Even during this electronic age we continue to accumulate mounds of paper. As the tax season draws to a close, now would be a good time to sort, organize and purge your financial papers. Go through your current filing system and shred old documents, but keep what is necessary.

   Establish a permanent/long-term paper filing system that is used occasionally. This could be put away in storage. I recently put away my 2009 tax documents and the accompany receipts in this long-term storage and took out and shredded the tax info from 2002. Then of course, I have a go-to daily filing system. I find that a metal filling cabinet with hanging file folders is best for this sort of system.

Here are some tips on how to file your papers.

Shred after one month:

• ATM and bank deposit slips, after you've recorded the amounts in your check register and checked them against your monthly bank statement 
• Credit card receipts, after you've checked to make sure the item appears correctly on your monthly statement (unless you deduct something as a business expense)
• Sales receipts for minor purchases, after you've satisfactorily use the item and if it has no warranty

Shred after one year:

• Monthly bank and credit card statements (if you don't itemize deductions—otherwise, keep with other tax documents)
• Monthly or quarterly brokerage and mutual fund statements, after you have reconciled them with your year-end summary
• Monthly mortgage statements, as long as your year end statement clearly shows the total amount you've paid in interest and property taxes over the course of the year
• Phone and utility bills (as long as you don't have an at-home office, use your phone for business calls (save with other tax documents), or anticipate any need to prove long term residency)
• Paycheck stubs, after you've reconciled them with your annual W-2 or 1099 forms

Retain for seven years

• Your annual tax returns
• W-2 AND 1099 forms
• Year-end statements from credit card companies
• Phone and utility bills (only if you deduct any portion for business expenses, have more than one home, or have moved within the past few years)
• Canceled checks, receipts or statements for:
  • annual mortgage interest and property taxes
  • deductible business expenses
  • child-care bills
  • out of pocket medical expenses
  • any other tax-deductible expense (e.g.: donations)

Keep indefinitely:

• Your year-end summaries from financial-service companies
• Confirmation slips that list the purchase price of any investments you own
• Home improvement records
• Receipts for major purchases (any item whose replacement cost exceeds the deductible on your homeowners or renters' insurance policy
• Beneficiary designations*

 

Now you can set up a daily paper management system. You might want to get a professional organizer to help with this project. Once your system is in place, you need to consistently dedicate about 5-30 minutes each day to keep it running smoothly.

Determine when is the best time for you to manage your financial papers.

• First thing in the morning: It's a nice start to the day and helps you prioritize today's tasks.

• At the end of the day: This gives you closure at the end of the day and lets you jump right into action the next day.

• Immediately as papers enter your home or office: This is good for those who just want to get it done ASAP.**

 

*Excerpted material from Deciding Which Financial Records to Keep by Diane Harris
** Excerpted material from Time 2 Organize’s Articles on Demand by Sara Pedersen
Article also based on information from Catherine M. Williams, vice president for financial literacy at the credit-counseling firm Money Management International

For help with this project, hire a professional organizer!

 

  Late winter and early spring is a good time to continue with our bigger organizing projects, such as purging and paring down our stuff. Once the warm weather comes we are less likely to want to stay inside and deal with large household organizing tasks. So now would be a good time to go through the various rooms in our home and try to pare down our stuff. Don’t try to do every room in a single day—that’s too much even for a professional organizer. Pick one room at a time and put on some energizing music to make this project more manageable and enjoyable.
  Having a hard time letting go of your possessions because you believe that it still has value? Consider giving that “valuable” thing to an organization that helps others less fortunate than us. Not sure which organization to donate to? Below is a list of worthwhile organizations that will help you decide where to donate your unwanted items. Don’t forget to ask for your tax-deductible receipt. Not sure what the value is of a donated item? Find out here www.salvationarmysouth.org/valueguide.htm) some standard valuations for clothing and household goods.
  Also consider this question when trying to let go of stuff: does this particular item (dress, CD, framed art, etc.) reflect who I am today? If the answer is no, but it still holds some powerful memories, take a picture of it and then let it go. You’ll feel lighter when you are able to eliminate some stuff that is crowding your space. And if you donate this stuff you can feel good about recycling by helping Mother Earth and helping others. It’s a win-win-win situation.
Here are some suggestions when trying to pare down your “stuff”.

