Finish the Season with a Big Spring Fling Fiesta

By Sue Crum Ed.D., Professional Organizer

Last month I gave specific suggestions on looking around your home to see what items no longer serve you and what you could donate. Hopefully, with the longer days and later sunsets you have been motivated to start small and create some breathing space in your home, be it clearing out a junk drawer, a dresser drawer, a kitchen drawer or a small closet. Just making the decision to live with a little less but use what you have can give people a sense of calm and happiness that was not present before.

If you missed last month’s article, think of where you might spring into action with de-cluttering and organizing a space of manageable size. It could be a section of a home office or a corner of a dining room table; it could be your wallet or ladies, your purse. Empty the contents of the small de-cluttering project and sort the silly from the serious stuff; then, return items assigning them a specific home or space.

For those of you who got in the swing of spring last month and tackled something simple, hats off to you for this accomplishment. During the next 30 days keep an eye on that space you cleared and spend a few minutes every day or two just straightening and quickly returning items to their proper home. I call this the “Jiffy Lube Tune-up” step. It will not take but a few minutes to tweak the space since you’ve already de-cluttered and organized it last month.

With spring finishing up and summer right behind it, consider moving on to a bigger spring fling project. Many of us have house guests in the summer because our weather in San Diego is spectacular. Others of us may not have the guests but summertime is when we want to live lighter, walk more and get by with less:  less big meals, less layers of clothing, less fancy meals and less structure to our days.

Is there a big project you have been putting off for some months or years because there just hasn’t been the right time to do it?

Can you schedule time between now and the 4^th of July to tackle that with a team?

If not now maybe you could set a goal between now and Labor Day or now and Thanksgiving.

What’s important is setting a deadline. Some of us have garages packed with everything but the cars; others of us are paying month after month on storage unit rentals that are housing possessions we no longer use and only vaguely remember what those items look like.

These kinds of projects are not for the faint at heart. They require a team approach. Think about who you could recruit to help you. Perhaps a relative or two comes to mind, especially if some or many of the items belong to that person or persons. Some of us don’t have relatives nearby, so think about a neighbor or good friend. There are many teenagers who are too young to get a part-time job and they may live in your neighborhood or be the children of your friends, eager to earn a little spending money for the summer. With a group helping you the task will not be so daunting. Develop a plan of action and then dig in!

If you would like to clear up a garage or storage unit and can’t think of anyone else who could help you, our Rapid Response Team approach might be just the answer:

This month in honor of Mother’s Day, I am giving a 12% discount off of the regular Rapid Response Day (Mother’s Day is May 12^th). Contact me no later than May 31^st and say you want to book a Rapid Response Day sometime in the future but want to take advantage of this special offer. Call me for details at 760.803.2786 and say “I want to hear about your Rapid Response Day program with the 12% discount.”

“Indecision becomes decision with time.” – Author Unknown

Sue Crum is an international speaker and founder of De-Clutteryourlife.com and the owner of the RED team.  She consults and shows people how to de-clutter and organize their lives for better productivity. Her forthcoming book, De-Clutter Your Life – 50 Ways to Organize Your Life, Home or Business so that you can be More Calm, Focused, and Happy, will be available later this summer.  Call her to speak to one of your groups or help you with de-cluttering and organizing. 760.803.2786. To receive her latest EBook, Red Hot etips List for De-Cluttering Your Life, sign up at www.de-clutteryourlife.com. You will also receive monthly RED Hot etips for energized and efficient people and learn where Sue is next presenting.

by Sue Crum, Ed.D. Professional Organizer

Spring has sprung and with it new beginnings, great opportunities, and longer days!

It’s the time of year for putting away the Ugg boots and heavy sweaters, clearing out the cobwebs of our homes and lives and creating a world how we imagine it could be: Calm, Clutter-Free and Happy.

How do we do that?

We can start by looking at our environments, home and work. It’s the perfect time to shed old habits that haven’t served us well, shred old papers and files we no longer need and wed ourselves to fresh starts.

Look around and see where you could begin. Whether you live alone or with others, make it into a spring fling party. What clothes are you no longer wearing that could be donated? If you have children, now is the perfect time to attack those closets and see what no longer fits. With hefty bags at the ready, see if you can make some breathing room in the dresser drawers and closets of your home. Put the filled bags in your car and drop them off at the nearest donation center.

