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cupofkindness

Excellent Home Office and Household Paper Management Advice, Link

cupofkindness
9 years ago

In overhauling the beleaguered Cupofkindess paper management system, largely because it has been a failure and it is a miracle that we are financially afloat, I've been researching various ways to deal with the relentless flow of paper in and out of our family home. I've mainly been reading through posts on this subject here on the Organizing the Home forum.

This is from the Squalor Survivors website and was linked in an old thread, I suppose that Script is a pseudonym:

Script is a semi-retired senior bookkeeper and accountant with over 33 years full time experience in small, medium and multi-national companies. For the last 17 years she has run her own company ("Script's Services") providing bookkeeping and secretarial services to small businesses, self-employed professionals and individuals.

THE SSSSSS Files: Script's Suggestions & Systems for Simple Solutions to Serious $ Scenarios

All the suggestions here are based on Script's own personal home system. However, most of these were learned in the workplace. Script wants to begin by thanking various colleagues, accountants, lawyers, friends and co-workers for their training, inspiration and advice over her long and varied career.
Furthermore, Script wrote this to help herself, as much as the other members of Squalor Survivors. And what works for her may not work for YOU! So adapt, discard, retain, modify, ignore: you choose!

Where to begin
We begin at the beginning. With an acknowledgement that everyone has to cope with an immense avalanche of papers, invoices, bills, receipts, tax material, money, cheques, documents, and junque mail every single day. The Paper Tiger.
We will accomplish nothing if, like ostriches, we hide our heads in the sand. The paper problem will never go away. Not even Death stops the avalanche! Just ask the executor of even a simple estate.
So...let us begin with The Mail: the main source of our papers concerning money.
In an office, The Mail is handled by one person: often in a separate Mail Room. The Mail Opener has an important function in any well-run business.
In the spirit of office-like efficiency and ruthless professionalism, Script opens the mail standing up. Beside her is the garbage can and recycle bin. She does not consider Opening the Mail a leisure time activity to be enjoyed while watching TV.
In fact, Script considers Opening the Mail the single most important step in taming the paper tiger.
Unwanted flyers, envelopes, etc go immediately in her paper recycle bin.
Bills-to-pay go immediately in one single folder (more on this later).
Things-to-file go immediately in one single box (more on this later).
Invitations ("how exciting!") go immediately to a clip on the fridge door.
Script's eagle eye is always on the outlook for actual money ("how useful!") mostly cheques. These go inside bank book in purse. Immediately!
Greeting cards ("how thoughtful!") go immediately for display on the dining room china cabinet.
If some of your "Mail" arrives in your home via your purse or briefcase, follow the same routine as above.
Script has established a designated HotSpot on the counter beside the phone: a silver tray equipped with note pads, post it notes, pens, and memo tree. Here she puts other papers to handle, for example a letter to answer ("how nice!")
The Bills-to-Pay Folder
In a well-run office the bills are paid in well-defined cycles. Offices do NOT pay a bill as soon as it comes in the door and neither does Script. She stores the bills somewhere and processes them later.

Imagine that YOU are your own Accounts Payable department (this was in fact Script's all-time-favourite office job!)
Script keeps a simple rigid plastic "HotFile" rack in her kitchen on a counter near the phone (away from food preparation and heat sources.) This HotFile holds about 6 regular office-size hanging folders.
As she opens the mail, BILLS immediately go in one file at the very front of the rack. Sometimes Script leaves the envelopes unopened (shame!): but at least they are where they belong. Immediately.
Nothing else goes in the BILLS folder. But also stored in the HotFile is a separate file of information for telephone banking; information on her savings account; etc.

When to Pay Bills
When there is enough money!
No, seriously, the ideal solution is to establish a designated time/day/place for paying bills.
This may not be possible ("no money yet"). But it is the GOAL which Script advises for everyone. Including herself, hem hem.
As someone who lived for many years with the "no money" squalor, Script sympathizes with those who CANNOT pay bills promptly.
Now... what about those who WILL not pay bills promptly? This is the classic Squalor Survivors scenario. People with the $$$ who cannot make payments on time.
Why? There are lots of ingredients in this particular Toxic Stew: fear of parting with the $$$; procrastination; poor work habits; depression; home in squalor.
But, let's assume you are financially and emotionally able to pay bills in some sort of timely way.
Make this Bill Paying a designated weekly task. Pick a day. A time. A place. In one office, Script's job included "pay bills every Thursday." End of story.
Even if you cannot pay the whole amount, pay something. This keeps your credit better and helps immensely with the guilt and remorse...
Script does not believe that it is efficient, sensible or necessary to pay bills more than once a week.
Script also recognizes that at many times in her squalorous life she has not paid bills weekly: or monthly. Or even bi-monthly. That is not the end of the world. But to move PAST the 2 month horizon is looking for Serious Trouble!


