Taking the Easy Path

So the day I hate more than any other day in the year--of all normal mundane days, that is, of course not counting miscarriages and deaths and any other major traumas--has come again.  The day I assemble my tax information.  The day I have hated ever since I told my no-longer stepfather at age 22 (?) that no he could not count me as a dependent if he wasn't actually, you know, supporting me and therefore had to start doing my own damn taxes.  Once I got a real job I started having a real tax guy--actually, my mother's tax guy--do my taxes, but that still necessitates the nonsense of finding long lost documents and organizing them into something coherent.  (You'd think I'd just learn to keep this shit organized, but beyond sticking it in a folder labeled TAXES, I really don't).

So as I was saying, it's tax day.  And I'm sitting here with a stack of insurance EOBs and prescription receipts and paperwork from Dr. G's office two inches thick, not to mention the smaller stack of other receipts for work-related nonsense, and it occurs to me, I can make this as easy as I want.  I do not need to itemize all this shit, and perhaps my peace of mind this afternoon and the time not spent doing that is more precious than the small amount (I mean, I think it's small) I might get back for these random expenses.  The things that will comprise the bulk of my tax refund I don't really need to sort because it's right here in front of me:  having another kid, and the paperwork that goes along with all ~$30K of my DE cycle.  Perhaps if I were an accountant I'd know whether it's actually worth organizing work receipts that probably total $200.  Perhaps I'll end up doing it anyway, but it's nice to realize that I can just put this stuff in an envelope and call it done.