Once you finish this, you’ll be in the mood to spring fling another area of your home or business. How about your office or the place where your papers have been dwelling? By this time of year your tax reports should be completed. How “Zen” can you make your office space now?

Sometimes we leave files and piles out on countertops because our file cabinets are bursting. Use these longer days and later sunsets to take a look at the back of those file drawers. Can you release to the universe files you haven’t looked at in months or even years? Is it possible to create “breathing space” in those file cabinets rather than going out and buying more file drawers?

If you have sensitive documents, of course the man to contact is Mike Krauss at 619.295.5474 at Total Secure Shredding! You can drop off your items to be shredded at his place near the San Diego Sports Arena or arrange for mobile shredding services if you have quite a bit.

So, shed your sweatshirts and long pants, crank up some music and start creating more open space for new opportunities and experiences. Summer’s just around the corner; it’s time to spring toward it!

“What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork.” – Pearl Bailey 

Sue Crum is an international speaker and founder of De-Clutteryourlife.com and the owner of the RED team.  She consults and shows people how to de-clutter and organize their lives for better productivity. Her forthcoming book, De-Clutter Your Life – 50 Ways to Organize Your Life, Home or Business so that you can be More Calm, Focused, and Happy, will be available in June.  Call her to speak to one of your groups or help you with de-cluttering and organizing. 760.803.2786.

To receive her latest EBook, Red Hot etips List for De-Cluttering Your Life, sign up at www.de-clutteryourlife.com. You will also receive monthly RED Hot etips for energized and efficient people and learn where Sue is next presenting.

The Case of the Baseball Player Who Struck Out

By David W. Taklender, CPA

Alimony is a very contentious issue for many reasons in addition to the emotional aspects.

For our purposes we are concerned about the tax law implications.  What you need to know is that when divorces are taking place where children are involved, spousal support and child support are also being negotiated.

If you don’t already know, spousal support (alimony) is deductible by the payor and is considered taxable income by the payee.  On the flip side of that coin, child support is neither deductible by the payor, nor is it considered taxable for the recipient.

Therefore, it should become obvious that during divorce negotiations the payor usually always wants their payments to be structured as all or mostly alimony and the recipient would prefer it be referred to as 100% child support.

Usually, a combination of the two is the end result and we, as tax preparers, follow the divorce decrees signed by a judge to determine how to report the payments.  I say, “usually” we follow the divorce decree.  This is because over the years, the IRS and the tax courts have ruled that regardless of what a divorce decree states by a family court judge, if the payments do not follow specific requirements written in the tax code, then the payments will not be considered alimony, regardless of what the separation agreement says.

The requirements for payments by a spouse to a former spouse to be considered alimony are:

1. Payments must be in cash or check/money order (transfer of property or services do not qualify)
2. Payments must be received by spouse (or on behalf of spouse – i.e. indirect alimony)
3. Must be received under divorce or written separation agreement (i.e. no voluntary payments)
4. It is not alimony if the agreement designates the payments as excludable from payee spouse’s gross income
5. Payee and payor spouse cannot live together (no joint return)
6. Alimony must stop after payee spouse’s death

Child Support

Payments are NOT alimony if the agreement fixes part of any payment for child’s support

1. in dollar amounts or
2. as a percentage.

A payment IS child support (not alimony) IF the reduction occurs at a time “clearly associated with a contingency.”

Examples of a Clear Contingency include

1. reduction occurring six months before or after a child attains age 18, 21, or majority age;
2. reduction occurs more than one year before after two children reach the same age, and
3. the child:
   • attaining a specified age,
   • dying,
   • leaving school,
   • marrying,
   • leaving home, or
   • gaining employment.

THE CASE OF THE BASEBALL PLAYER WHO STRUCK OUT – David LaPoint

Strike One - Signing away your rights.

Dave LaPoint ended his 11 year major league baseball career in 1991, the year after he married Laura Jean Clear.  In 1992, the couple signed a post-nuptial agreement which provided that in the event of divorce, Ms. Clear would receive: 1) rights to any monies Dave received from the Baseball Players Association resulting from any “collusion settlement”; 2) $50,000 per year as long as Dave was being paid to play or participate in baseball; and 3) health insurance and medical reimbursement.  Unfortuately for Dave, the post-nuptial agreement also contained language requiring that the agreement terms came to the benefit of, and were binding upon, “the parties herto, their heirs, exectuors, legal representatives and assigns.”

