came in handy when I was at home and had access to one. Occasionally, I would need to put a patch on my Boy Scout uniform and my mom didn’t get around to it. There was the periodic mend that needed to be made as well.

As time would have have it, I have been away from sewing machines a long time. It had been on my mind to pickup an inexpensive second, hand machine when I had the opportunity. I guess you could say I inherited one as I claimed my mother-in-laws machine as we were cleaning out the storage unit last year. But, it didn’t help much because I couldn’t remember a thing.

I watched a couple YouTube videos on how to load the machine. The one that was actually the most helpful was an eight year old (guessing) loading a simple Singer. This one is old and pretty basic, but it is well made. So, after watching the video three times, I got the thread loaded. Fortunately, the basic operation hasn’t changed much over the years. I’d have to say that if it wasn’t for my past experience helping me with what I thought I knew, I don’t think I would have got enough information from the videos alone.

The picture on the right was my first attempt. As you can see I kind of started out as a mess. But that is OK. I am simply mending the pocket of my sweat pants. For years now, the seam between the back panel and my pocket has been coming apart. It isn’t a huge deal but more often than not when I try to stick something in my pocket, it ends up going down my pant leg, which is annoying

I could have done it by hand. And I would have if I didn’t have a sewing machine. But, I have been sitting on this for over a year waiting to figure out how to use it. I took the opportunity to do it. I have a bigger project in mind. My son needs all of his merit badges sewn onto a sash. He is Eagle Scout bound and it would be good to finally get this completed.

Sewing patches by hand is not easy. Pushing through the thick material with a needle and fingers is slow going. To make matters worse, most of the ones I have sewn by hand have eventually fallen off. My knots break and then it all starts coming undone.

I got my pant’s mended. I am ready to take on the next challenge. I probably need to practice before I do some more public facing stitching. The good news is that I have learned how to use a seam ripper too. The cutting is permanent but the stitching can be redone.

End Your Programming Routine: I think that it is valuable to have a sewing machine and know how to use it. Mending used to be a valuable skill, now we just replace items. But, there may come a day when that is not possible. My wife has already given me a pillow case to fix now that I am an expert. We will see how long it takes me to get around to that.

February 21, 2024 – Same Old, Same Old…

February 21, 2024 /

I have mentioned before that my wife likes to binge watch shows. What has been on for the last couple of months is ‘Deadliest Catch’. In fact, it is on right now as I am typing this out. I haven’t heard this much in the later seasons but they liked to use this term ‘grinding’.

Grinding means that to make their goal, they have to just keep working. They don’t look at the clock, they don’t take a break, they don’t worry about the conditions, they don’t really even try to take stock in what is currently the status of their catch is. They just keep grinding.

That is where I am at, grinding. I probably have too many things going on at one time. I got ahead with my culinary book club reading and so I started “The Boys In the Boat” that I got for Christmas and continuing to read “The Inferno”. I have been pecking at my duct project. The next run is going to be more complicated with wiring in the way. I am still running into Linux problems getting my software scanner done.

I tapped one of my kegs for super bowl to get promptly plugged. I got to thinking that my valve was bad and so I changed it. It promptly got plugged again. After doing this six more times, I gave up. It is hops plugging it up from my dry hopping. I am going to have to filter this keg before I use it. Another thing to do.

Lesson learned that all the loose hops did not settle to the bottom after lagering. I like the effect, finally a homebrew that has some teeth to it from the hops. So, I think I will keep experimenting with dry hopping. But, it also means that filtration is required before kegging. Since this is my last keg, I really should get to brewing my next one

I also upgraded a scope on one of my air rifles. The main reason I did that is my eyesight is starting to degrade. I noticed that the open sights on my son’s Crossman 760 were really limiting. So, I decided to move the chinsy 4×12, $10 scope off of one of my rifles to a whole honking $30 variety. Anything will be better than nothing on that old rifle. I have been plinking away at getting those things sighted in.

I have projects in the waiting, so I am not just letting off the gas, I am just not done with anything. I like my work on AltF4 to be reflective of completion, not just progress unless there is something to learn. That is what generated today’s title. I have been holding onto this one for almost a week now waiting for something to break and it just has not. Sometimes you have to grind.

I will remind you that the reason for the duct project was in preparation for a wine cellar build. I am actually beyond where I needed to be to work on that project but it has made so much difference that I might as well finish this off before starting something new. I am amassing parts for a CB radio installation in my pickup. I have wooden valence to build. I should be starting seeds right now. There is going to be another culinary book tomorrow and I still have all the current things going that I want to finish.

