Simplifying Can Be Complicated

Today’s prepperupper blogpost referenced an article on simplifying your life. You can read that article at:

http://prepperupper.com/prepper-upper-how-to-simplify-your-life.html

(If you are interested in the prepperupper blog, go to http://doctorprepper.com. This site is maintained by James Talmadge Stevens, better known as Dr. Prepper, author of Making the Best of Basics --a terrific book on being prepared.)

In any case, as you all know, I am trying to get ready to hit the road full-time in my truck and travel trailer. If that isn’t simplifying, I don’t know what it is. It’s amazing how freeing it is to rid yourself of a lot of stuff.

Needless to say, doing this is not as easy as it sounds. With the limited space in a travel trailer, I have to divest myself of almost every treasure I own. Many of these evoke memories of Mark and my mother. I also have several treasures which were were given to me by friends or family and are hard to part with.

For example, I have a number of frog knickknacks, some of which were given to me by my dear friend Oretha Ziggler and her daughter, both of whom are now in heaven. Whenever I look at those precious little frogs, I smile and remember them.

Still, getting rid of all the STUFF is something I would have needed to do regardless – most of what I have would mean nothing to anyone but me. I don’t want my brothers and sisters-in-law to have to sort through all of this when I pass.

Federal Income Taxes

The last few days, I’ve been involved in that annual stress-fest: preparing my federal income tax. Today, I finally finished and e-filed them. This morning, when I thought I was done, Turbo Tax told me I would get a $4900 refund. I knew this couldn’t be right; it wasn’t. Instead I owed about $300. I can’t tell you I wouldn’t have enjoyed the big refund, but feel much more comfortable with owing a little instead.

I wish we could eliminate the IRS (note the-IRS spells theirs) and our income tax system could be replaced by a consumption tax. It could be administered by the current sales tax systems that already exist in most states and the taxes you pay would be based entirely on what you spend. This would be the fairest way to collect taxes, would jumpstart our economy, and would reduce the controls over the people that the income tax provides to the government.

Sorry for the rant, but the government is BANKRUPT and OUT OF CONTROL. And all political parties are guilty.

I guess I’ll go cool down.

Until next time…