[dai]

I don't know how it is with you guys, but all this paperwork is driving me right to the edge.
I have the smallest bedroom converted for office use, shelves sagging under the weight of of bills, receipts,
invoices, bank statements, tax records, and hundreds of letters from various official bodies.
My accountant wants all my household bills and tax details before the 31st of this month.
Believe me it gets worse as you get older. If you are receiving a pension, and still have kids going to school, it gets a lot worse, the postman comes[and I dread it], it's like a cow pooing through my letter box, more letters from the pension, child benefit and tax credit services, all demanding instant attention.
It's all doing my head in guys, I'm not too old to clean windows, but I'm too old to handle all this paperwork.
I haven't checked my lottery ticket yet, but if I was lucky enough to win I would be off to somewhere that doesn't have a bloody postal service, in despair. Dai

[elite mike]

hi dai
your post made me laugh

my solution is to get the mrs to do the accounts 

cow pooing through the letterbox

got to be the quote of the week

good luck

mike

[Paul Coleman]

I don't know how it is with you guys, but all this paperwork is driving me right to the edge.
I have the smallest bedroom converted for office use, shelves sagging under the weight of of bills, receipts,
invoices, bank statements, tax records, and hundreds of letters from various official bodies.
My accountant wants all my household bills and tax details before the 31st of this month.
Believe me it gets worse as you get older. If you are receiving a pension, and still have kids going to school, it gets a lot worse, the postman comes[and I dread it], it's like a cow pooing through my letter box, more letters from the pension, child benefit and tax credit services, all demanding instant attention.
It's all doing my head in guys, I'm not too old to clean windows, but I'm too old to handle all this paperwork.
I haven't checked my lottery ticket yet, but if I was lucky enough to win I would be off to somewhere that doesn't have a bloody postal service, in despair. Dai

I can empathisae Dai and my ituation is less complex than yours.  I do have my databases and spreadsheets set up to keep paperwork to a minimum.  I can just about manage to squeeze one years worth of accounts into a box folder but that's getting more of a squeeze of late so I will need to use two for each year with this next lot.  It's the paperwork to go with domestic finances that is a hassle too as I have a number of card accounts on the go (thankfully don't owe ALL of them money).

[Kevin R]

Hi Dia,

I used to have the same problem. I invested in Service CEO. It does my scheduling, invoicing, accounting (income side) and cuts a massive amount of work. When I click to complete a job it invoices the customer by email or it prints a paper copy automatically. It was not the cheapest thing to buy but it was worth the free time it created.

I also hired a "virtual office" company to do my phone answering etc. They also offer other secretarial skills and book keeping too. Its not as expensive as you might think.

I like this service because I divert my phone in the morning to them, they text me and email me the details and the nature of the calls as they come in. The great thing is they remove all of the sales calls so you only get leads sent to you. This gives you more time to work with out interruption and the choice of when to look at the texts. I usually look at lunch and then maybe will return a call or two. The customers think I have a secretary - its great.

Now I am able to concentrate on working - I have more time to do quotes etc. When the costs of my secretarial services reach a wage level then I will take on, but untill then It works well.

To be honest I was struggling with my business as I was snowed under, mostly by admin - now its a pleasure again 

[dai]

A lot of my problems are down to lack of space, keeping every single piece of paper for seven years.
Two bin bags of shredded bank statements and other papers from prior to 2001 sit waiting to be recycled.
I'm not very computer literate, even George proved to be too complicated for me.
For the first five years I was meticulous with paper work, my tax return would be filed by the middle of April, ten to fifteen mins a night would take care of it, but spending too much time on here has a price to pay.
If you were to drive your van on the road one day after the tax expired, they would know about it from your number plate alone. The DVLA data base has the lot on it.
When you are dealing with the pension or tax credit services, they want every bit of information all over again, including photo copies of passports, marriage/ birth certificate etc.
You can't just send copies, they have to be verified as genuine copies by a member of staff.
If they had a data base like DVLA, you would only need to provide these once, and anyone who needed to check could access it.
My Mrs had to attend a two hour interview before she could get a national insurance number, every single bit of info on her they already have, but then they want it all over again. It does my head in.

[Ian Lancaster]

A lot of my problems are down to lack of space, keeping every single piece of paper for seven years.
Two bin bags of shredded bank statements and other papers from prior to 2001 sit waiting to be recycled.
I'm not very computer literate, even George proved to be too complicated for me.
For the first five years I was meticulous with paper work, my tax return would be filed by the middle of April, ten to fifteen mins a night would take care of it, but spending too much time on here has a price to pay.
If you were to drive your van on the road one day after the tax expired, they would know about it from your number plate alone. The DVLA data base has the lot on it.
When you are dealing with the pension or tax credit services, they want every bit of information all over again, including photo copies of passports, marriage/ birth certificate etc.
You can't just send copies, they have to be verified as genuine copies by a member of staff.
If they had a data base like DVLA, you would only need to provide these once, and anyone who needed to check could access it.
My Mrs had to attend a two hour interview before she could get a national insurance number, every single bit of info on her they already have, but then they want it all over again. It does my head in.

You people are soooooooo selfish

If all these government departments were as efficient as the DVLC, there would be thousands of dimwit 'civil servants' with nothing to do and no way of justifying there bloated salaries and comfy guaranteed pensions.

Of course they should ask for the same information again and again ad infinitum.  Do the terms 'Parkinsons Law' and 'The Peter Principle' mean nothing to you?

[windowwashers]

A lot of my problems are down to lack of space, keeping every single piece of paper for seven years.
Two bin bags of shredded bank statements and other papers from prior to 2001 sit waiting to be recycled.
I'm not very computer literate, even George proved to be too complicated for me.
For the first five years I was meticulous with paper work, my tax return would be filed by the middle of April, ten to fifteen mins a night would take care of it, but spending too much time on here has a price to pay.
If you were to drive your van on the road one day after the tax expired, they would know about it from your number plate alone. The DVLA data base has the lot on it.
When you are dealing with the pension or tax credit services, they want every bit of information all over again, including photo copies of passports, marriage/ birth certificate etc.
You can't just send copies, they have to be verified as genuine copies by a member of staff.
If they had a data base like DVLA, you would only need to provide these once, and anyone who needed to check could access it.
My Mrs had to attend a two hour interview before she could get a national insurance number, every single bit of info on her they already have, but then they want it all over again. It does my head in.

You people are soooooooo selfish

If all these government departments were as efficient as the DVLC, there would be thousands of dimwit 'civil servants' with nothing to do and no way of justifying there bloated salaries and comfy guaranteed pensions.

Of course they should ask for the same information again and again ad infinitum.  Do the terms 'Parkinsons Law' and 'The Peter Principle' mean nothing to you?

TBH errmmmmmmmmmmm NO 

[Steve Lowe]

Hi Dai

I had this problem up till recently until i was told all receipts and tax papers etc can be scanned and kept on my pc (The revenue and customs are fine with this). Now its a great idea and has cleared my office but a word of warning. Back up everything !!! I run a server and have daily automatic back ups so am ok. The other thing needed is a decent scanner then you can put the weeks receipts through all at once.

Steve