Best Results Organizing

Getting organized always tops the list of New Year’s resolutions. However, between the pervading sense of overwhelm that keeps people from getting (and staying) organized in the first place and the back-to-the-real-world work and family obligations after the holidays are over, it’s easy to feel defeated before the year has really even gotten started.

Today’s post is chock-full of fast tips for making inroads on paper and related clutter. Some assignments take as few as five or ten minutes, and none should take more than an hour. Set aside a few minutes each day when your mental energy is high to tackle these tasks, and by the middle of Get Organized Month, you’ll be well on your way to a more productive, organized 2011.

1) Box Up the Holidays

Packing away decorations isn’t difficult, but it generally lacks the excitement of bringing out the sparkly stuff. It doesn’t have to be that way. If you’re not all partied-out, consider having an Un-Trimming party, even if it’s just a party of one. Play decidedly non-holiday music or pull up one of the top song countdown podcasts to get you in a holiday-removal mood. Label storage boxes (remember the NackIt labels we reviewed here?),

 

toss or recycle broken lights and decorations, and put away the holidays until next year. As you go through, take notes on any replacements you need to buy or changes you need to make for next year, and tuck your plans in the November slot of your tickler file.

Don’t forget about greeting cards! This classic Paper Doll post, Hallmark Holidays and American Greetings: Card Clutter, will help you make the necessary decisions regarding which cards to recycle and which to preserve. And for those you might want to give high priority, recall Card Memories’ Greeting Card Keeper Album we reviewed last spring.

2) Get a Head Start on Tax Time

Call your pharmacy and request a printout of your prescription purchases for the previous year. This will give you a jump start on calculating whether you can deduct medical expenses when you do your taxes. You should be able to get your own printout and that of your children, but your spouse may have to request his/her own.

When you pick up the prescription purchase forms, just drop them in your tax prep folder. No tax prep folder, you say? That’s easily fixed. Create your tax prep folder(s) for 2010 so that as soon as 1099s, W-2s and other tax forms start arriving in mid-to-late January, you’ll have someplace to put them. Alternatively, use one of the Smead Tax Organizers we’ve reviewed previously.

Take a peek at last year’s tax return (you know where it is, don’t you?) to make a list of the items you should be expecting. If you’ve newly acquired taxable assets, like stocks, add those to the list. These notes will help you figure out if any W-2s, 1099s or 1098s are missing. For more on what these forms represent, review the classic Paper Doll post on the Taxing Treasure Hunt.

3) Be A Time Traveler

Past: A little over a year ago, in One Last Flip Through The Calendar, we examined how reviewing the lessons of the past could help make for a stellar future. Pop back in time to that post so you can revisit the lessons of 2010 — the successes, surprises, opportunities, recurring events and missed connections — and put them to good use in building 2011.

Future: It’s impossible to organize your time without having a system for planning all of your obligations (and desired activities) and figuring out when you’re going to get around to them. If you haven’t figured out what kind of planner (paper or digital) would rock your world (eliminating chaos and giving you back control), and your visions were more of sugar plums than calendars last week, be sure to catch up with Paper Doll Pencils You In On Her Calendar: 6 Tips for Planning 2011.

4) Give The Floozies Their Marching Orders

Ordinarily, Paper Doll avoids floozies (loose, homeless paper scraps). But after I did a blog post on Post-It Notes a few months back, for which I acquired a small package of the sticky notes, I succumbed to the same dastardly habit I warned against. I avoided using them for phone messages and notes on conversations, but grabbed them to capture my momentarily-brilliant ideas.

Over New Year’s weekend, however, I determined that enough was, indeed, enough, and collected every bit of rainbow riff-raff and sorted them into categories: ideas for Paper Doll blog posts, references for Best Results for Busy People newsletter articles, notions for ebooks, video submission topics for my NAPO chapter’s Get Organized Month YouTube channel, etc.

They weren’t all creative ideas. Some were reminders of things I wanted to learn, with helpful “tips” to myself as to where to go. For technology issues, I was reminding myself to talk to Brandie Kajino, Biana Babinsky and Gina Schreck to learn more about everything from the newest Google apps to social media marketing to Cinch.