  • First, get some bins or large boxes and label them “donate”, “trash” (you may use a trash bag instead) or “recycle”.
  • When you’re ready to eliminate some “stuff”, make it an event. Pick a time, involve all household members and create a fun atmosphere by playing upbeat music and providing a prize for the one who eliminates the most “stuff”. Even kids can get involved with paring down their toy collection.
  • Start with an easier room like the bathroom. Go through all toiletries. Do you really need 6 half-empty hand creams? Decide which ones you like the best and throw out and/or recycle anything that you don’t love. Get rid of old combs and the like.
  • Next try the family room. Gather up unwanted DVDs, videos and books and donate to the following organizations:
     o Got Books (www.gotbooks.com/donate_books.php) gives books to overseas troops and educators. They will pick up items.
     o More Than Words, (www.mtwyouth.org) is a social enterprise that empowers youth who are in the foster care system, court involved, homeless, or out of school to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business. They take books.
     o Eco Encore (www.ecoencore.org) resells the items and donates profits to environmental organizations. Requires mailing items.
Also consider donating furniture and furnishings:
     o Salvation Army (www.use.salvationarmy.org). All proceeds go to support the Adult Rehabilitation Center program. They will pick up items and there are many drop off centers.
     o Goodwill Industries (www.goodwillmass.org/donations) has drop off centers almost everywhere.
     o Amvets (www.amvetsnsf.org) will pick up household goods and proceeds benefit American veterans. (508-580-2972)
  • Paring down possessions in a bedroom is best done when you are switching over seasonal clothes. This project may take a couple of days. Go through clothes as you put them in your closet and donate any that you absolutely don’t love or don’t look fabulous on you. Donate these unwanted clothes to the following charities:
     o Dress for Success (www.dressforsuccess.org) provides suits to disadvantaged women returning to or entering the workforce. Accepts business attire. Drop off at their Boston location.
     o Rosie’s Place, A Sanctuary for Poor and Homeless Women (www.rosies.org). Drop off at their Boston location.
     o Allen Edmonds Men’s Shoes (www.allenedmonds.com) is accepting gently worn shoes for donation to people in Haiti. The bonus is you get $35.00 off a new full priced pair of shoes.
     o Donate Eyeglasses (www.donateglasses.net) for your unwanted eyeglasses to people in need in developing nations.
You might also consider holding a Fashion Swap with your friends and family to “recycle” some of that unwanted clothing.
  • When going through the children’s room consider donating toys to Cradles to Crayons (www.cradlestocrayons.org), which provides poor and homeless children with supplies and prom dresses to the Cinderella Project (http://cinderellaproject.net/)
  • In the kitchen, Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts (www.hgrm.org)) is an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization based in Acton, MA that provides household goods, free of charge, to people in need. They accept pots, pans, and kitchenware in general among other things.
     o While you are at it, see if you can go through your kitchen cupboards and donate excess canned goods to your local food pantry. Is anything passed its expiration date? Just throw that stuff away
  • Attics/Basement. These areas require their own articles which should come in the near future.
  • Home office: donate computers and electronic equipment at participating Goodwill center. Goodwill and Dell have formed a partnership program (www.reconnectpartnership.com) that recycles electronic equipment.
      o Recycle magazines and newspapers
  • Making a career change or dropping an old hobby? You have all this good “stuff” that you no longer use but don’t want to throw it out. See if you can find someone in your network of friends, colleagues and neighbors who would like the “stuff” you no longer need. E.g., you’ve given up knitting; but your neighbor’s teen-age daughter is just learning. Pack up all the yarn, knitting needles and how-to books and give them to her and make her day.
  • Really unsure about giving away certain items? Put them in a box and label them. Then check in the box in 3-6 months and see if you really needed this “stuff”. Today, most stuff is made so inexpensively that is fairly easy to replace anything that you mistakenly got rid of. So you can eliminate most of the worrying.
  • Lastly, if you just want to get rid of stuff check out Free Cycle (www.freecycle.org) to connect with others in your area wanting to take free “stuff” that you would like to give away. This is a great website to find new homes for your no-longer-needed stuff. Just be safe when having a stranger come over to pick up the item(s) by having someone else with you or meet them outside your home.

