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How to Replace and Organize 7 Essential Government Documents

Posted on: February 1st, 2021 by Julie Bestry | 12 Comments

All documents are not created equal. If you lose your electric bill, you can log into your account, and then view, pay, and even print a copy of your bill. Other items fall into the Very Important Paper, or VIP, category, and require more effort to replace. These are the documents without which we cannot pass GO or collect 200 (or any) dollars unless we present an original, certified copy.

The Search for Vital Documents

While stuck at home, numerous clients and friends have been reporting on the states of their files and important documents.

A few months ago, in anticipation of the world returning to “normal,” a client wanted to make plans for a big post-quarantine trip. Although she hasn’t traveled outside of the country in decades, quarantine left her feeling claustrophobic and she’s eager to explore the world. But her passport is both expired and (unfortunately) missing.

Elsewhere, a reader had seen my blog post, Paper Doll On Narwhals, Fake News, and How To Get A REAL ID from last February, and wanted to get a REAL ID so she’d be able to fly domestically. (As a reminder, that deadline has change from October 2020 to October 2021.)

Both would need their birth certificates. Like many people, neither had needed one since applying for driver’s licenses as teens. One couldn’t find hers; yes, that was the one who also lost her passport. The other knew it was somewhere in her elderly parents’ home but couldn’t risk traveling during COVID to acquire it, nor could she accurately direct her parents to find it or trust the (lately chaotic) postal service to deliver the vital document if it were found. 

Another client had received a notice that a company related to one of her late father’s stock holdings had liquidated, and the remaining value had been escheated. This means that having lost sight of his correct address when he moved from his longtime home to a nursing home, the transfer agent for the stock sent the check to his state’s unclaimed property division. To prove that she had a right to that amount, my client had to provide the state with her father’s death certificate and a copy of the will, showing that she was a beneficiary.

When my own father died, to prove Paper Mommy‘s right to certain veteran’s survivor benefits, we had to provide his military separation papers dating from World War II. Luckily, I had located these during the process that went into writing The Great Mesozoic Law Office Purge of 2015: A Professional Organizer’s Family Tale.

Replacing the Documents

As a Certified Professional Organizer, I’m often working with clients, sorting through random piles of papers. Wedged between expired car insurance declaration pages and outdated kindergarten registration paperwork, I’ll find some essential VIP and a client will exclaim, “I’ve been LOOKING for that!”

Whether you want to get benefits or insurance, travel or remarry, obtain a job or live happily ever after (whatever that means to you), you’re going to need to produce certain government documents. And if you don’t have them, you’ll need to replace them to make life easier for yourself and your loved ones.

1)   Birth Certificate

You’re reading this, so you’ve already been born. (I mean, unless you’re a time traveler, in which case, howdy, and please leave a comment below about the winner and score of the upcoming Super Bowl!) Further, as you were born in the 20th (or 21st) century, you almost certainly already have a birth certificate, even if it’s not in your possession.

Image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay 

Why you need one: A birth certificate is not merely proof of your arrival on the planet. You need one to get a driver’s license, apply for Social Security and other government benefits owed to you, obtain a passport, join the military, and perhaps prove the date and location of your birth to show you are eligible to be a congressperson, senator, or President of the United States. 

Usually, a photocopy will not suffice; you’ll need an embossed (bumpy) certificate, stamped by a government entity related to your place of birth. That might be your county clerk, the registrar of records, or someone else.  

If you were born in the United States, contact the office of vital records for your state or territory of birth in writing. 

First, visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. Through that site, you’ll find information regarding to whom (and at what address) you must write, the fee schedule (for as many copies as you need, plus postal and processing charges), and what information or proof you’ll need to submit. Fees are determined by locale; to get copy of a birth certificate from Guam, it’s only $5; for New York State (outside of New York City), it’s $30. (For New York City, it’s $15, which this Buffalonian considers an unfair discount.)

If you were born abroad to American parents, your birth would have been registered with your nation of birth’s embassy or consulate. If everything is hunky-dory, instead of a standard birth certificate, they would have been given Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) and you can request a copy from the U.S. Department of State. If they can’t locate your CRBA, or your birth wasn’t registered with an embassy, but you were born on a military base, you can try to contact the hospital where you were born.