I sometimes have problems getting motivated in the winter. It is dark and cold and wet and I just don’t feel like I have the energy to do anything. Besides that, I have other reasons (not excuses) for me making slow progress that I am not ready to discuss. I will likely have more information soon but I want to be absolutely concrete about the details.

End Your Programming Routine: So, a cliffhanger for the ending. I don’t have a lot of insight on this post other than you don’t finish a big job without putting one foot in front of the other. In other words, you gotta grind. Some day I will look up and it will be done, until that keep working.

February 20, 2024 – What the Heck is UEFI?

February 20, 2024 /

For the last couple of months, UEFI has been irritating me. I am going to get into what it is in a minute. A couple weeks ago I set off to fix the situation and then I really messed things up. So much so that I actually bought a new solid state hard drive (SSD) to start over. This was an attempt to make progress on my Software Defined Radio scanner project.

First let me define what UEFI means. This is an acronym for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface. If you do not do what I do, then you may never see it. There is a selector screen before the operating system boots up. In my case, I can choose between starting Linux or Windows.

This is an old computer that was inherited. I wanted to keep it in case we needed some data from it, but I did not have the password to login to Windows. By running Linux, I can access anything on the hard drive. This is also part of my long running experiment with Linux which will eventually become my software defined radio police scanner.

For several months now, I have been getting notifications that my UEFI driver was out of date. It wouldn’t be so bad except for the fact that it notifies me twice a day that it is out of date. At first, it was a problem for later, which became months. Then I set out trying to fix it.

It turns out that the UEFI driver has a Microsoft signature. I thought that maybe if I could add an account to Windows, I could run the driver update there. Once I selected boot to Windows, it was a one way street. After the Windows path was chosen, there was no going back to having the Linux option. So then I started changing settings in the BIOS. I messed the configuration up so that it wouldn’t boot Windows either.

I saw some options to go into ‘Safe Mode’ make a recovery disk and all of that. But, the truth is that this machine also has Windows 10 and is just slightly newer than my primary desktop. I highly suspected that it was not going to make the Windows 11 cutoff and I felt like all of that effort would be for little gain anyway.

I made the decision that I was going to start over. Solid State Hard drives are cheap. I paid $30 for a 512 GB drive. If you haven’t gone from disk based drives to and SSD, it it hard to explain how much better things work. I firmly believe that my Windows 7 computer runs better now than it did when I bought it in 2012. In fact, that computer runs better than my significantly more powerful laptop from 2018. I am going to be changing it to an SSD as well after I get a few other projects completed. But, let’s get back to the subject at hand.

I have started to become comfortable with Linux. I am not proficient by any means but I am convinced that Linux is in my future for the desktop that I do most of my writing on. Once support runs out for Windows 10, I will be converting that computer to Ubuntu. I am a light PC user anyway, browser based work, word processing and spreadsheets are the primary stuff I do. The more familiar I am with Linux, the easier the transition will be for me.

Its funny, the more connected our devices have become, the more isolated they are. In the old days, I would start a file at home, email it to myself and continue to work. Or even better, I put it on a thumb drive. I haven’t done anything like that in years because I can’t really share anything between environments anymore for security purposes. My biggest outstanding concern is that I have been using, saving and storing everything in Microsoft 365. This seems like a topic for another day however.

As it turns out, UEFI is important to me and without it working properly, I can do nothing. The good news is that I got my SSD today and I already have Ubuntu installed along with everything except the Software Defined Radio and SDR++. Starting from scratch, I got an updated UEFI driver and everything works like it was supposed to.

The computer geeks out that probably find this to be a little juvenile. I had no idea what this driver was supposed to do. Reading the release notes there were vulnerabilities to certain viruses. Hindsight being 20/20, Ubuntu recommends the risk as low and to not worry about it. There are some commands to ignore the device check that I read after the fact. I wish I would have read that before I messed up everything but in the end this is going to be better.

End Your Programming Routine: I have heard that the reason little kids learn so fast is that they have no fear. They just push keys and try things because they can. I have a streak like that with Linux, I don’t know what I don’t know and definitely what I am doing. That being said, be careful. I had no data or anything really on this computer so it was $30, a re-install and two hours for me and the end result is a better computer. I guess I am learning like a child but I will be more cautious in the future.

February 15, 2024 – Along the Lines of Yesterday

February 15, 2024 /

Yesterday I talked about waffling about whether I should invest in a garden space and things like fruit trees and bushes if I am planning on moving. The same is true with all home projects. The wisdom in the space is to be careful about changes that are made so that you don’t overspend compared to value of the house.

