TAXES!!!!

So, it's tax time again. How fast time flies!! In working on our taxes we went from getting a refund of over $900, to owing over $900, to owing about $400. Needless to say, no one wants to pay the government more!!! And with all the stress and financial strain of moving back to California and me being unemployed for almost 4 months, there was no way we could afford to pay this.

Luckily, I remember that there is something that you can fill out if you have a personal business. One of my wonderful Etsy friends, CamillesCloset from the promo frenzy team, told me it was a "schedule C" I needed to do.

So off I went. A lot of the things I didn't really understand about it, and still need to ask my dad about (he's owned lots of businesses). However when I went through and added up all my purchases, and this was just the ones done with a credit card that I had a record for, I had spent over $2000. Yes I know, I am addicted to beads and shiny things!! And my sales were around $800 for the year. So I definitely didn't come close to breaking even. Then I added in my labor. That was a tough one for me, because I had to estimate how many hours I spent "working" or creating. From everything I've read, it seems jewelry designers pay themselves about $20/hour. I did the calculation, entered it in, and viola, we are getting a tax refund!!!

Moral of the story...don't forget your business and don't be ashamed of yourself if you took a loss. This was my first year selling my jewelry, and I was shocked to see how much money I had made. To me, it was a lot, because before it was just a hobby that cost me money. Hopefully this year I will do much better in sales, and in record keeping :)