Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide specific tax advice and should be used as a guideline to help encourage you to seek professional tax services.

First and foremost, legally, you -have- to claim all of your wages that you made in the last year. However, most dancers do not. Don’t think that you can escape the IRS though. Everything that you deposit into your bank account or major purchases will be tracked to you and it will catch up with you.

Over the last year, you should have kept your receipts for shoes, make-up and mileage to and from the club.

What’s that? You didn’t keep track? No problem. Here are some easy tips to help you figure out what sort of deductions you can claim this year on your taxes and how to get them ready for the CPA of your choice.

Find a random shoe box and begin accumulating the following items for your Tax Professional.

*  Cash – If you didn’t keep any receipts for make up, shoes, or jewelry purchases there is pretty much no way you can claim a deduction for those items if you paid cash. Any time you purchase -anything- from the costume lady,  ask for a receipt. Even if they give you a funny look, feel good about being smart with your money. If you happen to find some random receipts stuffed in a drawer or in a old Mac bag,  add those to your shoe box.

* Debit/Credit Card Purchases – You should be receiving monthly statements from your bank or Creditor. Go through those to find purchases made local and online that were for your stripping business. Highlight those items with a highlighter pen and put with any receipts you found.

* The next time you go into work, figure out what the mileage is and calculate an average of how many shifts per week you worked over the last year (all of 2009).  For example:

If the club is 10 miles away, that’s 20 miles round trip. You worked 3 shifts on average per week, times 52 weeks equals 156 shifts. You then times 156 by the 20 miles and that equals 3,120 miles. Just write that down on a piece of paper and place in box.

* If you traveled out of state to work, your airfare is deductible as well as hotel and other expenses. Your CPA will be able to tell you exactly what you can deduct for business travels.

At the end of your gathering, just take the shoe box to your CPA appointment.

Preparing all year for the inevitable tax season can make a huge difference for your stripping business and your purse.

~Perelandra

In a word?

Yes.

But allow me to explain. It has to do with how well you have taken care of yourself over the years and if plastic surgery is an option for you. For most women, your skin begins to lose its elasticity at about 40. That means that is when wrinkles begin to appear and flabby arms and even your butt begins to sag. However, if you look into facial peels, microderm abrasion, and other procedures you can still dance for quite a while.

The photo is of Tempest Storm and at 81 she still performs her burlesque shows in Vegas, NV. I’m not saying everyone can be a Tempest Storm but you don’t have to stop at 35 either.

If you are in the industry and are approaching 30 – stop freaking out! Women don’t reach their sexual maturity until about 30-34. It happened at 31 for me. Sexual maturity doesn’t mean you get super horny either. It is a change in attitude about sex and you’ve had enough experiences to know how and what it is you want from your partner. You also gain the ability to communicate it. This maturity is amazingly sexy to virtually everyone around you. I would wager that you will make more money after 30 than before.

In the fantasy world, young men drool over the experienced woman who knows what she’s doing and older men appreciate her confidence – meaning he doesn’t have to baby her ego.

<3 Perelandra

This may seem like a silly post for some of you. But so many times I have been frustrated by eye makeup tips sites and YouTube tutorials. I try out the look but can’t seem to get it right. Something just looks off or the look I like doesn’t really look good on me. I’ve even gone to the M.A.C. website and printed off the ‘maps’ that tell you step by step how to create the look. Only sometimes does it actually look good. Once you get frustrated, then you get into a make up rut – stuck with a look that over time becomes stagnant.

One thing I’ve noticed that eye makeup experts don’t tell you anywhere on the net is because eye shapes are so different, you will not get the same look as on the model unless your eye shape is the same as hers. It makes sense but why don’t they tell you? Because they secretly want to keep you confused and spending money.

My suggestion is when doing a search on the net for eye makeup, put the shape of your eye in the search query.
For example: ‘eye shadow tips for almond eyes’.
If you don’t know what shape eyes you have, do a google search for ‘different eye shapes’ and match up to the one closest to your eyes. Also you can search by the color of your eyes to get the most dramatic effects.
For example: ‘eye shadow tips for blue eyes’.

Once you know your eye shape, then you can go back to YouTube and find the best how to videos to help you get that perfect new look you crave.

Don’t wait until you are getting ready for work to try a new look. If you end up not liking the way it looks on you, you are either stuck with it or run the risk of being late for your shift – probably reverting back to your old stand-by techniques to save time.

Earlier in the afternoon, spend an hour or so just practicing your eye make up. When it comes time to get ready for work, you’ll already know what to do. This will save time in the long run  and will ensure that you will feel good about the way you look.

You can also always go to the M.A.C. counter and ask for your make-up to be done by a pro – usually for free. Just make sure that you buy something. They will tell you how to re-create the look you want so you can do it yourself.

And for Godsakes, don’t ask your friend to do your makeup simply because you like the way she does hers. All too often she thinks it looks great and you wont like it but can’t really say anything for fear of hurting her feelings. It’s better to just not go there.

Instead ask her to go shopping with you. Who knows, maybe you’ll both come away with an exciting new look.

Cheers,

Perelandra