BUILDING WEALTH ONE CHANGE
AT A TIME
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There are lots of reasons to organize your stuff. Maybe you want things to look good, maybe you want to find them when you need them, maybe you want to reduce the amount of time you need to spend on doing your taxes at the end of the year. What ever your reason for having your stuff cleaned up, we sometimes need help sorting it all out. Here are a couple of tips. Create colored file folders, here's what I have: Green- each bank account (Savings & Checking) Yellow- investment accounts (mutual funds, 401k, stocks, bonds, etc.) Red- credit cards, auto loans, personal loans, store cards, gas cards, etc. Blue- insurance files, automobile, health, dental, life, long-term & short-term disability Orange- mortgage accounts Green- work files (pay stubs and performance reviews) Plain Folders- I keep important papers like my passport, automobile title, social security cards, birth certificates, etc. For each year I keep a separate file for TAXES and my backup information. Using matching colored hanging files help keep thing organized so when you take a file out you know where it goes. If you don't have matching colored hanging files use index tabs. Highlighters also help with color coding and may be more flexible to use. RECEIPTS are a pain to keep track of so I use plastic bins or wicker baskets or sometimes jars or shoe boxes depending on the needs. If you have a business label a bin for business receipts. For general household items keep another bin. For items that are important, like something you may need to return or for large purchases that require proof of purchase, etc. keep a bin for each.
To keep track of my DAILY SPENDING HABITS I kept a small (3x6) spiral notebook in my purse for three (3) months and noted all of my spending. From coffee and gum to gas and lunch -- everything, everyday for 3 months. You learn a lot from this little exercise! On my desk and in my book shelves I keep several STACKING TRAYS. It helps me keep my businesses separate from my household items and hobbies. It's important to label them and to keep one on top for items that are urgent and need attention now. If you have a lot of BUSINESS CARDS, I recommend a rolodex that can hold the cards or using a book of cards or inserts into a 3 ring binder that hold business cards. One of my favorite finds at Wal-Mart was small stackable plastic drawers (Sterilite, Clearview $4.97) that hold a ream of paper perfectly. It's great for printer paper, colored paper, forms, notebook paper, etc. As I accumulate more and more every year and as I venture into different
hobbies and interests I sometimes get overwhelmed with the STUFF. There is
just so much of it. When I get into organization mode I find that dumping
out all of the unorganized stuff into a big pile and then sorting through it by
some theme helps me create organizational solutions. By knowing the volume
for each thing I know the container size I will need. But be good to
yourself... do you really need to keep it? If so, why? Recycle it - Shred
it - Get RID of it. FINANCIAL FITNESS FOR LIFE
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Sometimes I use a zip lock bag, like when I was doing major do it yourself home
improvements. I had lots of exchanges and returns for each project and I
needed something easy and portable.