The sticky notes reminded me I wanted to know how to format an ebook for Amazon’s Kindle and how to upgrade my newsletter to a snazzy new HTML format. And, of course, some of those floozies contained information that had to be recorded elsewhere, digitally or on pager.

Once I determined my broad categories, I turned my office door into a 3D spreadsheet of floozies, with one column for every category. Once done, it was easy to transcribe these categories into the appropriate planning pages of my master legal pad and send them to live in my tickler file, awaiting further action. Alternatively, you could capture the ideas in an actual spreadsheet or on Evernote and link the actions to your digital task reminders. Either way, clearing the desk will clear the decks for a new year.

Remember those nice postal carriers whom you greeted cheerfully last month when they brought you packages? I know, you’re tempted to greet them with grimaces as they deliver those holiday bills. But don’t put off opening those envelopes. Even if you overindulged at the holiday checkout counters the way so many of us indulged at the holiday buffet tables, not opening the envelopes is like not getting on the scale. It doesn’t change the truth of the situation.

Worse, it’s like suspecting you might be ill, but not going to the doctor to get a diagnosis. Until you know how serious the problem is, you can’t begin to prescribe a solution.

Open your year-end investment and retirement statements when they arrive—don’t just pile them up or tuck them away. If you’ve been averting your eyes all year, you may be pleasantly surprised by some rebounding. More importantly, you may find that your stock/bond balances are seriously out of whack from what you originally designated. Embarrassed that you don’t know how to re-balance your portfolio? Pick up the phone and call the 800 number on your statement. You won’t be the first (or the last) to ask for help getting the ratios back in order, and the process is painless.

6) Master the System

Once you’ve paid your bills and reviewed your investment statements, don’t just toss them aside — file away those you’ll need for future reference. If part of your paper clutter struggles have come from not having a system at all, revisit the original Paper Doll Family Filing series:

Family Filing—As easy as (eating) pie
Financial Filing—Scrapbooking snapshots of your money’s life
Mom, why is there a receipt stuffed in the turkey?
I Fought the Law…and the Paperwork Won!
Patient: “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.” Doctor: “Then don’t do that!”
Paper Dolls Live In Paper Households
I Hope Nobody Ever Writes a Nasty Tell-All Called “Paper Doll Dearest”!

I know I can be a bit of a broken record about this, but one of the best ways to combat identity theft and keep your financial life on the straight and narrow is to scrupulously check your credit reports. If you haven’t done it lately, take a few minutes to go to AnnualCreditReport.com (and not to the competitor with the cute commercial jingle).

If you’re not sure about all the hubbub over credit reports and all those other personal reports, it’s time to revisit the Who Knows Your Secrets? series:

Who Knows Your Secrets? Part 1: From Little Sister to Big Brother
Who Knows Your Secrets? Part 2: Check Up On Your Checking History
Who Knows Your Secrets? Part 3: Get a CLUE About Insurance Reports
Who Knows Your Secrets? Part 4: Someone’s Snooping In Your Medicine Cabinet
Who Knows Your Secrets? Part 5: Employers & Landlords & Yentas, Oh My!
Who Knows Your Secrets? Part 6: Many Happy Returns

8) Be Grateful (Even When Thanksgiving is 11 Months Away)

It’s January. Write the darn thank-you notes already! The mental energy wasted on knowing you have to do it and procrastinating anyway keeps you from accomplishing so many of your other goals.

Grab your stationery or a box of note cards, your address book, and a roll of stamps. Take a deep breath and jump in: let the person know you got the gift, how you’re going to use it, how much you appreciate it, and then mail it off. It takes five minutes (at most) to write a thank-you note; don’t let your desk or kitchen table stay piled high with reminders throughout January when you can just do it and be done.

Having trouble finding your stationery and note cards? This is the perfect opportunity to take note of what you need to acquire and organize your stationery wardrobe accordingly.

  

Paper Manners Matter: Cut Card Clutter and Store Social Stationery has everything you need to get your writing system up to snuff. (Fountain pen not included.)

Paper Doll knows how the first week of a new year can seem like a splash of cold water after the relative coziness of the holiday week, but the best way to warm up to a new calendar year is by easing yourself into organizing mode. Tackle one of these tasks or projects every day or so in the new year, and you’ll be feeling more organized in no time!