Strike Two – Dave gets divorced in 2002 and post-nuptial agreement becomes part of the decree.

The New York Supreme Court rejected Dave’s claim to have the post-nuptial agreement set aside and instead granted Ms. Clear’s motion to have the agreement incorporated into the judgment of divorce. Dave and Laura’s divorce was finalized in 2005 and all marital assets were divided in accordance with the post-nuptial agreement.

Strike Three – Collusion settlement payments made to ex-wife are NOT deductible alimony as no termination of death clause was present.

On his Federal income tax returns for 2002 and 2004, Dave reported as gross income collusion payments (funds that Dave will receive from the Baseball Players Association, aka “baseball collusion” monies) he received from MLB in the amount of $294,749 and $385,964, respectively.  Dave, in compliance with the post-nuptial agreement, handed over the income to his soon to be ex-wife. He then deducted the payments as alimony. But, because it was written that Ms. Clear’s rights to the MLB collusion payments would continue “even after her death,” meant no alimony for Dave….ouch!

What would have been a good solution? 

Well, because of something called the assignment of income doctrine, he couldn’t simply assign half of his income to his ex-wife and expect her to be taxed on it; so, the only possibility would have been for LaPoint to adjust his property settlement with his ex-wife during negotiations in order to equalize the situation by taking into consideration the tax he would pay on the money that his ex-wife receives on an after-tax basis.  His lawyer? I don’t know….sleeping maybe?  I’m sure after that he probably lost a client.

Ain’t love grand?!

Read more about David Taklender at www.dtakcpa.com

Hi Folks,

We will be closed Christmas Week from Monday 12/24/12 through Friday 12/28/12.

However, we will be open Saturday after Christmas 12/29/12.

We will be open again on Monday 12/31/12 (New Year’s Eve Day) but closed on New Year’s Day 1/01/13.

So, here’s a summary:

• Closed Monday 12/24/12
• Closed Tuesday 12/25/12
• Closed Wednesday 12/26/12
• Closed Thursday 12/27/12
• Closed Friday 12/28/12
• Open Saturday 12/29/12
• Closed Sunday 12/30/12
• Open Monday 12/31/12
• Closed Tuesday 1/01/12
• Back to normal Wednesday 1/02/12

All phone calls roll over to my Cell Phone so I may be answering calls intermittently throughout the week.

Happy Holidays,

Mike
Head Shredding Guy
Total Secure Shredding
(619) 295-5474

Welcome to the 12 Days of SHREDmas!

12 Days… 12 Discounts

Starting today December 6th and going to Friday December 21st, I’ll be offering a different discount each day.

But there is one catch…

The coupon will be available for download ONLY ONE DAY.

However, the coupons will be valid to use anytime through January 31, 2013.

1. One Hard Drive for FREE – Available 12/06/12 [Click Here]
2. Cross-Cut Shredding for the price of Strip-Cut – Available 12/07/12 [Click Here]
3. Strip-Cut Shredding for the price of Un-Witnessed Shredding – Available 12/10/12 [Click Here]
4. One File Box Shredded for FREE when you Shred 1 Hard Drive – Available 12/11/12 [Click Here]
5. Last Year’s Purge Prices – Available 12/12/12 [Click Here]
6. One FREE Hard Drive with 2 Boxes of Shredded Documents – Available 12/13/12 [Click Here]
7. Unlimited CD’s/DVD’s/Diskettes Shredded for FREE – Available 12/14/12 [Click Here]
8. 8% OFF any Shred Service – Available 12/17/12 [Click Here]
9. 50% OFF Phone Shredding – Available 12/18/12 [Click Here]
10. 10% OFF any Shred Service – Available 12/19/12 [Click Here]
11. 15 Boxes for the Price of 10 – Available 12/20/12 [Click Here]
12. 12% OFF any Shred Service – Available 12/21/12 [Click Here]

Just to emphasize how I envisioned this working, the coupons will be available for download only for one day but will be valid for use through 1/31/12.

If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call:

(619) 295-5474

Happy Holidays, Your Friend,