If you were born abroad, even if you were adopted by a family in the United States, you won’t have an original U.S. birth certificate; you’ll have to contact the nearest embassy for that nation for assistance. If you were born “on the high seas,” on an aircraft, or in the Panama Canal Zone, you’ll want to read this page for special guidance. (You’ll also want to record your mom telling the story of how that came to be for the delight and amazement of future generations!)  

If you were born in Canada, contact the vital statistics office for your province of birth.

To replace your birth certificate, be prepared to provide identifying details, including:

  • your full name at birth
  • date of birth
  • sex (as assigned at birth)
  • county and/or city of birth
  • hospital name
  • your *mother’s complete (including maiden) name, and
  • your *father’s complete name

*In the future, it will be more likely that birth certificates will indicate parents names without assuming parents of two genders; currently, however, most locales show these as gendered categories.

You’ll also have to supply your signature (possibly notarized, depending on your state’s requirements), your mailing address, and your phone number.

If you are pressed for time, there are third-party services, like Vitalchek, that can expedite the process for an added cost. (Be sure to do a deep-dive to verify that any expediting service is on the up-and-up.) 

2)   Social Security Card

Why you need one: You need proof of your registration with the Social Security Administration in order to get a job, accrue benefits, and receive certain government services. Your parents probably completed the paperwork for your Social Security card when you were a newborn, so like a birth certificate, someone has already done the hard work for you. (If you are over the age of 12 but have never received a Social Security card, you will have to apply in person at your local Social Security office.)

You should already have your Social Security card; you would have needed it to apply for your first “grownup” job. However, if you’ve lost it at some point, you can replace it in one of two ways.

The standard method is by completing an SS-5 application, available online at the Social Security Administration’s website. You will have to print the application and then mail it to your local Social Security office. And that’s the first wrinkle – the Social Security Administration halted all face-to-face services and closed their field offices on March 20, 2020 and they have not yet resumed services. Their website states, “However, we are still able to provide critical services via phone, fax and online.” 

Happily, you can replace your Social Security card online, provided that you have (or are willing to create) a mySocialSecurity account.

You’ll be happy to know that unlike a birth certificate, driver’s license, or almost any other official document, you can get your replacement Social Security card for free! However, this isn’t a “Get out of jail, free” card for keeping your paperwork disorganized. You are limited to three replacements per year and ten in your lifetime. (Questions #11 and #12 on the application refer to replacing cards for pre-existing Social Security numbers/cards.)

Remember, don’t carry your Social Security card around with you. That’s like carrying a one million dollar bill, and puts you at risk of identity theft. Unless you have been asked to provide your card for an official reason, such as when you are meeting with Human Resources at your new job, keep your card in a safe place, like your fireproof safe at home.

3)   Marriage License & Certificate

Are you married? Mazel tov! But do you know where your marriage license and certificate are?

Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay 

Why you need one (of each): Every state requires a marriage license, the paper that legally authorizes you to get married, and a marriage certificate, to prove the deed has been done. You apply for a marriage license at some point prior to when you expect the ceremony to be. However, depending on your state, your license might expire anywhere from 30 days to a year after you receive it.

Let’s say you got your marriage license on March 1, 2020, expecting to get married two months later, on May 1, 2020. And let’s say licenses in your state don’t expire for six months. Normally, you wouldn’t be too worried. But perhaps due to COVID, your wedding got postponed and your license expired. No problem; you just apply for a new one.

But let’s say that someone accidentally loses your marriage license, or it got accidentally destroyed after the wedding ceremony but before you were able to submit it to your county. (If it wasn’t accidental, Paper Doll suggests couples counseling.) If that happens, you need the officiant (the minister, priest, rabbi, judge, etc. – the person who officiated) to intervene on your behalf. The officiant has to contact the license-issuing office to get a get a duplicate to ensure that your marriage is kosher.

So, your marriage license is what you need in order to get married; a marriage certificate is proof that the marriage ceremony has happened. If you are taking your new spouse’s name, you will need your marriage certificate in order to legally change your name on your driver’s license, passport, and other official documents.

If your name differs from your spouse, proving your legal right to visit in the hospital may be difficult without documentation. (Granted, during COVID, in many places, visitors – even spouses – are not allowed in hospitals right now.) Insurance companies might require a copy of the certificate to provide spousal coverage, and proof of your marriage is required for everything from qualifying for military housing to obtaining pension benefits to adoption and travel abroad.

The point is that unless you are a character on Grey’s Anatomy, a Post-It Note of marital promises isn’t going to cut it.