   
    Although it was our annual wintertime Fashion Swap, the weather felt more like early spring with warm temperatures and lots of rain. The Swap is held every January in honor of GO—Get Organized—Month. Before heading out to the Swap, a fun girls’ night out, everyone must go through their closets and purge the superfluous clothes and accessories. But these items are not to be tossed because they might look fabulous on someone else. Twenty participants, showed up with bags of clothes that no longer fit or looked quite right on their bodies. Kelly, my co-host and myself were ready. Let the Swap begin.
    Kelly checked everyone in. Most of the gals fueled up on sangria, wine and munchies as they began hanging their clothes to swap. Luckily, we have a highly organized tiered system where people divide their clothes and accessories into 3 different value categories on 3 different color-coded racks. Many of the participants are familiar with this system as they have been coming to the Swap for several years. However, there were several new faces this year and they received help from some of the other swappers.
Before the swapping began, we were lucky to have some raffle prizes. Thanks to Melisa of D Squared, Sara of KickAss Cupcakes and Pat of Gargoyles Restaurant for donating gift certificates to our raffle. Thanks to Gargoyles for donating a super yummy cheese plate to the appetizer spread. Also raffled off was a CD by Anne Heaton, a local singer-songwriter who is up and coming on the local scene. It was exciting to hear Melisa sing Anne’s praises. Congrats to the winners of the prizes.
    Next the MCs, Pat and Lynn, moved into place and started pulling tickets from the basket and calling out the names of the participants. The gals would then go up to a particular rack to “shop” based on their color-coded ticket. This is where the fun really starts as the women look over the clothes and tries to pick just the right item to try on in front of the mirrors in the back room. Who will choose the slinky, swingy red dress? the red sweater with the feathers? the cute print blouse? the black leather skirt? the killer jacket? Luckily all the other women are there in a supportive role to help each one decide what looks fabulous and what need to be returned to the rack. The new swappers quickly pick up the rhythm and routine of the process with the help of the veteran swappers.
    The wine and sangria continued to flow. Lise, the resident photographer, snapped pictures of the gals in their new fashions complete with model poses. Who can forget the year when she took a photo of everyone modeling the tres chic plaid poncho? Lucky (and ballsy, I might add) Kate walked off with that little number. Generally, everyone was very pleased with her new clothes and accessories. Even the Free Table was widdled down. The clean up was easier with the help of Sarah, Leslie, Nancy and Julie. The leftovers, well they all find a new home at Casa de Goodwill down the street the next day. (It was an interesting little parade as my co-workers, Craig, Jamie and Pedro, and myself carried big bags over our backs and walked down the middle of Davis Square to the Goodwill store.)
    Thanks Everyone for participating, helping and donating! Even though it is a lot of work, The Swap fulfills two of my loves—fashion and organizing. And that’s why I look forward to this event each and every time. Plus can’t wait for the chance to wear my “new” slinky, black shirred blouse.

                             

                           

                       

Successful Goal Setting
   Typically people make resolutions and set goals at this time of year. And usually within a couple of months most people feel that they have not come close to meeting their goals or feel that they have failed miserably. Why this low success rate? We are so full of promise and expectation in January, how come we can’t follow through?
First I believe that people make their goals resolutions too general, such as: LOSE WEIGHT, SAVE MONEY, BECOME MORE ORGANIZED, GET HEALTHY, ADVANCE CAREER, IMPROVE RELATIONSHIPS. These are all admirable goals but if you just write them on an index card tacked to your bulletin board probably not a lot of success is going to happen. These goals need to be broken down into baby steps.
   And secondly, people don’t plan to fail—they fail to plan. You need to schedule the baby steps, otherwise known as the action steps into your day planner, calendar or electronic calendar.

Let’s look at that perennial favorite goal: LOSE WEIGHT. I can certainly identify with this one. Here are some “action steps”—that should probably be written down and scheduled:
•    Get rid of high calorie junk food
•    Stock up on high fiber, heart healthy snacks and food
•    Portion out all snack foods into individual containers and/or baggies
•    Server smaller portions
•    Make food in advance
•    Drink more water instead of soda and juice
•    Double the size of the veggies on your plate and slightly decrease the size of protein and carbs
•    Don’t skip breakfast
•    Substitute extra virgin olive oil for butter
•    Put gym bag in the car so it’s convenient to go to the health club
•    Write down which days to go to the health club and stick to it
•    Find buddy to work out with to stay motivated
Here’s another example, SAVE MONEY—action steps:
•    Open up an ING DIRECT savings account
•    Choose a day of the month to deposit money into that account
•    Make your own coffee instead of stopping at Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks everyday
•    If you need something, see if you can buy it used instead (e.g., craigslist, ebay, consignment stores).
•    If you go shopping, stick to your list or necessary item. When looking at all the “sale signs”—repeat this mantra “I really do not need anything else at this time.” 
•    Create a budget sheet in Excel with all your expenses and all your income—then see where all your money goes. Could some of it go into your savings account?
And one more: BE MORE ORGANIZED-here are some suggestions for action steps:
•    Buy and use a day planner
•    Set out clothes and make lunch the night before work
•    Do 15-30 minutes of tidying up everyday
•    Set up file systems
•    Put everything away in its “home”
•    Pare down excess--it's easier to be organized with less stuff
•    Start by scheduling small projects, eg: clean out junk drawer
•    Work with a professional organizer to tackle bigger projects

