So we are told that we live in a paperless society – sure we do!  We need only to take a trip to the mailbox each week to see that is not true.  Mail is a huge culprit to us not being organized with paperwork because it just keeps coming whether we like it to or not.

3 Elements for organizing anything:  

1. Make time – consistently!   No matter what area of your house or what project you decide to do, making time on a daily, weekly or monthly basis is the key to keeping  things in order
2. Sort / categorize:  everything needs to be sorted with like items and then categorized to be put in the same place each and every time someone uses the said item
3. Everything has a place – 1 place!  The problem with having several places for one item is that no one knows how many you have accumulated or used and therefore shopping is more difficult and you overbuy.  Making lists always help before you go shopping so that it makes you go throughout the house and write down items that are needed instead of waiting until you see what is on sale or what you might be craving at the time when you shop.  

2 ways to pay bills:  Auto Pay / Bill Pay (kids vs. me old fashion)

I like paper:  books, magazines, some bills. I do not like anything automated!  I have found that when I want something stopped it takes over 30 days or maybe 2 cycles of Auto Pay until it can be changed.  

I like reading from actual books and not an ipad.  I like seeing the bills and then sitting at the computer to Bill Pay them 2x’s a month.  I rarely write checks but I do still have them for the occasional 1x Bill Pay.  My kids don’t even know how to write checks and absolutely don’t know how to balance a checkbook so they have all of their bills Auto Paid.  They have to look everything up online and don’t keep any paperwork.  I haven’t decided if there way is better than mine but I feel more organized.  How do you like to pay bills?

I haven’t offered my services to set up bill pay for clients as of this writing but it is something I know I want to help future clients with, especially seniors who don’t like online and think it is so unsafe. Actually, the opposite is true.  The need for user names and passwords and passcodes make it rather difficult for anyone to get into your finances very easily.  When paperwork  is hanging around your house, anyone can get into your finances and abuse your personal information.  

Most all households have these 5 categories:

1. Auto
2. Credit Cards
3. House
4. Insurance
5. Medical – portals used for both bills and pharmacy

We used to create separate file folders for every category which made keeping up with filing very difficult. By sticking to only five or less categories, your chances of keeping them in order increase dramatically.  Remember, our kids don’t have any files and they seem to be doing just fine. The rule I follow is that if the item can be found online, it does not need to be kept nor filed.  If it is required for taxes or financial reasons or it is super time consuming or cost more money to obtain i.e. birth certificates, titles, mortgage papers, and any other document that would be considered very confidential, should be kept in a safe place like a safe or a safety deposit box so you can find them and they would not get destroyed in case of fire or flood.

2 things I do not put in files anymore: Financial and Instruction booklets

Financial documents can always be found online i.e. stocks, bonds, statements of any kind etc.  It is much safer to have you sign on and find any information of your personal finances than to have files in piles that anyone can get into.  Any and all instruction booklets are better found on Google since it would be the most updated information and usually has easy step by step instructions on how to do anything with other people’s reviews as well.

Credit cards and house bills are the easiest to have stopped to declutter your daily mail.  They can be sent by email or text or automated so there is no action on your part every month.  I personally like the statements for both credit cards and house bills but I throw them out after I have viewed and paid for them online.

Medical bills now have portals so that every care taker involved in your health can obtain current information instead of relying on us to bring it when we go for an office visit or gather it from all other doctors when we need to see a specialist.  Pharmacist can see all drugs no matter what doctor since it can be one portal they are viewing.  So much safer for us all to have everyone involved knowing what everyone involved has to say and what we are taking to keep healthy. 

Auto and Insurance policies can all be found online when you create an account with whatever company you choose.  I believe they all work the same when it relates to paperwork so why not try going online and you will see how great the paper work decreases.

I hope you gained some good info. I know changing some habits are hard to break but creating new ones will help you feel better about getting rid of some of that paper clutter that never stops. I’m here if you need help, so feel free to reach out and set up a time for us to talk.