How to Pay Bills
In the Goode Olde Dayes, Script paid bills with cheques. Requiring cheque book, pen, envelope, stamps...and eventually a walk to a mail box.
No more!
Now it is true that Script still needs cheques for the odd thing (and some of her expenses are somewhat odd). But there are many much more efficient ways to pay bills today.
Direct withdrawal: many utilities, mortgage brokers, insurance agencies, municipalities etc. allow you to have the funds withdrawn immediately from a bank account or charged to a credit card. This is the easiest way to pay bills. BUT it assumes that you have a stable income that allows you to pay bills in a timely way. This method is NOT suitable for those who do not have enough money.
Bank Machine: many of us now pay bills directly through an ATM. The downside: you have to go out to a machine. It takes time. You then have to do something with a receipt when you return home. Nevertheless, Script herself keeps this option open. You never know!
Telephone Banking: advantages: you do it at home (in nightgown maybe! With cup of tea at hand!); at any time of day or night. Disadvantages: telephone banking is physically awkward---keying in numbers on a touch-tone phone. Nevertheless, it is also an option that Script herself has used and keeps open. You never know!
Internet (on line) Computer Banking: yes! The future is here! Easy. Simple. Quick. Downside: you need a computer. And you need to believe that this is safe. If you are afraid to do this, Script sympathizes. In this day of fraudulent schemes and swindles of every description, it is wise to be cautious. But for now, Script is using this method as her primary way to pay bills.

The Next Step
All right! Well Done! So far so good! You've paid your bills. What's next?
In a well-run-office, someone would FILE the paid bills. In her home, this is Script. BUT once again, as in the well-run-office, Script does not file constantly. She files systematically, thoroughly, professionally: but OCCASIONALLY. How? When?
On the handle of her office door, Script hangs a large black canvas Tote Bag. Everything for filing eventually goes here. And by-the-by, just a reminder: filing means PUTTING AWAY in such a way that the information or material can be retrieved easily.


Remember the single "THINGS TO FILE" box in Script's kitchen? When it starts to get full from mail, purse flings, shopping receipts, Script brings this box to her office. Where the files are! If she is feeling well, she files the stuff instantly.
However, if she is feeling tired, ill, depressed, she dumps the stuff in the Tote Bag. That's it. A PHYSICAL limit has now been established. And when does Script tackle the Tote Bag?
When it gets too full.
When she should be doing something else ("Structured Procrastination").
When she has time to kill in the office (waiting for a phone call, for example).
OR in the last resort: by the end of the month. That is her self-imposed TIME limit.
Script would never waste precious time and limited energy filing every day. No: she has better things to do: drink bubbly, watch KungFu with DearHubby, cook gourmet treats. She doesn't feel guilty, no! But she does recognize that the filing will have to be done eventually and so she does it within her self-imposed physical and temporal LIMITS.
Funny anecdote: Script once worked for some very conflicted clients. Guess what! These silly people stored their THINGS TO BE FILED in a large box (not so bad) but allowed their CAT to sleep in the box (not so good). This meant that everything was covered with cat hairs. And was eventually un-fileable.