   These are just some suggestions on how to set up realistic goals. You can add to these and come up with your own action steps. You should also try to find ways in which to measure the success of your goals. (Weighing yourself at least once a week; checking in on your account balance; scheduling a checkup with your doctor to see if your medical stats have improved.)
   Another way to ensure the success of your goals being met is to sit down on Sunday night and write down all the action steps (pertaining to the various goals) for the week on index cards. Display them prominently and schedule them into your week via your day planner or calendar. Before you know it, you’ll see small measures of improvement which, of course, will add up to successful goals in the long run. Good luck and good planning.

Maureen Nuccitelli, founder of Harmonious Life Designs, brings a certain aesthetic element to de-cluttering, organizing and space design. Her background in design helps her create solutions that are aesthetically pleasing. She has a BS in psychology and training as a Wellness Coach that helps her understand clients' needs, create unique solutions and treat them compassionately. She uses the Emotional Freedom Technique and other energy modalities to help clients release emotional blockages that prevent them from having the organized and improved lives that they seek. Harmonious Life Designs is a full service professional organizing company that provides clients with the know-how, tools and systems to help create an organized and beautiful space throughout their home.

Find Free Organizing Tips at http://www.harmoniouslifedesigns.com/Free_Tips_Resources.html

In this time-constrained era, it is convenient to shop at the big box stores for one-stop shopping. But it might actually be beneficial to shop at your local businesses, such as your local hardware store, your local bead store, your local craft store, your local computer store, etc. Local businesses need and want your business and usually demonstrate that by excellent customer service. Also, patronizing local businesses strengthens your local economy and ultimately our national economy.

I have had several recent experiences with local businesses that really benefited me. For instance I had a great experience at my local hardware store, Coolidge Hardware, 622 Mt. Auburn St. in Watertown.
As most people know I am an avid yard saler; I am known as the Yard Sale Queen in my circle. My mother had requested a new lamp and I was determined to find a unique one at a yard sale or flea market. As luck would have it, I found a wonderful, one of a kind lamp at a local yard sale that needed some minor re-wiring. I could go to Home Depot or Coolidge Hardware—the choice was easy since I have received the worst customer service at Home Depot. (I think that the requirement to work there is to have no knowledge of do-it-yourself projects and a rude temperament if you are a cashier.)
Anyway, I took my lamp into Coolidge Square Hardware and asked an employee to point me in the direction of the lamp/electrical supplies. He not only escorted me to that section but also asked what project I was working on. Well, within several minutes, this very nice man had my lamp apart and re-wired, and outfitted with a new harp. There is no way I would have received that kind of help at Home Depot or Lowes. I left very happy.
The following week, I went through my jewelry box and took out all my jewelry that needed repairs. Most of my jewelry would not be considered fine jewelry but nonetheless, I loved every piece and wanted to be able to wear all my pieces. There was a local bead store down the street called Ancient Moon Bead (www.ancientmoon.com) on Mt. Auburn St. in Watertown. I thought that I would give it a shot. The owner, Yin Guang, was not only helpful in repairing all the broken hooks and clasps; she also helped me create new necklaces with my stones and her findings. And the most remarkable part? She was so inexpensive and was always able to do the work while I waited. So great! Now I have a large selection of necklaces and pendants to wear on most days.
The third example of doing business with local people is my interactions with the Computer Loft (www.computerloft.com), which sells and repairs new and used Macs in Allston. Over the years, I have bought several desktop computers and I have had some other work done like installing new operating systems. Craig Marin, the owner is a gem. I have called him on several occasions with questions, where he waa not necessarily going to make money off of me, but answered my questions cheerfully and patiently. I can’t tell you how invaluable this is given that I have my own business but not an IT person down the hall. And not many people can answer Mac questions as well. Thank you Craig.
All in all it pays to establish relationships with local business people as they will remember you and go out of their way to help you if they can. This is good karma, good business sense and contributes to the local economy.

                                                                                                                                     

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