hiring some help/bookeeping

[Zoe Girl]

I had a great talk with my counselor. we are really working on me handling all the bills and paperwork much better. I am doing better but it is still so hard. Not because I don't know how but I have serious time challenges as well as some emotional stuff that interferes. I told her that I would love to have someone else do it, I would wash my clothes by hand and not fix the washer/dryer for a year to have someone else do it for me. Well apparently bookeepers are not as expensive as I thought and I may be able to do just that! Wow, I already found one on Craigslist that is $25 an hour, but far away. I am going to check people out of course, like bonded and trustworthy, but now there is a chance to simply get help. Heck people hire cleaner and lawn mowers and all that while I try to do everything myself. I even considered doing the drop-odd laundry service during a heavy work week, it feels so decadent. :|(

[Stella]

I would never have thought of that but it seems like a great solution!

[Kestra]

Sounds like a good idea. I'd like to do the reverse eventually - be the bookkeeper. Definitely something I've thought of repeatedly if I need a different job. Around here $25/hr is pretty high for bookkeeping, so you might be able to get a bit lower. Of course I know salaries vary by area. We all have our own things we'd rather not do. I'd love someone to cook and shop for me, while I play around with numbers and spreadsheets for someone else.:)

[iris lily]

Before you do that, make absolutely CERTAIN that you've simplified everything. Eliminate most of it. Don't hang on to anything because you have a vague idea that you "should" be keeping track of it.

I'm curious to know what your bookkeeping challenges are?

Zoe, I say that as someone who operates like the Queen of England: I've got my own financial "staff" who just take care of it all and give me money when I ask for it (that's DH) and I realize what a privileged position I'm in.

But I was also single for many years and I'll tell, ya, the direct payment and direct deposit options that are available now would have greatly simplified my life.

I have money because I was very frugal for decades, but I also didn't sweat pennies. I didn't track expenses, I didn't balance my checkbook (gasp!) and I just concentrated on NOT spending money. As a result, I've got a nice net worth. All of the conventional wisdom about budgeting and tracking and recording just was not for me.

I think people have to be very careful to discount, or at least critically examine, the little voices in their heads that tell them what they "should" and "must" do.

But that said, if you can get some relief from stress for hiring this out--nothing wrong with that. I know that over the years this issue of paper and documents and filing keeps coming up with you.

I still suspect that you are keeping way too much stuff but it's impossible to know at a long distance.

[sweetana3]

Just a little thought. I did laundry for years at a local manned laundromat. I used early Sunday morning and in less than 1.5 hours had everything washed, dryed, folded or hung and ready to come home. Took so much less time than the constant running to the machine and changing loads that I do now. While everything was in the machines, I could do bills, read the newspaper, or whatever else I brought. 3-6 loads a week all at once lovely.

ps: bring the kid(s) and have them do the work while you do something else.

[Zoe Girl]

I have a vacation (finally!) and then I am going to look for a bookeeper honestly. I have felt so much less stressed. I won't go into all of it but I really thought that after my foreclosure I wouldn't have this house stress so then I would take care of things better. Um not, the fallout and move and settling was pretty darn big. So I bet a LOT of it could go straight to recycle, and I don't even have time often for that. I have some things that take decisions and planning but the weekly grind of bills is taking the limited time I have. I have a small savings and one investment that are terrible at what they earn and I want to start CD laddering, if someone else takes care of the scut work then I can do the parts that take some research and planning.

I love being able to do everything quickly at the laundromat, and I am a little picky about how things are done so maybe I wouldn't hire that out. But I did get a small hand washer so that I am not running to the laundromat because I ran out of a few items of clean clothes. My schedule is that i work 7 days a week, sometimes I can do laundry in the evening or when I go to work late. But I recently did a test of how long I could do dressing for work and not doing laundry (socks and undies handlwashed as needed). Okay at 3 weeks I still had clothes I could wear and with a couple shirts washed so the outfits were not weird I could go another week! All clothes that fit and I wear too.

Okay, gotta sleep for trip