simply-org.com Blog

You have completed the “rough sort” and got rid of the junk, and you sorted your big pile into smaller ones.

Third Step: Breakdown your categories and set up files

Take the piles from last week’s first sort and start breaking them down to smaller groups. The financial pile now becomes your individual banks, credit cards, investments, etc.

(What about those papers that don’t fall into obvious categories? Make one pile personal items and deal with those later. This might include magazine articles for day trips, an item you might want to buy, a hairstyle you want to show your stylist, information about different counter top materials…you get the picture. We are focusing on financial papers right now. We will come back to these personal papers later….)

Next week we are going to make file folders and put them in a place that makes sense (not the kitchen table or the floor)

Here are a few good links to help you with your tax preparation.

selftax.com online tax preparation from FREE….
Dennis Middleton CPA If you are looking for a CPA to help you with your taxes, I recommend Dennis.

Last week you completed the “rough sort” and got rid of the junk. If you still have questions of what can be tossed, see the IRS link below.

Second Step: Sort Like with Like

*Take that big pile from your quick “rough sort” and start to break it down.

*Use BIG categories like insurance, auto, financial, medical.

*Don’t get hung up on smaller categories and the specifics (yet). Those will come later.

Most likely you will have several types of insurances, but for right now celebrate the fact that you got all the insurance paper in one place. The same is true with financial: banks, credit cards, investments, etc.

Next week we will move to step three: setting up files

Incredibly useful links for Tax Preparation

Click on these links below for useful information for tax preparation.
Self Tax.com This site has FREE through very inexpensive online tax prep.
Dennis Middleton CPA.com If you are looking for a CPA to help you with your taxes, I recommend Dennis.
IRS.gov IRS guidelines for paper retention Here is the source from the IRS.

Tax Paperwork; Where to Start

It may only be February, but it is never too early to start organizing to prepare your taxes.

First Step: get rid of the junk

Wherever you keep your paperwork: the kitchen counter, dining table, home office floor, all of the above…it is time to sort through it and get to the important stuff. Keep in mind a main purpose of getting organized is to find things later. It is really hard to find the important things when they are burried under those that are not important. That is the clutter.

Do a “rough sort”.
1. Quickly start tossing the junk.
2. Pull out catalogs and magazines you will read later.
3. Keep a big pile of everything you are keeping.
Don’t get bogged down with what those things are and where they will go. Just slug through this “rough sort” and get rid of the junk.

What is the Junk?
Third Class mail, any solicitations you did not request, and coupons you will never use.

BONUS: You can see your counter, table or floor and even use it.

Next week we will move to step two.

We are into the second month of the year…Are you still working on that resolution to get organized?
*Keep it small.
*Keep it achievable.
*Keep plugging away at one thing at a time.

Even if you didn’t finish all the things you wanted to get done by now, keep going. Just like a diet, one day of falling off the wagon doesn’t mean you should give up.

I have another kitchen organizing example that you could accomplish in less than the time it takes to cook those chicken parts.

This week how about Organizing Your Plasticware.

You know what I am talking about. All those plastic containers with lids that are in many cabinets of your kitchen. You can’t find the lids that match, some are cracked and some are just plain OLD.

Collect all the containers and all the lids to the kitchen counter or table…spread them out so you can see them…yes, all of them.
Sort similar bottoms together and begin to match up the tops.
Toss the bottoms that should have, but you can’t locate, tops. (If there is no recycling arrow on the bottom, they go into the trash.
Stack and nest as many bottoms as you can. Keep the corresponding lids nearby
Chose ONE cabinet or drawer to house the keepers.
If you still have too many containers, donate or toss them.
Put away an organized, neat grouping of containers.

If you have kids and they have outgrown some of the plastic items like sippy cups, items with Disney characters, etc., now is the time to get rid of these too.

Ahhh…another bit of clutter under control.