How to File
Script would like to remind her gentle readers that unless she is much mistaken, we are not running Buckingham Palace, IBM, or the World Bank from our homes. For home/family needs, Simple is Better. This is what Script does:
First of all, a place. Script in her mature wisdom now believes that every home should have a filing cabinet. Since virtually all homes have TVs, Computers, VCRs, Digital Cameras, Cell Phones and other expensive and complicated electronic thingys, she is not at all shy about recommending that YOU (this means YOU!) buy, borrow, find (don't steal) a real filing cabinet. Maybe 2 drawers. Maybe metal. And find a place to put it. Near desk. Under desk. In cellar. In office. Yes! This means you!
Secondly, there have been some very thorough lists posted recently about what to keep. Script got very nervous reading these (as she is not trying to run Buckingham Palace, IBM or the World Bank from her home). She is much more simple...her friends say "simple-minded"...
SO...this is how Script organizes her files:
TAX stuff: first and foremost
PENSION info: for DearHubby
INVESTMENT info: for happy old age
BANK stuff: to keep the wolves from the door. For example, our Line of Credit info.
IMPORTANT Papers like copy of drivers licenses. Really important stuff goes in Safety Deposit Box.
INSURANCE papers: just in case we don't reach happy old age.
The Dreaded ORANGE FOLDER (wills, estate stuff). More later.
HOME expenses
Realty Taxes
Telephone
Light, Heat, Power, Water, Sewage
Everything else
CREDIT CARD receipts
Script does only the most basic colour coding: green for money! Nothing has a fancy label. If YOU like, go ahead and beautify: just remember not to make the icing before you learn how to bake the cake.
Some of these files are actually "sets" of files. For example "Investments". By law, Script and DearHubby must have separate retirement plans. So one file each! Also Script has been fortunate enough to inherit other money (for which she is truly grateful.) This investment info is also filed separately.
And a few words for investment info: most of Script's male clients file this stuff with a dedication worthy of the search for the Holy Grail. And perhaps a fat portfolio IS the Holy Grail for some. Script laughs. She keeps the CURRENT year only. She constantly throws stuff out. Laughing! She does NOT care what the price of Amalgamated Consolidated was back in the year Dot. She saves only what she needs for tax purposes.


The Dreaded Orange Folder
Script, as you know, is a realist. She has seen tragedy, unexpected death and disaster. SO...in her wisdom and because she loves her family, she has put together ONE (1) file with information "just in case". She chose ORANGE as it is her least favourite colour. Nothing else in her house, office or files is orange; therefore this one folder is super-easy to find. She has told (laughingly of course) her nearest and dearest to look for this ORANGE folder. Just in case.

Do yourself and your loved ones a favour. Make your own orange folder. Containing...

Wills and estate information.
List of bank accounts.
Photocopy of contents of wallet.
Investment info.
Funeral wishes.
Whatever. Do it now! Update it sometime: maybe every 5 years.
Anything is better than the vast NOTHING which many people leave behind for their bereaved and shell-shocked survivors.

Taxes
We just looked at Death ("the dreaded Orange Folder"). Now a few words on Taxes.

Script is a fanatic about keeping her tax stuff in order. Many members of Squalor Survivors are terrified to reveal their living situation to strangers, and they protect their privacy at all costs. Well, the Government has no interest whatsoever in privacy, etiquette, manners, civility. They come when they darn well please, tough luck. And so, Script likes to be prepared! Not that she expects Revenue agents to arrive at her door with machine guns (as a fellow accountant once experienced). But she is absolutely rigorous about her tax files.

The very first file in Script's file cabinet is reserved for CURRENT YEAR taxes.
She puts things here all year long.
Taxes may be prepared once a year only; tax gathering in a year-long, even life-long activity.
In a separate folder Script keeps LAST YEAR. She NEVER mixes these up.
Eventually, Script puts Last Year goes into far-away-secondary-storage, with the sincere hope that she will never be called upon to look at this again.
Script saves anything and everything tax-related in one place. ONE place.
ONE. Uno. ONE. Do you understand: ONE!
By doing this one simple sorting thing, year-end personal-tax-time is as stress free as is humanly possible. We will not discuss your personal angst at sending large sums of hard-earned money to rapacious governments.
Even if you are not able to file. Not able to pay bills on time. Not able to make your own orange folder. Not able to do anything right at all in the office: if you can keep ONE place for tax stuff, you will be farther ahead than many of Script's clients were before she entered their lives!


How to Save Money
Script is not going to tell you how to use coupons, shop for specials, sell your stuff on e-bay. NO! She is interested in big-time stuff only! Saving for serious rainy days and happy old age.

