Accountants and pesach

amother

Sat, Jan 25 2020, 11:29 pm

Do those of you in accounting work chol hamoed pesach? Erev pesach? Erev erev pesach?
How do you manage tax season and pesach?
Looking for suggestions and advice...

Cookiegirl

Sat, Jan 25 2020, 11:49 pm

Did it for many years...and ultimately, my husband was a huge help (I think for the first few years he didn't really believe I even knew how to clean for Pesach because I was not around much to show him😉).

Seriously, use your accounting skills to your benefit- make spreadsheets with tasks, break each room down into steps...same for shopping, kashering and cooking, with time estimates, and then count backwards from April 15. I really do no cooking in advance, except prepping for the sedorim starting after bedikas chometz, so for me it is just about cleaning and shopping. My husband does the kashering. We don't turn over more than a day before yom tov, usually, but we have a system. I cook alot on Yom Tov, but at that point, I really enjoy it because tax season is usually over (or almost over...).

After year 1, keep the spreadsheets and tweak them, rather than starting over each year. Write notes about what worked and what didn't. Write notes about what stuff you saved and what you did not actually end up using, so you don't buy it again the following year. (Hint...skip the 5 flavors of KLP jello)

If there is any way to keep the bedroom areas chometz free all year, it's worth it. I only started doing that when my kids were older, and we did some renovations, so everyone was motivated to keep the new rules, but I find that it is a big game changer with how early I start getting stressed about the cleaning. I literally cut my schedule down by a week and a half with that change alone, and wish I did it many years sooner. (I also tend to equate Pesach cleaning with Spring cleaning...which is not ideal, but a hard habit to break, so I decided to just go with it).

My spreadsheets give me a sense of control and a plan, and also provide a good visual to show what's done and how I am progressing. I change the colors of the cells once the task is complete. When we are all green, we are good to go!

Also, don't think about taxes on yom tov. It takes a conscious effort, but there is really nothing you can do, so you have to let it go.

Hatzlacha!

amother

Sun, Jan 26 2020, 7:17 am

Could you clarify what you mean here?

Cookiegirl wrote:

I find that it is a big game changer with how early I start getting stressed about the cleaning. I literally cut my schedule down by a week and a half with that change alone, and wish I did it many years sooner. (I also tend to equate Pesach cleaning with Spring cleaning...which is not ideal, but a hard habit to break, so I decided to just go with it).
Hatzlacha!

amother

Seashell

Sun, Jan 26 2020, 8:21 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Do those of you in accounting work chol hamoed pesach? Erev pesach? Erev erev pesach?
How do you manage tax season and pesach?
Looking for suggestions and advice...

Schedule a crew now before they're booked to come in a few days before pesach to do it all in one day. Dh to do the kashering.

Amarante

Sun, Jan 26 2020, 1:19 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Could you clarify what you mean here?

Not the poster but I interpreted it as her not having to worry about the bedrooms which means that a significant amount of time and worry doesn't occur since one only needs to deal with the communal spaces in which food is eaten for intensive cleaning for Pesach.

amother

Slategray

Sun, Jan 26 2020, 1:44 pm

I'm not an accountant nor am I married to one, but my grandfather alav hashalom was an accountant and my father remembers many years of his father falling asleep at the Seder. One year the family even pulled a prank on him and put away everything except the afikomin. They waited for him to wake up and then pretended they were up to tzafun, but they stopped him from eating the actual afikomin before it was too late to go back and eat the other seder foods.