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Welcome to Day 4 of 7 Days To An Organized Home Office.
Today’s task will take about 1 hour for the average home office. Depending on your home office situation you may need more or less time.
Today we’ll work out what papers we have to keep, and what papers we want to keep – and get rid of the rest. How liberating!
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How weird that my comment about my role change and work office is just below from Feb! I gave up my work office last month to join the floor with people again – but I’m glad I had already sorted through so much when the time came to purge the office completely – walls and all! I am now working through my home office again – which is in desperate need! I have whittled the piles down to what I think I need – the rest has gone! I am back doing my previous role again after a sabbatical – it’s taking some getting used to without all the filing I had previously BTW! I don’t regret the purge though!
OMG! You are not going to believe this! I did this programme a while ago now, once for my home office and once for my work office. This paper task tripped me both times (in fact my home office is exactly the same). I changed my role at work in 2014, a big lifestyle change for me and something I am still adjusting to (having been in the previous role for 15 years). However, today, I have no idea what has come over me as I managed to sort 3 and a half cupboards of paperwork in my work office, throwing over 5 huge bags of paper work. I still have 6 filing drawer cabinets to go, but to put this in perspective it is 15 years of work I have suddenly managed to let go of and free myself of. I wish I knew how to bottle that now!!
I already have my papers filed for tax purposes. I should do that with household receipts too.
My group decisions are what documents are kept forever and varying documents:
Store Forever these documents: Academic Records: Diplomas, transcripts, portfolio work for future job applying; Adoption Papers, Baptismal Certificates, Birth Certificates, Death Certificates: May be needed for tax purposes; Driver’s Licenses, Employment Records: Any clauses, agreements, disciplinary files & performance reviews; Marriage Certificates, Medical Records, Military Records, Passports, Retirement and Pension Records, Social Security Cards and Wills.
Varying documents: Bank Statements for one month; Bills for 1 year for anything tax or warranty related, all other bills should be shred as soon as they have been paid; Credit Card Bills Shred immediately when paid or after payment clears the bank; Investment Records 7 years after you’ve closed account or sold the security; Leases Keep until you’ve moved out and have received your deposit back from the landlord; Paycheck/Pay Stubs for1 year until you’ve received your W-2; Sales Receipts: Keep for the life of the warranty. Applies only major purchases like appliances & electronics. Keep receipts for groceries & clothing only until return policy expires; Tax Documents for 7 years including filing & documents like W-2s & receipts; Vehicle Records Keep until boat, car or motorcycle is sold.
Hello Folks – Congratulations on all your terrific progress! I would like to be able to report that I have been out of touch for a while again because I have been on a wonderful adventure, or joyously caught up in my work, or making fantastic progress with my building project BUT instead I have to admit I have been Procrastinating! Oh No! So about a week ago I had a very honest chat with myself and got back on the wagon – yay! Bad news was it took me a whole day to get thru 2 piles but the GOOD news is I got thru those 2 piles and then another pile the next day and after a week I am now pile-less – yay! (and I can finally get on to my 2012 tax return – way to go Kimberly 🙂 This was a very tough “day” but I am thrilled to now be on the upside of it and enjoying my new found organisation every day. Thanks Michele 🙂
If you balance the good and bad in there you definitely come out on top Jorja – so well done!! We all give in to procrastination sometimes but pushing past it deserves a Yay you! 🙂
So the paper sorting took me this long to do. I created my own boxes – shred, recycle, archive, general file, business file and 2012 taxes (because I need to complete these ASAP). But I am FINALLY done. The archive box is too big and will require further culling, as will the “general file” box. BUT I have unearthed the docs I needed to prepare my taxes and I have a clear vision of how to use your other steps to make my office MINE again, Michele – thank you!
It sounds like you’ve done a wonderful job here Kimberly. The more paper you have, the more challenging these steps are – but you’ve made it over the hump! Yay! I’m very glad I’ve helped. 🙂
OMG, I will admit that I have been a hoarder of paper! (shame, shame!) All my paperwork is filed in chronlogical order in my filing system, but I have kept about 10 years worth of documents, I am going to keep it down to 7 years and then even that I am not going to keep so much of (only the necessities).
I also had binders/files/folders full of magazine articles, ideas, clippings saved for years that I never even went back to look at, got rid of it ALL today, in the recycle bags it went! Thank goodness for Pinterest, I can get all the ideas I want electronically from there and take of no space. 🙂
It would take me forever to shred all my old stuff but I just found out that my husbands company has someone come in quarterly to do onsite paper destruction and employees can bring in there stuff too. So I will take advantage of this on the next go round!