If you’re already married, but you trusted your spouse to file the marriage certificate safely away, and your spouse trusted you to do the same (great trust levels, not-so-great organizational skills), you can use the same CDC link provided for birth certificates to identify your state’s office of vital records and see the fees and requirements for requesting copies. You might also take this opportunity to speak with a professional organizer about the best system for organizing your family’s paperwork and maximize future joy.

4)   Divorce Decree

Why you need one: Certified copies of divorce decrees are necessary if you wish to remarry, to provide proof of legally separate finances to a tax authority (like the IRS or the state) or a creditor, and to be a contestant on a TV show like The Bachelor. (But please, don’t do that.)

If you’ve lost your divorce decree paperwork and live in or near the county in which the divorce was granted, the fastest method will be to arrive at the county courthouse with the following information in hand: 

  • the full name of both spouses (including any maiden names) as of the wedding date
  • the court case number
  • the exact date of the divorce
  • and the city, county, and state in which the divorce took place

If you don’t have the court case number, you will need to call one of attorney(s) and/or mediator who handled your divorce to see if their records include the case file number. With this information, you’ll be able to fill out an official request form at the courthouse.

If you no longer live in or near the county in which the divorce occurred, follow the CDC link for the state in which the divorce took place, and follow your individual locale’s instructions.

5)   Military Separation/Discharge Papers

Image by Shonda Ranson from Pixabay

Why you need them: You’ll need your own military records and separation/discharge papers to obtain a job or a security clearance, get proof or copies of medals, or apply for medical or disability benefits. If a relative who served has died, you’ll need certified copies of these records to arrange a military funeral or obtain certain survivor’s benefits.

An original signature of the veteran (or his/her next of kin) is required to fill requests for copies of Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF).  To a get a free copy of your (or your relative’s) Report of Separation (DD Form 214) or other military records, start with the electronic search/request system eVetRecs, or mail (or fax) a standard form SF-180 to the National Personnel Records Center.

And here’s where there’s another wrinkle.

Due to COVID, the National Personnel Records Center is closed except for emergencies, and they state on their site:

While we remain in this state, we will continue servicing requests associated with medical treatments, burials, and homeless veterans seeking admittance to a homeless shelter. Please refrain from submitting non-emergency requests such as replacement medals, administrative corrections, or records research until we return to pre-COVID staffing levels.

In other words, unless you are seeking a DD214 so that a veteran can get healthcare or space in a homeless shelter, or to facilitate a veteran’s burial, you may have to make a note on your “To Do After COVID” list for replacing these documents.

6)   Death certificate

Why you need one: After someone dies, you will need multiple certified embossed copies of a death certificate for almost everything, including:

  • canceling cell phone and utility contracts
  • closing an estate
  • transferring car titles
  • notifying financial institutions regarding debts
  • transferring ownership of tangible and intangible property to beneficiaries, and
  • other legal, financial, and real estate transactions

If someone has recently died, it is easier and more convenient to acquire death certificates from the funeral home, which generally maintains ongoing relationships with local government offices. In most states, there is a standard fee for acquiring a death certificate, and ethical funeral homes should acquire and pass along requested copies of the death certificate charging an additional fee.

If you need to acquire a death certificate for someone whose passing was not recent, and getting the assistance of the funeral home is not applicable, the procedure is similar to other obtaining copies of birth and marriage certificates. Select your state from the CDC listings for your Office of Vital Records and follow the instructions for your state.

7) Passport

Right now, international travel is an iffy proposition and even where travelers are welcome, many new rules abound, but it can’t help to dream about traveling the globe when all is calm again.

Applying for a new passport still requires some of the process to be completed in person. However, much can be accomplished online, including downloading forms, calculating fees, and getting information about your passport’s application status.

To apply for a new passport, download form DS-11 and read the general instructions at the Department of State web site.

If your passport is lost or stolen, you’ll have to report it. Fill out a DS-64 and then submit it, along with a DS-11, to get a replacement.

To renew your passport by mail, whether it has expired or not, fill out a DS-82 and submit it, along with your old, undamaged passport and required documentation. However, if your expired passport is more than 15 years old, you will have to apply for a new one; if your prior passport was issued before you reached the age of 16, you will have to apply anew. And, you may only renew your passport if it was issued in your current name; or if you can provided legal proof of your name change.

The Department of State has a section explaining delays related to COVID.