First of all, try to establish a RAINY DAY fund. Equal to about 3 months living expenses. It might take a year or two or more to accumulate, but start now!
Script did this originally when her finances were in serious disarray. How? She transferred 10% of everything she received (royalties, income, gifts) to a special savings account. 10% is easy to understand even for math phobes! Script is obviously not a math phobe, but she appreciated the simplicity of this method.
You also need a Happy Old Age Fund: or retirement plan. If you have a job with apension, great! If you have "expectations" in the form of rich elderly relatives, great! But no matter who or what, try to save something just in case...
How? Use the "pay yourself first" plan. In other words, if at all possible have investment moneys automatically withdrawn from bank. Most banks and investment houses are happy (deliriously happy!) to do this for you.
How much to save? You cannot save everything. Don't even try. This is setting yourself up for failure.
Aim for 10% of your income. Gross, net, whatever: aim for something that you think looks like 10%.
Rich people should be able to save a greater percentage of their income. Some double income families can (theoretically - they rarely do) save ALL of one salary. People who live paycheque to paycheque have the most trouble of all - they often can save little or nothing. BUT Script has seen high income professionals with pitiful portfolios and a cleaning lady who saved enough to buy a condo!
Helpful hint: start NOW. Script has built a happy healthy old age nest egg by saving a little every year. For many years! She began her retirement savings plan in 1975 when she was in her mid-twenties. She never invested major dollars - because she didn't have major dollars. It is difficult to make up for lost time after age 50. Difficult, but not impossible...
Find an advisor. (Not a friend. Not a smarty-pants coworker.) Find a professional advisor. Ask the bank. Ask the accountant. Read books. Take course. Learn!
Have hope! Start now. Remember the old joke: "When is the best time to start saving for retirement? Age 21. When is the second best time? Today"


How Long Does Script Spend on Her Paper Work? An educated guess
Daily: to open the mail, clean out purse, put shopping receipts in Kitchen File Box: a few minutes.
Daily: to collect receipts from OTHER family members: no time. Script trained DearHubby to put HIS receipts in the Kitchen File Box. It took about a year for him to learn this.
Daily (optional): to check bank balance on telephone/internet: 3 minutes
Weekly: to pay bills on "Thursday": perhaps 30 minutes.
Weekly: to review bank accounts on line: perhaps 20 minutes if not done daily
Monthly: to file all the stuff that has accumulated: perhaps 30 minutes.
Semi-annually: to check on tax file: is all ok so far? Perhaps 1 hour.
Annually: to get tax stuff ready, clean out desk, start new folders: perhaps 4 hours.
Annually (optional): to organize donation budget: 1 hour
Annually: to review investments: 2 hours.
Annually: to make RRSP deposits (our retirement fund): 2 hours
Every 3-5 years: make new will: to visit lawyer, sign documents: several hours
ONLY YOU can see whether this is too much or too little. Script balances her cheque book to the last red (or black) cent virtually every day. Other people (including Script's Mom, the office guru) just check the bank statement monthly.

Uncle T's Words To Live By
Uncle T (DearMom's brother) was Script's boss for many years. Here are his trinity of timely tips for office sanity:

Handle each piece of paper as little as possible.
If the desk is in serious squalor, begin to sort by picking up the first piece of paper on the top.
There is often a better way: look for it!

How to get out from behind the 8 Ball of Debt: the Poor House avoidance plan. (This was originally written for a very negligent client.)

RECOGNIZE that you have a problem managing your own money. Lots of movie stars and celebrities let someone else manage for them. You may have to do this too!
PLAN to change your ways. Pick a starting date. A new year. A new month. Your birthday.
EXPECT that the first few weeks will be dreadful, like a drug addict going cold turkey.
GIVE UP CONTROL of your access to money, for 3 months by:
putting credit cards away (in safety deposit box for example)
putting cheque book away (likewise)
giving yourself an allowance weekly
having all committed expenses - rent, hydro, mortgage, insurance - paid directly.
HOPE AND BELIEVE that after a finite period of time you will change your spending patterns and can start on the road to recovery.

This is Cupofkindness again. In reviewing old threads, I noticed that sometimes links were no longer active, so I decided to copy/paste this entire article here. Some of Script's advice reminds me of Flylady, other tips sound like Dave Ramsey. It's all good and extremely useful information, thanks to Squalor Survivors for making this information available. Another valuable idea as applied to my situation was to create a paper in- and out-flow chart so get me thinking about optimal ways to handle the overwhelming amount of paper that we deal with, then get realistic about how Mr. Cupofkindness and I really operate with respect to that ideal. Other aids such as tracking bills payment dates, so that there are no surprises, because money surprises are almost always bad surprises. I also realize that next to personal documentation and medical records, current year tax information deserves a front-row seat in every home office. I also realize that I MUST MUST MUST open every envelope on a daily basis (barring something unexpected like an illness or death, or a wedding-you get the idea) to keep from feeling out-of-control, even if I put the opened-envelope in a folder to be dealt with at a later date.