I have a big bin of all my backed up filing that I need to do, so it will be spread out on the top of my pool table for sorting (yes, this is what its been getting used for lately) I plan to get it all sorted/purged and put away in the next week.
Wow Tami – what a great effort today. Nice work!
Slowly getting through this with some help from my husband. We are getting ready to move soon so being able to set up in our new place with less paperwork and mess will be a blessing! I also spent the money on the NeatDesk system which is helping get rid of even more paper since we now have it in digital form too 🙂 This is great thank you!
You’ll be so glad you did this before moving, Alexandra! Packing AND unpacking will be heaps easier.
PS You might also like this: http://www.getorganizedwizard.com/blog/2009/06/organizing-q-a-get-organized-for-moving-house-my-top-3-tips/
Thank you!
Ok Kokeb….thanks for the encouragement! We CAN DO THIS! 😉
Thanks, Michele, for the recommendations on what to get rid of–with the vivid descriptions of junky items it’s OK to discard! It took me two days off to unearth a table and get rid of the first round of papers, and I feel greatly empowered! However, I still have categories of papers that I must reduce, but not discard in total. These are “archive” categories, and I need some help knowing how to decide what to keep and what to let go. Since they aren’t part of “home office” management, you haven’t mentioned retaining these. But they are papers. As I purged old receipts, magazines, and things I could get rid of, I had to put aside folders and papers that related to my kids (now young adults). These papers include a mix of old schoolwork, certificates, summer camp applications, and information about their activities. More recently I’ve printed out some (but not all!) of their email messages. I am afraid to get rid of these items of (potential) memorabilia that are, like photographs, difficult to sort, but initially undiscardable. In addition to these, I have printed articles on topics that once grabbed my attention, and newsletters, etc. I imagine having them filed and accessible to refer to in the future. I want to save that good advice or pithy article, but I don’t know where to put it. So it gets piled, not filed. Would appreciate some advice on how to show respect for my children and my own interests without saving so much paper.
Hi Kit. Hmmm. I’m going to encourage you to go back and re-read Steps 1, 2, and 3 on Day 1. If you’re keeping all this stuff, you can’t be appreciating it all – it’s too much. Some ideas are:
1. Create a single MEMORY BOX for each child (http://www.getorganizedwizard.com/blog/2013/03/memory-box-how-to-organize-mementos-and-keepsakes/). Perhaps you can ask each child to help you choose the most precious items for their memory boxes.
2. If it’s too scary to let the other stuff go, you might like to try some PROBATION BOXES for a year or 6 months: http://www.getorganizedwizard.com/blog/2011/01/put-your-stuff-in-a-probation-box-how-to-clear-clutter-when-youre-scared/
Good luck Kit!
Thanks so much for your reply! I think I’ll be in the “Day 1” phase for quite some time. However, I’ll begin moving toward “memory boxes” for the kids, and I’ll check out the “probation box” article. I have been motivated in the right direction and your ideas have certainly helped! In particular you showed the role that indecision plays in accumulation. The idea that I might be able to change that habit is very liberating!
I’m so far behind, I hope I can catch up!
I am too. You can do it! We can do it… I need to purge more paperwork. I just realized I did not touch one filing cabinet. Grrrr.
There is no such thing as behind, one step forward from where you just were is exactly the same as someone else’s one step one from where they were 🙂
It’s fine to go at your own pace Audrey. You’ll have access to the program for two months from the start date. And I’ll be checking all the comments next week too – so Ill find you. 🙂
Oh! That is great! Thanks Michele!!
Hi Michelle, is this the same for Premium subscribers or are these ‘7 Day Office Orgz’ tools available for the full 12 months like all the other tools/articles?
Julie Kay Nelson Oh thanks for asking that question Julie – I should have been clearer. As a Premium subscriber you have access to everything, anytime, for as long as you are a subscriber. 🙂
Oooo I love the concertina file for receipts ! Not just pretty face huh? :-p
🙂
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=470521033021944&set=a.126895770717807.28294.126894987384552&type=1&theater
A little OH&S reminder, beware the stubbed toe on the filing cabinet and dreaded paper cuts!
LOL thanks for that Julie! An excellent reminder. 🙂