Opting Out of Catalogs

Now that the holidays are behind us, you may have noticed that you are receiving new catalogs in the mail simply because of your recent holiday shopping patterns.  There's a way to opt out of receiving most of these catalogs without having to contact each individual retailer.  Catalog Choice is a free service that offers opt-out requests for individual companies from one web site.  I used this service when they first came on the scene in 2007 and have noticed a drastic reduction in the number of catalogs landing in my mailbox.

The are also now offering a premium service where, for an annual $20 donation, they will communicate opt-outs to the third-party marketing companies that trade your name and personal information based on your buying history and behavioral characteristics.  This stops more mail at the source and enhances your privacy protection.  You may sign up for up to four name and address combinations that you want Catalog Choice to submit for unlisting. 

Save trees, stop catalogs from cluttering up your home, and protect your privacy by signing up at www.catalogchoice.org. 

National Clean Off Your Desk Day

Photo by VirtualCourtney on flickr.com

Every second Monday in January is "Clean Off Your Desk Day" and what a great way to start off the new year!  Here in Atlanta, we're buried under about five inches of snow today making this the perfect time for my local organizing clients to tackle their desks at homes.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Gather your supplies:  big trash bag or garbage can, a small box or container for the paper to be shredded, another box or laundry hamper for those items that need to be moved elsewhere in the house or office, hanging or manila file folders, depending on how you prefer to manage your files, and a label maker.

• Start with a bird's eye view of your office and quickly grab anything that isn't supposed to live on your desk or in your office.  Put these items into a "MOVE" hamper/box.

• Notice whether there are any other extraneous items on the top of your desk.  This includes framed photos, freebies from trade shows, excessive quantities of Post-It notes, etc.  These items need to be off your desk and placed elsewhere in your home or office.  The only thing on your desk top should be items and files that you use often.

• If you don't have a supply drawer, create a makeshift one using a drawer organizer insert that sits on top of your desk.  Or you can use the upturned top of a decorative organizing box to house commonly used office supplies, which is what I do.  The supplies I use less often live in the bottom drawer of a rolling file holder that sits next to my desk under my printer shelf. 

• Now combine all of your paper into one pile.

• Start with the top piece of paper and work your way down.  For each piece of paper on your desk, decide whether to Keep, Shred, Throw Away, or Delegate.  If you are keeping it, add it either to your FILE pile if it's reference material or to your ACTION pile if there is an action that you need to follow up and do related to that piece of paper.  Remember to put paper that can be delegated into the DELEGATE pile with the person's name who you're delegating to on the top of the page or on a Post-It note.  If the paper is home-related, feel free to delegate it to appropriate family members.

• After you get through your paper pile, if you have the energy and brainpower left to continue, file the paper in your FILE pile creating either manila or hanging files for your file cabinet or desktop holder.  If you don't have a file cabinet, a plastic file box with ridges for hanging files will suffice.   These are often on sale at your office supply store during tax season.

• THEN, if your brain has not yet exploded, decide how you want to handle your ACTION pile.  Prioritize the action items by how critical they are and when their deadlines hit.  Many people find a tickler/reminder system such as the 43 Files system that David Allen writes about in "Getting Things Done" which is the one that I prefer.

• Finally, deliver all of the items in your MOVE hamper to their appropriate rooms in the house or office.

If all of this is too much for you to take on in one day, go ahead and make this your "Clean Off Your Desk WEEK" and break it down into smaller steps.  Then enjoy the peace of mind that comes with a clean desk! 

What papers should you keep?

"What papers should I keep?" This question comes up over and over again when I'm helping residential clients organize their papers. Most businesses have a record retention policy that dictates what papers you should save and for how long. But many people are unclear about what they should be saving in their personal home files.

The lists below contains suggestions from Clark Howard, the consumer guru from Atlanta, and financial planner Ric Edelman. Prudence dictates that I tell you that I am not an accountant or lawyer. These suggestions should serve as guidelines to get you started, but you should also consult your accountant and possibly the Internal Revenue Service's web site (see IRS Publication 552: Record Keeping for Individuals) to see if there are other suggestions that better fit your situation.

Clark Howard says:

WHAT RECORDS TO KEEP:

* Tax returns, keep forever
* Tax return documentation (receipts, supporting documentation), keep for six years
* Contracts, forever
* Real estate records, forever
* Last pay stub of a job if you leave the job
* Last pay stub of the year of your current job
* All mortgage payment checks (statements), until the mortgage is paid off
* All student loan payments, until the loan is paid off
* Car loan payment stubs, until the car is paid off
* Canceled checks, for 7 years
* Bank deposit slips, for 7 years
* Bank statements, for 7 years
* Home Improvement records, ownership period plus 7 years
* Investment records, ownership period plus 7 years

WHAT RECORD TO TOSS:

* Credit card statements that are more than three years old
* Past insurance statement
* Old utility bills, except the most recent one from your old address if you've moved
* Recently paid bills (statements), once you have something saying they have been paid

Other suggestions from financial planner Ric Edelman's web site:

• Birth certificates, Death Certificates, and Marriage Certificates: never discard
• Health records: never discard
• Stock and bond certificates: discard or shred when sold
  
• Vehicle titles: discard or shred when vehicle is sold
• Wills, trusts, and powers of attorney: discard or shred when a new one is signed
• College financial aid and other loans: shred ten years after loan is repaid
  
• Insurance policies: keep copy of existing policy as long as policy is in effect. Then keep a copy for one year after your replace the policy
• Investment account statements: seven years after the last investment held in account is sold
  
• Pension documents: never discard
  
• Receipts for items under warranty: shred after warranty expires
• Receipts for expensive items: shred after item is sold or donated
• Social Security statement: shred old one when new one arrives
• Transcripts: shred old one after you complete another course
• Vehicle registration: shred old one when the new one arrives
• Vehicle repairs: keep until vehicle is sold

Most of these documents can be placed in a locked filing cabinet, though you may consider purchasing a fire and burglar resistant safe for some of your important, but hard to replace, documents. Consider using a safe deposit box for originals that you rarely need such as adoption papers, citizenship papers, lawsuits, divorce decrees, household inventory lists, photos of possessions, military discharge and veteran's papers.

Hopefully, these suggestions will help liberate your filing cabinet of all those non-necessary bits of paper that may be inappropriately squatting there now. Of course, they aren't going to jump out of there on their own. Sometimes you gotta go in there and throw them out.