This project that I have been picking away at is not one of them. I cannot say how much improvement there is in my basement by tucking ducts up into the floor joists. It hardly costs any money and it make the space so much more open and accessible. I used to have to duck under two ducts each time I entered and left my office. That has all changed.

Not only is it easier to get to my office, having the duct tucked up in the ceiling allows more light over the whole space. There are two windows in the basement, more natural light is coming in as well as the electrical fixtures. Because the ducts were hanging down, they were constantly in the way of moving decorations and other storage items around. All of that is going away with each duct I move.

I won’t be able to do all of them because they don’t all run parallel with the floor joists. But, doing the major pathways has paid major dividends on the usability of the space. It looks better too, not just an after thought or the laziest installation possible.

To date, I have spent about $100 on materials. I have never worked with duct work before since this is typically a one and done type job. That being said, I am kind of liking it. I ended up buying a crimping tool so I can make my own custom lengths or rigid pipe. The truth is that the original installers taped the flex duct to the rigid fixtures and over time, that tape has failed. I have already had to fiddle with trying to re-attach ductwork that is in my way over the years.

This is one of those projects that fits into the do it regardless of how it effects value. In my opinion, there is no way that it could hurt and it is so little initial outlay of time and money, I should have done this years ago (it should have been done this way originally). So, I will pick away at it a couple hours at a time until I have done what I can do.

End Your Programming Routine: If it was simple, I would be done already. I have to delicately pick my way through different things like re-enforcing structure or wires in the way that have to be reconfigured etc. But, I am doing this purposefully and carefully and each one of those things adds a little dimension to the puzzle without having heat all day. It is a new kind of challenge.

January 24, 2024 – It Is That Time of Year Again

January 24, 2024 /

it is not just the holidays, but the following months has it’s own dread. Because I am a little lazy, all of our bill statements tend to pile up over the year. However, it is this time of year that I choose to file, organize and shred. I do this because it is the beginning of preparation for tax season.

I am certainly not making excuses, I should do it more than once a year. One of the biggest reasons is that filing is inconvenient. Statements, receipts, etc. go into a drawer after they are dealt with. When the drawer is filled, the stack goes upstairs to a pile. That pile grows unchecked until this time of year.

When I sort, I group everything by debtor. Things that are one and done like invoices go directly to the shred pile if significant time has passed and there is no warranty. Each individual stack is organized oldest to newest so that it can be placed into the file and automatically be in order year over year.

Trust me, my recent tax filings have been no picnic. Owing over $10,000 a few years ago was not only a shock but also caused me to evaluate what and how I am doing things. Getting audited was trying for my spare time and my relationship. One of the things that I changed as a result of this was my use of a tax professional. I used to do all of my own returns but that caused so much strife between my marriage that I have finally resigned to pay someone.

Maybe you have never done your own taxes. Or maybe you have never paid for them to be done. Well, there is a dirty little secret if pay someone to do it and that is the majority of the work is gathering and organizing the data to prepare the tax returns. The truth is, preparers just plug in the data as provided. Their fee is for their time and the small amount of liability that they incur by doing so.

Now, my taxes aren’t exactly straight forward but they are not the most complicated. Over the years I have had rents and royalties, LLC and investment complications. So, I have to do things like gather all of my utility bills and sum them for the year so that I can calculate the percentage of the cost that the rental has on the overall bill for deduction purposes.

The simple truth is I have to do this work whether I do the taxes or I have someone else do them. It so happens that I am forced to get organized way earlier when I hand it off whereas I may drag my feet when I am doing it myself. As my filing goes, any bill that is not used in taxes gets evaluated as to how much folder space I have. It really serves no purpose to have five years of bills filed. But when the folder starts getting full, I start culling years past. Those papers all go to the shredding box.

Speaking of shredding, I also eliminate my eighth year of tax forms. This time of year is great because I can sit in front of the TV and shred while playoff football is on. It makes me feel like I can afford to spend the time watching while doing something useful at the same time.

Be prepared, it is amazing the volume of paper after shredding compared to before. It is not clear to me whether I can put it in the recycling bin or not. Sometimes I do but when they dump the bin, there is often a snowstorm of paper bits on the ground. I think the recyclers don’t like it because for that fact.

End Your Programming Routine: Part of why I dread this is it is a big job. It makes things much easier when everything has a place and it is in it. If you are not a consistent organizer, I highly recommend doing it this time of year because it really pays dividends for those other required things in life, like taxes.