I owe a debt of gratitude to all forum members who have posted their problems and advice over the years, which has allowed me to gather a lot of excellent information. What is really remarkable is how much we gain by transacting finances online or having receipt look-up, for example. So things that were major stumbling blocks in 2004 might no longer be an issue in 2014. For example, tracking receipts were a downfall for me in the past, but not now.

Simplification is the key, and what I long for most. Do you have any new strategies that help in this area? Or old habits that have proved their worth over the years? I'd love to hear about what has worked for you. Thank you!

Comments (10)

  • talley_sue_nyc
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks, Cup!

    I noticed this:
    e. I also realize that I MUST MUST MUST open every envelope on a daily basis (barring something unexpected like an illness or death, or a wedding-you get the idea) to keep from feeling out-of-control, even if I put the opened-envelope in a folder to be dealt with at a later date.

    This is true for me--though I don't always achieve it.

    What happens in my house is that my DH brings in the mail and sets it on the dining-room table. I come home much later, and the mail has been moved in order to make room for dinner--and it just gets moved to any old alternate surface.

    Then I end up with bills that I haven't even seen.

    So, my solution needs to be several-fold.

    First, I need to designate a place that mail "goes." (I tried this once--it ended up with a really messy problem; but if I can implement one of these later steps, that might be solved.)

    Second, I need to train my DH to know what's junk, so he can sort first. (I have my doubts about the success of this--he can remember all sorts of things, but there is other stuff, all of it domestic, that he passively refuses to memorize.)

    Third, I need to set up a regular way to pay bills. I do it online, so it's less of an obstacle to me than the old paper way. But I can't always get on the computer.

    I think if I can do 1 and 3, it'll be easier.

    Meanwhile, I have as many things automated as I can. I'm fortunate in that I don't have to wait for money in order to pay the basic bills, so the maintenance/rent and all the utilities and all the credit cards and the HELOC can be on an automatic payment setup.
    Medical bills are the ones that might throw me off, but those can't really be automated anyway.
    I'm also fortunate to qualify for bounce-protection (where the bank loans me money to cover any overage; I miss the kind where the bank just transferred money from my savings). I'm in touch enough that I can dip into savings if I have to to cover it.
    (Also, I have an automatic transfer of money -into- savings, so it's usually that transaction that is part of the deficit, so I don't feel bad about it when it happens.)

  • cupofkindness
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks, Talley. Yes, in the two weeks since I started this thread, I've only missed on day, why, I could not tell you, but this is a major victory in my war on paper!

    I think opening the mail each day can be compared to weighing and measuring food on something like a Weight Watchers or using an envelope system a la Dave Ramsey to control spending. It forces one to assess a slice of their behavior on a regular basis. For mail and money, it's a bit different because of course there is nothing to analyze about an EOB or a credit card offer... but there are the "unwanted pounds" of old billing issues that were never resolved, bank problems, etc. And you start to realize that there are errors everywhere that need to be addressed and these things take time (which explains why they were piled up and abandoned in the past).

    My desk, which was pristine two weeks ago when I wrapped up my massive, life-changing July paper purge, is a wreck, but I know what's in the stacks, the folders are serving their purpose (more on folders later), and there is no unopened mail anywhere, plus we are actually staying on top of things like church envelopes and the like.

    The best thing is that when we got a check from the insurance company for our new roof, since I opened the envelope the day we received it, those funds were deposited in the bank and paid to the roofer the very next day.

    The next paper mountain to climb is the flex-spending account. Oy!

    Tally, you sound like you are ahead of the game.... you've got a handle on your finances, can you pay your bills from your phone? A little off-topic, but have you heard of MINT?

  • talley_sue_nyc
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't have a smartphone. I've automated most stuff (though that messed me up this month when my co-op's treasurer set up the auto-pay and activated it a month early, pulling nearly $1,000 out of my account and making me pay for August twice. I wasn't ready for that; I got the tiniest bit testy about making him put it back in--which he did by check, so it took too long to clear, and therefore I had to transfer money from savings.

    It's a good thing I was checking in--I don't always, actually. Otherwise, I'd have had about 5 overdrafts!

