In many respects, January is geared toward organizing for the coming year. This becomes apparent while visiting many department and home improvement stores immediately after the holidays. A large variety of organizing supplies are featured.
I often joke that I am "laundry room" organized--everything is in piles, but I know which pile.
I believe I do have a good organizational mind. However, sometimes in practice, things do not always go as planned. I get too many piles going at the same time, or the piles get too high and slide into each other. Sometimes everything explodes into chaos. The only chance I have of avoiding this is to (a) acknowledge how I operate, and (b) set things up for success ahead of time based on that reality.
So, here are some things I have learned to help me better keep those piles organized:
Week one: Set up a streamlined filing system for financial records.
The operative word is "streamlined", as in, uncomplicated, quick, easy and convenient.
I have always had file folders for loan contracts, insurance policies, investments and employment. But, for paid receipts, most years I have used the "shoebox method". Then at the end of the year, I found myself with two piles going--one for the previous year's papers and one for the current year's papers--until I took a few marathon days to sort out all the previous year's receipts, etc. into 20 plus separate piles. It was a major project every year that I struggled to get done so I could file our taxes on time.
In the meantime, if I needed something from that pile, I had a lot of papers to dig through.
Last year, I cleaned out an entire drawer in our file cabinet next to where I pay the bills. I put in hanging file folders with labels rather than manila file folders jammed 4-5 deep inside of hanging folders. I kept the categories general. The eleven for current records were income, auto, banking, credit cards, donations, life insurance, medical, miscellaneous, mortgage (house), tax deductible and utilities. If we were still working, I probably would have added unreimbursed employee expenses.
Behind those folders I have one for contracts, terms of use and correspondence that will carry over from year to year. I also have one for capital improvement expenses to save against the day the house is sold.
In the very back I have a wide expanding file folder for warranties and user manuals. This has helped me find manuals for reference, as well as to put the user manual with an item when we sell it or give it away.
I made a point to keep the hanging file folders so they slide loosely on the rails, even in December. Because it is so easy to find the file and slide it open to insert a piece of paper, I have resisted the temptation to start another pile with my receipts because of my dread of "filing". Another thing that has helped is that as I pay my bills, I unfold all my statements and correspondence, throw away the advertising pages, and staple together the "keeper" pages. It keeps the files much neater and makes it easier for me to find something months after it has been added to a folder.
It also helps that some of my bills come electronically. I try to organize my files on the computer the same way I do in the file drawer. I have a "paid receipts" file, with a new document for
each month. I periodically back my computer records to a flash drive.One of my first official acts in 2010 was to take the 2009 receipts out of the hanging file folders and put them in manila folders in a office box that I will keep handy until after I file my taxes. As tax papers come this month, they will either go into the income folder or the tax deductible folder.
That way I can avoid starting another pile for my 2010 financial receipts because my hanging file folders are available for me from the beginning.
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