10 More Items to Keep Indefinately

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In my last blog post I talked about the top 10 paper items you should keep indefinitely.  Here is an additional 10 items that I recommend you keep for an indefinite period of time.

  1. Settlement agreements, claims and any litigation documents
  2. Tax assessment notices including those for property tax assessments
  3. Mortgage and lien documents for your home or rental properties
  4. Loan documents
  5. Marriage certificates and licenses
  6. Investment records showing beneficiaries
  7. Education records and transcripts
  8. Licenses
  9. Military records
  10. Medical records and updates

Remember that laws are constantly in a state of flux and circumstances can change.  It’s always better to be safe than sorry, especially when you are shredding documents. Therefore be sure to check with the appropriate legal or financial advisers before disposing of anything.

Top 10 Paper Items To Keep Indefinately

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Whenever I’m working in offices, whether home or business, the question always arises as to what to keep and for how long. Most people know that for income tax audit purposes you need to keep your tax returns and related papers for seven years.  But what about some of those other papers?  Here’s my top 10 paper items to keep indefinitely.

  1. Birth certificates
  2. Deeds for burial lots
  3. Inventory of household goods, updated periodically
  4. Divorce agreements and Decrees
  5. Citizenship papers
  6. Adoption and custody records
  7. Wills and Powers of Attorney (ensure someone knows where these are)
  8. Death certificate
  9. Record of Employment
  10. Insurance records for claims and payments made

Items that you do want to keep indefinitely should be stored in a safe environment, such as a safety deposit box. Safety deposit box rentals are often difficult to get from financial institutions because of the sheer demand.  Something new is on the horizon for the storage of your valuables.  Essentially a very tiny condo (square inches instead of feet) and fairly expensive, very soon you will be able to purchase one of these units to call your own. Complete with security and even your very own parking space, these mini condo safety deposit units will be on the market to purchase soon. The first one I am aware of is currently being developed in Markham, Ontario.  I’m sure many more will be developed as the demand arises. Will you be one of the first to buy your very own safety deposit unit for your valuables?

 

Creating A Kitchen Office

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Let me say this right off the top:  I don”t advocate having an office in your kitchen.   Keeping your papers out of the kitchen, just as you would the food out of your office space, will ultimately make your like simpler.  Paper really doesn’t belong in the kitchen because every time you cook you have to organize and clear away all that paper.  Many a client has had dirty dishes over top their paperwork and sometimes the paperwork even ends up in the kitchen trash resulting in bills not getting paid.  The kitchen tends to be the most heavily used room in your home but that also means it can be a clutter magnet. In a perfect world everyone would have a separate space within their home for their office and paperwork. However some families cannot accommodate that ideal so we need to work around that.  In this case we need to create a boundary within the kitchen itself, in which to contain the office and the paper.

You need to start by designating one spot in your kitchen for your office. Then schedule about 3 hours to tackle those kitchen papers.  Start by sorting and weeding out obsolete papers.  Reduce the number of cookbooks. Donate those you no longer need. The remaining paperwork can be sorted into separate piles:  bills to pay, financial papers, office supplies, people to contact, things to read, kids’s school related paper, artwork, etc.  The next step is to set up a contained space within the kitchen for your office related papers, and a separate contained space for the kid’s school related paperwork. Have a bin for each child.

Make sure you create boundaries within the kitchen large enough to accomodate everything you need to process the daily paperwork. This boundary could be a single shelf or cupboard within which you place bins to contain different categories of items. Or perhaps you create a desk suface that can flip up and away when not in use. It may also be a 2 or three shelf movable storage unit that can act as your office containment space or your kid’s paperwork space.   In some cases it may not be the most attractive space in your home. Do your best to make it aesthetically pleasing with nice wicker or rattan baskets, using wood rather than plastic.  At least you will have taken control, created boundaries for where things live and activities take place and have established a spot for day to day living that is useful and efficient. Make life simpler, not harder!

Organizing A Home Office

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There are many people out there that work from or at home and have set up a home office for their needs.  However, sometimes the business of running your business gets out of control and you end up with paper clutter and debris everywhere.  A large number of people who contact me for organizing assistance have this very same issue. Especially when the business is growing very quickly, it’s difficult to keep up.  Here’s an example of one client whose business was growing so rapidly that his office ended up overtaking his billiards room!

Home Office & Billiards Room before organizing

 

After we were finished organizing and setting up efficient office systems in a designated office space we discovered a pool table underneath all that stuff which had not been seen or used in over 2 years!

Billiards Room after organizing

My client picked up his pool cue, set up the table, and played his first game of billiards on this table in 2 years. He was a happy man. Do any of you have paper or other clutter so overwhelming that you can’t utilize one of the rooms in your home for it’s intended purpose?

 

Knapsack & Bag Organizing

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A question I’ve heard from client’s lately is how to get their handbag, satchel or knapsack organized.
The answer is to compartmentalize your stuff which not only helps you to find things easily without digging deep into your bag, but also makes it easier to change bags and move things from one to another. I recently attended the 2011 POC (Professional Organizers in Canada) Conference where I ran across an innovative organizing product called “GRID-IT!” by Cocoon Innovations. It’s an extremely versatile solution for organizing everything from digital devices, personal and household items. It consists of a woven, rubberized retention pad with endless ways to utilize it. Just place your items on the “GRID IT!pad” and drop the pad in your bag.
Grid It! organizer pad
Comes in tons of sizes and variations. Then you just pull out the pad when you need one of your items. Easy. Simple. Functional. I love it!

Organizing For A Conference

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I’m at the POC (Professional Organizers in Canada) conference in downtown Toronto today and have to share this great tip from Laurene of Organize Me 101 for staying organized when at a conference. Firstly, gather all your conference materials in a small binder that has a plastic outer front and back insert cover that allows you to place paper inside the insert on the exterior of the binder. Then take your agenda for your conference and insert it on the exterior front binder cover so it’s easily visible and you don’t need to hunt around to find out where you’re going next. On the exterior back insert place a map of the hotel or conference centre so you’ll be able to find your way around to all the different rooms. What a great organizing idea for conference attendees! Thanks Laurene!

Continuing With The Ambitious Organizing, Decluttering & Staging project….

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The next couple of days working at the site were strenuous, both physically and emotionally. We continued to remove items from the 1,000 square foot attic, uncovering some surprising, and not so surprising possessions. Tons of family historical memorabilia continued to be uncovered as well as a few small deceased furry creatures and plenty of their droppings. Not at all surprising of course, for this type of project. As the attic spaces began to reveal themselves, there appeared a light at the end of the tunnel. In the evening hours when our assistant labour came on board, we moved down to other areas of the home and began focusing on the office space. This one was another challenge due to the sheer volume of paper to be reviewed and processed. Here’s a photo of the office space we were working on.
Home Office Before Organizing
Office decluttering and editing is one of the most challenging as it can be very tedious for the client. Changing direction within the office, such that paperwork would be reviewed for a hour or so, and then I would redirect the client towards something a little more interesting, such as paper memorabilia and other historical items found in that space. A change of pace is critical to keep focus and the client on task. While my client focused on editing this particular space, I changed direction to ensure we were going to meet the time lines for the disposal truck, arriving within two days. The pressure was definitely on!