  • cupofkindnessgw
    8 years ago

    Beginning in 2015, our FSA account is connected to insurance activity, and auto-tracks eligible medical expenses and reimburses expenses via paycheck. Certain things, like glasses and contacts (vision insurance) are not connected to the FSA, but based on medical expenses at the doctor and the pharmacy we will probably not claim these since out-of-pocket medical expenses for everything else will deplete the FSA by the end of the year, so I don't worry about those receipts either. In terms of organization, this means that all of those receipts/prescriptions/labwork/etc and EOBs go in the trash, instead of to an ever-growing pile to be dealt with on the last possible day of the reimbursement cycle, usually March 31st of the following year.


    In other breaking news, I had a significant change in point of view regarding paper clutter when it finally finally finally dawned on me that given our paperwork habits, I would never, ever have an orderly kitchen if any countertop or table was a dumping ground for anything besides objects belonging to a kitchen. For the past couple of months, my kitchen has been in practically perfect order (if you don't look too carefully in the fridge or oven, and of course, the junk drawer) thanks to this shift in paper handling behavior. Now I can focus on the daily/weekly/monthly tasks necessary to maintaining the room because the countertops are clear. Paperwork is dealt with in the living room, which is not ideal, but it is immensely freeing to have a clean kitchen-what a relief! Still plowing through papers in my bedroom, but persistant work on those piles is creating a more organized arrangement in there as well.

  • cupofkindnessgw
    8 years ago

    Here is an picture that sums up one way to organize critical end-of-life information to make things a little easier for family after one's death. Script called this her "dreaded orange folder." At chez Cupofkindness, we are on the way, but is clearly a long, tedious road to put this in order properly. For me, I have to organize the little things first before moving onto the life-and-death materials. We should also update our will, which means finding a new attorney. Then we need to tell our oldest children that it exists, but first I have to find a secure place to keep this. Maybe in the two-drawer black file cabinet? Somewhere else, like a safety deposit box? I guess the "dreaded orange folder" has a certain ring to it, who could forget that? Oh well.... How have you organized these documents in your home office? It has taken me well over a year to move forward in this regard. October is Flylady's "Paper Clutter" month, so I am hoping to wrap this up in the next two weeks so that the decks are clear for the holidays. Thank you for any advice you can offer!


  • cupofkindnessgw
    8 years ago

    Graywings posted this advice on a different thread, and it's a simple system that is fairly self-maintaining.


    GW says:

    Dealing with paper is like dealing with the dirty dishes. It's a daily process.

    One issue I solved was finding a simple way to file paper, and the beauty of my system is that I have a systematic way of purging the papers I keep.

    Most paperwork is not important enough to keep, yet you are reluctant to throw it away immediately. My system is 6 folders labeled:

    Jan - Mar
    April - June
    July - Sept
    Oct - Dec
    Jan - Mar
    April - June

    Everything that I am not quite ready to throw away goes into these files by the date they come in. Every bill, receipt or whatever that comes in during the period January to March (that I am not ready to throw away) goes into that file. I file very few things by subject matter.

    Why six files? I added the extra two quarters of the year so that when I did my taxes in April of the following year, I had the previous year's papers available to me.

    Why don't the files say Jan- March 2012, for example? I don't put the year on these files because I reuse the files. Right now, the Oct-Dec file is in the front of my file drawer. In January, I will go to the back of the drawer, find the Jan-March 2010 folder, empty it and start filling it again. That then purges the files and keeps the amount of my paperwork in check.

    This system proves to me how seldom you refer back to old paperwork. It is there if I need it, but honestly, most all of it sits there for a year and then gets shredded.

    You could also use this system for things you want to come back to and read later. Don't have time right now to read it? Put it in a quarterly file and pull the file out when you have time. If you have not read it in a year, it's probably not important to you.

    This speeds up filing because everything goes in one file. You are not flipping through various file folders looking to put one piece of paper in it.

    Thanks Graywings!


    The challenge of her system is remembering which quarter the transaction occurred in so that if you need to retrieve something, you don't have to sort through several files. In my case, it would be easy to mis-recall the year. Since getting paper into a file, any file, is most of the battle and because the need for any particular piece of paper is infrequent, this system has a lot of merit.


    Another paper management issue is labeling the hanging files in the cabinet drawer. I'm finding that 1/3 cut tabs require too much time to visually locate the next tab, or having to totally re-configure the tabs if I want to add a new file or change the title of a file. I'm thinking that maybe I'll have all the tabs in one location to make it easier to read them, down the center. Consolidating files should also help since the need to retrieve something means that you will be motivated to sift through a file, but there is less motivation to file something if the system is cumbersome. Scanning doesn't seem to be a feasible, time efficient way to archive important documents, keeping the originals in long-term storage is an easier solution. At some point, archived documents in long term storage must be purged, but since they don't contribute to clutter on the desk or in the file cabinet, there is less urgency here.

