Organizing Incoming Papers

In our last posting, I stressed the importance of reducing the amount of paper you currently have in your home. 

The papers that you must or want to keep should be sorted as soon as you come into the home with it.  If it is mail, papers from a conference, notes from your child's school, the weekly church bulletin or notes you took from a phone conversation, you should give it a home where it can be located again quickly.

My favorite sorting tool for incoming papers is a hanging folder box with folders labeled with the categories that describe the papers that you normally keep.  Most homes can have folders for bills, receipts, permanent items to be filed (such as insurance policies), items that need you to respond or do (invitations, reminders)  coupons if you save them, items you want to read later such as newsletters. You may also need a folder for school, church, garden club, soccer team, etc.   A sample picture of one is found in my book with more details on using it.

There are many very attractive boxes in several sizes available now that can be used for these folders.  Of all the organizing strategies I have taught or used with my clients, this incoming box for sorting papers vertically is the one from which I get the most positive feedback.  It can be a life changing tool.

Organizing Paperwork--Reduce, Recycle

 Today and in the following weeks I will explain the paper management strategies I think are good because they can be adapted to any organizing style and do not require specific systems to be purchased. 

At once recycle or discard anything that does not have your name on it.  If it is addressed to Occupant, Neighbor, Resident, etc. then don't bother to open it.  Remove any catalogues you did not order.  Remove any items that have been replaced with a more up to date issue such as magazines, insurance policies, membership information and cards, and anything not related to legal or financial accounts.

Check with the IRS at http://www.irs.gov/ for tax related documents that you may need to keep.  Usually legal documents should be kept forever, and only keep end of the year financial and payroll statements unless there are errors that need to be documented.

If you have concerns or questions about any particular document, contact your accountant or financial advisor for specific advice.  More detailed information on retention guidelines and other paper management are in my book, Orderly Places, which is available from my website and Amazon.com.

Organizing Holiday Clean-up

Some tips to make holiday clean-up orderly:

• Only save what you love, use and have room to store.  Pass on, sell or donate the rest.
• Make sure all items are clean and in good repair before storing.
• Use specialty containers to protect breakable items or those difficult to store. 
• Label all containers so they can be easily located next year.
• Consider color coding containers for holiday and seasonal items. 
• Hang bows in bags on hooks rather than stacked in boxes to preserve their shape.
• Plan a clean-up time when others can help you and consider making it part of the holiday traditions.
• Add food, music, games, etc. to make the task more pleasant.
• Resist the urge to buy more holiday items just because they are on sale. 

Enjoy the Holidays

This week is not the time to worry about things or stuff.  It is the time to concentrate on people and relationships.  In the matter of a few days, all of the tinsel and lights will be gone but hopefully our friends and family will still be with us.  It is important that we make the most of our time with them and not allow the strappings of the holidays to get in the way.

Why not spend some time sharing good memories, fun times you had together, common interests and loft goals?  Reflect on what has made the relationships special and build on that.  Take photos that you can enjoy for years to come and share a story or two that can be passed down to your children.

Next week we can take care of things, but this week we should go with the flow and make the most of our time together with those we care about and love.

Organizing Holiday Cards

December usually brings greeting cards to our homes with messages, pictures and newsletters from friends and family far and near.  You can enjoy them for days or weeks by keeping them nearby during the holidays.  Decorated open baskets, bins or boxes can hold them in convenient places.  They can be opened and propped up on mantels, buffets or tables, or they can be strung across windows, walls or doorways much like clothing on a clothes line (for those of us old enough to know what a clothes line is). 

After the holidays, resist trying to keep all of them as they will create a source of clutter in a few years.  Save the photos only if you will honor them by displaying in an album, frame, scrapbook or photo box.  If cards or letters contain messages you want to save, clip those and donate the fronts of cards to nursing homes, daycares, or other places that hold craft classes or create crafting projects.  Keep a check list or data base for current addresses and other notes about the sender and update it each year.

Make decisions now so that when the holiday clean up begins, you will have a plan for those cards.

Holiday Decorating Tips

It is very easy to accumulate many holiday decorations over the years. All of these take lots of storage space not to mention the time to unpack and repack year after year.

If you choose not to have door decorations all year, consider changing from wreaths to door swags for the holidays. It is easier and less expensive to find storage containers for those. Try to find decorative elements for them that will pack without damage so it can be hung each year without a lot of fuss.

Ribbons can give a basic theme in your decorating. Purchase one large roll of ribbon that can be tied around candle bases, lamps, door knobs, greenery, etc. This makes decorating simple and effective. If you purchase the rolls on sale after the holidays, you need not save the used ribbon. It is difficult to store tied ribbons so they look fresh again next year.

Purge holiday items that are not your favorites, which you have not used lately, that have no sentimental attachments or that are not in good repair. They take up space in your home and head (remembering you have them and where to use them). Save only those you like or your children will want when you are gone.

Organizing Holiday Cooking

Starting early is certainly one way to make holiday cooking an easier task.  There are certain foods our families have come to expect this time of the year, but often we want to add something new to the celebrations.  This does not mean you need to buy another cookbook.  My guess is that you already have more than you actually use.

A clutter free way to find new ideas and recipes is to go online.  One year I tasted a chocolate dip at an event and decided I wanted to find out how to make it.  I went to Google, typed in chocolate chip dip and the web sites popped right up.  On the allrecipes.com site there were several recipes to choose and I picked the one with the ingredients I normally have.  I printed the recipe, but I could have saved it in a recipe folder on the computer and had it available there, too.

So if you want to add something new to the menu this holiday you need not spend extra money and take up extra space with more cookbooks.  In fact, this might be a good time to purge some of those you have never or rarely use and open up some space in your kitchen.  Food for thought.