STEPS TO BECOMING A PAPERWORK PUZZLE MASTER
The year was 2004. I was working with my first official organizing client whose name has been changed to protect the innocent: we shall call her Jill. Jill ran a tight ship. She got a ton of work done during the day plus supported a happy hubby and happy kids, volunteered, looked like a million bucks, kept a neat house…except, hold up, what is behind that door, Jill? “Um, you can look in there, but it’s at your own risk,” she cutely quipped. The door opened, but just barely. The only way I can describe it is an explosion of paper.
“Does that scare you?” Jill asked. And to her surprise my eyes lit up, “No, I love paper! My background is in regulatory and compliance work. The rule was, ‘if it wasn’t written down, it didn’t happen’. Can I take a stab at it?” She thought I was deranged but she was kind of thrilled, too. “Sure, knock yourself out.”
As professional organizers, we don’t see what others call a mess or feel the guilt of un-dones when in a room where every inch is covered in paper, clothes, toys, what-have-you. We see a big puzzle that is to be put together. I rolled up my sleeves in Jill’s office and dove right in.
Paper can be intimidating. First of all, it can take a long time to review and determine if there are action items. Then, if a sleek filing system isn’t already in place, it can be time consuming to set one up. More often you are left with piles and not files. Which can work, too, if that’s an effective work style for you. The main thing is to determine what is important enough to be kept and where to put it for easy retrieval later. As with most things, the beginning is the hardest.
Jill gave me free reign on the room and after several sessions and one trip to Staples for a filing cabinet, folders, and a new label maker, it was done. Thirteen years later, that filing system is still in place and Jill’s office is still as neat as she is. Want to become a paperwork puzzle master? Here are some simple tricks of the trade:
Develop rules for what must be kept and what can go. This is especially useful if you’ve hired a professional organizer or coaxed a friend/family member to help you because it gives them something to operate off of so they don’t have to ask you about every sheet of paper. You may want to consult your accountant, financial advisor, attorney, or others familiar with your situation in determining this for financial and legal information. One rule of thumb:
Keep for 1 Month:
Sales receipts for minor cash purchases if they may require return, otherwise toss immediately.
Credit card receipts, then toss after they’re checked against the monthly statement.
Withdrawal and deposit slips, then toss after they’re checked against the monthly statement.
Keep for 1 Year:
Pay stubs, then toss after you receive a W-2.
Monthly bills. Exception: If it is a tax deduction for a home office, save for 3 years.
Monthly bank, credit card, and investment statements, then toss after you receive the annual statement.
Exception: If planning on applying for a loan, save monthly bank statements for 2 years.
Keep for 3 Years:
Year-end credit card statements and investment summaries.
Record of each trade made.
Record of each contribution made.
Tax returns and supporting documents.
Exception: If you are self-employed or receive income from multiple sources, save for 6 years.
Keep Indefinitely:
Birth certificates.
Marriage licenses.
Wills, trusts, and estate-planning documents.
Death certificates.
Divorce decrees.
Keep as Long as Active:
Policy documents and deeds.
Warranties and user manuals.
Proof of ownership for automobiles, bonds, and stock certificates.
Let Go Now:
All expired insurance policies, memberships, credit cards, warranties, and coupons.
All magazines older than X amount of months (you decide what you will have time to read in, say, the next 3 months).
All invites to events that have passed.
All guides/manuals for items you no longer own or can easily find online.
Develop rules for what is to be shredded and what can go in the recycling bin. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse recommends you use a cross-cut, diamond-cut, or confetti-cut shredder to shred anything that contains personal information. We’re talking name, address, account information, name of company or institution you do business with, and of course your social security number or birthday. Does shredding sound like a lot of work? It can be. But you don’t have to do it yourself, call a commercial shredding service to come to your home or take it to a business that provides this service, in some towns that includes Staples and the UPS Store. If you’d like to check the credentials of a shred company, you can contact the National Association for Information Destruction.
Put records that should be kept indefinitely in a safe deposit box, provided you’ve notified trusted people in your orbit with how to access the box if something were to happen to you. If you’re not up for the safe deposit box, invest in a water-proof, fire-proof, lockable safe that bolts to the floor. According to the Federal Citizen Information Center’s paper “Keeping Family/Household Records”, these records include birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce papers, adoption papers, wills, death certificates, deeds, titles to automobiles, household inventory, bond and stock certificates, citizenship records, important contracts, passports, and military service papers.
Put records that you refer to more regularly in a filing cabinet that you can easily access to ensure you routinely use it. If you choose a lockable version, ensure there is a trusted person who also knows how to access in case of emergency. No matter the house I’ve organized through the years, from sprawling estates to studio apartments, the basics of this system are the same. You’ll notice I listed them in alphabetical order. This is a trick I learned when I managed busy medical offices: the alphabet never changes, keeping everything in alphabetical order takes the guesswork out of where to find the file.
Air/HVAC
Audio/Visual
Autos and Other Vehicles – license and registration, maintenance, purchase info
Banking and Investment – label by name of bank/investment institution and nickname of account or last four digits of the account number
Cable/Satellite/Internet
Childcare
Cleaning
Computer/IT
Credit Cards and Rewards Programs – label by name of company and nickname of account or last four digits of the account number
Décor
Education – label by family member and/or institution
Electricity
Employment – label by family member and/or employer
Gas
Guides and Manuals – unless you are a stickler for order and want to group by Air, A/V, Kitchen, Garage, Office, Laundry, Toys and Recreation, Security etc., put these all together in one file or bin, including warranties with receipts for that purchase stapled to it
Health and Wellness – label by family member and/or Allergy, Dentist, Dermatologist, Eyes, Labs, Mental Health, Nutrition, OB/Gyn, Orthopedic, etc.
Landscaping
Legal – copies of legal documents in your safe deposit box
Insurance – Auto/Other Vehicle, Health, Homeowner’s, Liability, Life, Renter’s, Umbrella
Memorabilia
Pest Control
Pets
Plumbing and Pool/Spa
Real Estate – label by nickname or address, may include additional properties, community association fees, rental agreements
Repairs and Renovations
Phone – Cell, Landline
Security
Special Interests – whatever appropriate to you/your household’s lifestyle
Taxes – these label by year, Taxes 2017, Taxes 2016, etc. with most recent in front; may choose to move all except current year to storage not as easily accessible. Put anything needed only for tax return support in this file, including receipts for deductions.
Trash/Recycling
Water/Sewer
Something not fitting nicely into a filing cabinet? Then don’t put it there. Employ a different storage solution, such as a tote, bin, drawer, shelf, or 3-ring binder. This may be true of guides and manuals and memorabilia, as well as items on legal-sized paper.
Every year review the files, starting again with Step 1. Just like with all the fitness advice we get, the hardest thing is losing the excess weight; if we’re disciplined, maintaining the ideal weight is, well, a piece of cake.
If you have a paper explosion of your own, use these steps to put together your own puzzle, or call in an expert for advice, encouragement, and extra muscle. Any time is a good time, but tax time is a great time!