What to Do When You Get Your Replacement Documents

Once you spend time and effort replacing a government document, you don’t want to have to do it again. Do the following:

  • Scan a copy of your vital documents. 
  • Provide a scanned and/or paper copy of each of these vital documents to a trusted friend or relative so that if your copies are damaged in a fire or natural disaster, you will at least have some guidance regarding the information contained in them.
  • Place your official, embossed (bumpy) paper copies somewhere safe and logical, like a fireproof safe. If you have multiple copies, you can keep extras in a VIP folder of your Family Files.
  • Create a digitized index of all of your VIPs so you know what you have. Share a copy with your trusted friend so that, in case of an emergency, your friend can help you identify your documents.
  • Make a habit that whenever you remove something from your VIP file or safe, set a reminder on your phone to return it to its proper place. Even if you have to keep snoozing the reminder, it will ensure you put the document back. Otherwise, you’re likely to put it down instead of putting it away, making it more likely to get lost or misplaced again.

A Final Note

Unfortunately, with many of the procedures listed, you may hit speed bumps related to COVID. Many governmental offices are closed, and those that are open often have reduced hours and accessibility. These links and instructions are starting points for official channels; if you hit a road block, you may find assistance by calling your county clerk’s office to seek guidance.

Posted in Emergency, Paper Organizing, Vital Documents | 12 Comments »

Paper Doll Interviews the Genealogy Organizers

Posted on: January 25th, 2021 by Julie Bestry | 34 Comments

Professional organizers have a variety of specialties. Some focus on particular types of clients (students, senior citizens, people with ADHD), while others specialize in particular spaces (offices, kitchens, closets, warehouses). One of the newer specialities within our field is genealogy organizing, and today I’m interviewing three experts in the field. 

I got the idea when Jennifer Lava, one of my colleagues, offered to do a little research into my family history and found an interesting tidbit about my maternal great-aunt’s wedding cake. Jennifer and our colleagues and friends Janine Adams, CPO® and Hazel Thornton have some real insight to share about the nexus of organizing and genealogy. (Insights into Paper Doll‘s family history are just a bonus.)

Paper Doll‘s great-aunt’s wedding cake. Mmmm.

What’s your professional background, and what got you involved in organizing and productivity?  

Hazel Thornton: I joined NAPO the same month I got laid off from the telephone company after 21-1/2 years: December 2004. Why wait to start doing what I had only months earlier identified as what I really wanted to do when I grew up? As it turns out, the combo of engineering, drafting, and fine arts degrees, plus telephone company experience, is a good pathway to becoming a professional organizer!

Janine Adams: I started Peace of Mind Organizing® in 2005, after ten years as a freelance pet writer. Before that I worked in media relations for the Missouri Botanical Garden and before that I worked for a non-profit in DC where I literally got to travel around the world. All of those positions required keen organizational skills. (In the late 1980s I planned a conference  in Nairobi, Kenya, from my desk in Washington, D.C. that had 15 participants from 11 countries. And I managed to do it without the internet!)

I started my organizing business after the publishing industry chewed me up and spit me out. When I was working on my last book (my eighth), I was feeling disrespected and disillusioned and I knew the only way I could get through it was to know it was my last book. I fantasized about what I would do next and was struck by the idea of starting an organizing business. I wrote down three things I thought it would bring me that I wasn’t getting as a writer: The ability to help people directly and tangibly; respect for my expertise; and payment at time of service. Thankfully, I was right and it’s worked out nicely!

Jennifer Lava: I worked in both retail and administrative positions in both the public and private sectors, including local real estate developers, the State Preservation Board, and a custom frame shop. I got involved in organizing and productivity because I realized that in all my jobs, they would have me do the “other duties as assigned,” and they were mostly organizing-related. I enjoyed those duties. I got to a point where I didn’t want to keep working for others, so I took the leap and started my organizing business. I have been doing that for almost 15 years. 

Paper Mommy‘s mother, flanked by two of her five sisters, with her mother (Bubbe)

What would you say was the turning point that helped you identify your calling to work in genealogy organizing? 

Jennifer: Since elementary school, I’ve had an interest in genealogy when, in third grade, we did a unit on family trees. In college, I majored in history, and I took a course in writing family histories. In 2009, I got serious again about researching my family using online tools like Ancestry.com. I noticed that many of my clients had genealogy projects they wanted to do once they “got organized.” It was like they wanted to reward themselves with organizing their family papers and researching their trees after they got the rest of their homes organized.

