Organize Your Files April 27, 2012

This week is National Organize Your Files Week.  I personally think it should be in January so you can pull out all those papers in preparation for Tax Season and start out the files with the new year items (Jan-Dec) but Earth Day is a popular time too.  Recycling and shredding help and around Earth Day, local towns or businesses have shredding events.

Everyone has a real problem with papers. There is just so much is coming in daily; mail, bills, magazines and catalogs, school papers from your children, notices from work, club and activity info, the list just goes on and on.  I can’t stress enough to establish good habits on routinely (daily or weekly) going through what has come in.  Missed bills or missed events are the result of not having this habit.

Once you have good habits; good homes comes next.  The key to remember is that 80% of what you file, you will NEVER look at again!  That is staggering news.  So, think long and hard about what you choose to file.

So, with the categories that you want to have homes for, decide what type of “file” you want.  There is the traditional file, a hanging file – labeled and in a file drawer.  But, you can use envelopes, binders with sections, boxes, magazines holders and more to create these categories.  Think of a shelf lined with 13 magazine holders – one for each months’ bills and then one for tax info throughout the year.  This works great for people that hate filing but for those that want a visual, one-step, easy system.

Whatever you choose, set it up and make sure you have extra supplies on hand so when something new comes in; like a new credit card, new organization, new bill – you can quickly set up the new home.

An in-between system is extremely helpful for people that maybe process in one area but file in another or just don’t like filing into their system no matter how easy or how pretty it is!  So, set up a box to put finished bills, papers in called “To File” so you know they are done but just need to be filed. When full, take a process in one batch.

Having organized files is a fun task to have or maintain, but the rewards such as knowing where to find everything and having critical paperwork when needed are invaluable…like the mastercard commercials; files $5.99, labels $7.89, 3 hours of purging and organizing – tiring…finding your proof of payment on that $2500 bill – priceless!  Happy file organizing!

Simple Living April 5, 2012

Simple living is a current trend.  How you carry that out and what that means to you can be vastly different than what it means to someone else.    You could recycle everything, purchase recycled item, cut energy costs, eat organic foods, and eat locally-sourced foods.  I like to think of it as following your heart and doing what you can and feel is right in addition to going as simple as possible with your belongings.

Whatever way you look at it, simple living has a host of benefits for your health, for you environment and for your wallet.  Why not give it a try.  If you go through your own belongings and let go of items that no longer serve you – that means you don’t use it, don’t love it or maybe it is broken beyond your ability to repair – you are making room for the items that do serve you.  Those items you discard could greatly benefit others either through direct gift to a family or friend or to a charity of your choice.

After you let go of the excess, choose carefully what you bring into the home.  I personally struggle with waiting on a purchase; you know the idea of going home and thinking it over.  I may not have the time to come back and get it tomorrow!  But in all seriousness, this is the best route.  Especially if it was not what you actually went to the store for.  A shopping list and adhering to it strictly is the best way to manage shopping and impulse buying.  It is those impulse purchases that then crowd out your life at home.

I feel stuff is the heart of simple living.  The stuff we have and stuff we get – if we really keep in check what we have, our bills will be paid, our lives will be made available to focus on things greater than our stuff and we can then concentrate our energy on more areas of simple living.  Say, finding better ways to recycle in your home, helping organizations, researching local food sources and seeking them out, and so on.

In my business, there is so much time and energy spent on stuff.  When things are gone, that time and energy can be used to such greater purposes.  Simple living is a great goal to aim for and how you carry it out is your choice but I can guarantee the results will lead to a more simple version of you and your life.