Confession of a Professional Procrastinator

I told myself last year that I would not wait until the last possible minute to submit my taxes. It just causes needless stress for me. Last year on April 14th, I had boarded a cruise ship, sat in the sun, filled out my taxes and then found out I had to disembark to mail it. So, before the ship pulled away from the dock, I got off, frantically searched for a mailbox… I ran into some people who had noticed me filling out my taxes. They asked me if I needed to mail it off. When I answered in the affirmative, they offered to take the envelope off my hands and deliver it safely to the nearest mailbox. Of course I did not know these people from Adam, but I was a little worried at this point that the ship was going to leave without me. I gave them the envelope and thanked them profusely as I ran to catch my ship. This year, when I got back from Iraq, I kept telling myself that I had plenty of time. I did not have any of the forms, my W-2, or the amount of interest I had made on my savings account, so I was waiting for some of that to come in. What I didn’t think about was the fact that all that stuff should have come in long ago… it probably had come in, but got lost somewhere along the way as all my mail was being forwarded to friends’ houses. Unfortunately, once again I was down to the wire, except this time I think I even broke my own record of procrastination. I woke up this morning and thought to myself, “is it April 15, isn't it? I guess I need to get my taxes done and submitted by the end of the day.” Once I got to the office I continued putting off the inevitable. Finally, around one o’clock I mustered up enough energy to walk to the bank to get the only thing I still needed: my statement of interest accumulated. That done, I was able to finish my tax form and get it in on time. While I hate the fact that I am a procrastinator, at least I always get things done on time even if they are not early. And who knows, maybe next year will be better. =)