  • cupofkindnessgw
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    I must admit that I'm still ploughing through our paperwork and tweaking our file system, but have learned to be relentless with the shredder which has kept the paper piles at bay. We've moved the shredder from our bedroom to the kitchen and accessibility has changed our paper handling habits forever (hopefully). Finding documents is easy now, and with so much purchase information stored in data bases, even hard copies of warranties and receipts seem unnecessary. It also helps to throw away past publications when new ones come in. This was difficult for us, but again, having access to information online makes most printed information obsolete fairly quickly.

  • mrspete
    7 years ago

    Interesting thoughts -- we could all improve on paperwork storage in our homes. Two things I think I'm doing well that differ from the above mentioned Script, and someone else might find some ideas in my methods:


    Taxes. Yes, like Script, I am scrupulous about maintaining records for my taxes. About a dozen years ago I went to the office supply and bought two big boxes of BRIGHT GREEN folders (green like money). I labeled them Taxes 2000 ... Taxes 2001 ... Taxes 2002 ... Taxes 2003 ... and so on. Given my family's typical lifespan, I made enough green folders to take me to age 110 -- probably more than I'll need, but I'm ready! They're all stored in my file cabinet, taking up very little space. Now when I receive anything tax-related -- a charitable receipt, an end-of-the-year bank statement, whatever -- I have a place to file it. In April, I have a place to file a copy of my taxes, and I can go back and see previous tax years. For the rest of my life, this system is in place.

    Death folder. Ours is a notebook. Two identical notebooks, actually, since we have two children. Our girls are young adults now, but they've never dealt with an estate -- even if they don't open it 'til they're old, it'll be useful to them. It contains a lot of stuff:

    - A personal letter to the two of them

    - A list of our wishes about funeral and items we'd like donated to various family members or charities

    - A list of things they must do immediately; it starts with going to our house and taking possession of the dog, but it also includes small details like canceling our voting registration and destroying any medicines in the house. At every turn this list includes addresses and phone numbers, including the lawyer we suggest for probate, the funeral home our family's always used, and family members who should be contacted.

    - A copy our will; they know what's in it -- everything split between the two of them

    - A list of our financial assets -- bank accounts, investments, insurance, deeds/maps of real estate ... when our youngest became a legal adult, we made the two girls co-beneficiaries of every account; note that this was done before either was married, so our two kids -- not future son-in-laws -- will own these items.

    - A list of the bills we pay each month -- electricity, phone, even the guy who cuts our grass.

    - Official copies of our birth certificates, our marriage certificates, and the girls' birth certificates -- they might not be needed, but the girls won't have to scramble to find them

    - A flashdrive with all of the above in digital format plus photographs that might be useful in putting together the funeral

    Our rule: We keep two years of tax returns in the notebooks ... the reason being that someday an accountant will file our final estate tax return, and he or she will want our last two years of returns -- so every April we pull out the notebook, discard one old return and insert the newest ... so our rule is that every April we look over the notebook and update anything that's changed. For example, last year we changed bank accounts, and someday we hope to add items concerning grandchildren to the book.

    Our girls know that the notebooks are stored in the safe, and they know where the key to the safe is hidden, and they know it's labeled with a misleading name so that a thief wouldn't look at it twice.

    Last thought on this notebook: Though this project took us the better part of a year --- we kept remembering one more thing, one more thing that really should be included -- we didn't find it difficult emotionally. I suspect that if we were older and/or one of us were in poor health, it might've been different.




  • cupofkindnessgw
    6 years ago

    Update: the spindle system has been a tremendous boast to kitchen organization and handbag tidiness. I can easily fit four or five months worth of receipts on the spindle, generally we don't keep receipts longer than 90 days, unless its a major purchase, like a washer/dryer, a tree, computer, etc. Those type of receipts have warranties attached, so they are handled differently. We stashed 2017 Christmas receipts on the spindle too-it is a little difficult having two places to store receipts. The very best way to manage receipts is to buy only what we truly need-this keeps the sheer number of receipts to a minimum, which in turn makes it easier to find a certain receipt in light of a return. Buying online is another approach-the online retailer tracks our purchases in the order history.

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