I realized that there was the potential of helping these clients with this additional organizing desire and that my interest and experience fit in well. In this new age of COVID-19, doing genealogy work for clients is great because we can do it virtually. Clients also have more time at home, and they are ready to dive into their trees. 

Janine: I started doing genealogy in 2000 but I went about it wrong and ended up with a disorganized mess. So I abandoned my research and in 2011 decided to start again and to do it right this time. (By that I mean, nothing goes in my family tree that’s not a verified fact with a source citation.) By then, I’d had my organizing blog for five years so it seemed natural for me to start a genealogy-organizing blog. I launched Organize Your Family History in 2012.
 
One thing I know about myself is that I like being new at something. I had a history of gaining a certain amount of expertise in a field and then switching careers. I didn’t want to abandon organizing, since Peace of Mind Organizing was doing well, so I let myself enjoy being a newbie in the world of genealogy, while gradually gaining expertise and followers. The nice thing about genealogy is that there’s always something new to learn so I still feel like a newbie!

Hazel: In 2015, I joined APPO (now known as The Photo Managers). They talk a lot about how important it is to back up, preserve, organize, and share your photos with your family. One of their specialties is genealogy, but what that usually means is helping genealogists organize their photos. Not many photo managers actually do genealogy research. I was suddenly reminded of my own serious genealogy research hobby, which I had put on the back burner while I was starting and running my organizing business. I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy doing research for others, but I quickly found myself becoming just as interested in clients’ ancestors as my own!

Paper Doll‘s paternal grandfather (far right), circa 1892, with his elder sister and younger brother. They had four other siblings. 

I know that you all knew one other from NAPO, but how did you come together? What should people who need your help know about this group? Do you meet? Have Zoom calls? Have wild parties where you pretend to be your ancestors? 

Janine: I give Jennifer and Hazel all the credit. They reached out to me and another genealogy organizer, Caroline Guntur, prior to the 2019 NAPO conference in Dallas asking if we’d like to meet up to discuss genealogy organizing. 

Hazel: Jennifer and I already were comparing notes occasionally, and came up with the idea of a meeting at NAPO2019. With Caroline and Janine, we four were the charter members of the new Facebook group. Jen is the admin, and the other three of us are moderators. Jen gets all the credit because I didn’t even attend NAPO2019, so she had to find the location, set the time, etc. (I attended virtually.)

The private Facebook group currently has 34 members – mostly from NAPO and The Photo Managers, in the US and Canada … except when Caroline is in Sweden! The “Genealogy Organizers” Facebook group’s “About” section reads as follows:

We are a group of experienced Professional Organizers who work with our clients to help them organize and/or research their family genealogy. The purpose of the group is to support each other and our businesses through sharing information, resources, and positivity. We are requiring that our members have been operating an organizing business for a minimum of a year, belong to an organizing association, and have experience doing genealogy organizing and research.

So, it’s like a SIG (NAPO Special Interest Group) in that we do not teach newbies how to do anything. We do not meet outside of Facebook. I’m open to it, but only if we do NOT have to wear a costume, lol!

[Editor’s note: I am disappointed that there are no historically accurate costumes!]

Jennifer: Once I decided that I wanted to add genealogy organizing and research to what I was offering, I looked around for support and camaraderie. I arranged a time that Caroline, Janine, and I could meet, and included Hazel on Facebook messenger video. We decided to form a group on Facebook, and after the conference, we reached out to NAPO and APPO/The Photo Organizers colleagues. We ask questions, share interesting genealogy news, and talk about upcoming classes. We would have met in-person again, but the NAPO 2020 was canceled due to COVID and the 2021 conferences will be held virtually. 

Paper Doll‘s paternal great-grandfather

How do you think your organizing and/or productivity skills help you in this field? 

Hazel: Genealogy is really nothing BUT organizing. Organizing dates, names, places, and research materials. Putting like with like, even if it’s misspelled, or barely legible, or contradicts family legend. Recognizing patterns. If you can’t tell that “one of these things is not like the other,” you can find yourself climbing the wrong tree!

Genealogy is really nothing BUT organizing. Organizing dates, names, places, and research materials. Putting like with like, even if it’s misspelled, or barely legible, or contradicts family legend. Recognizing patterns. ~ @Org4Life Share on X

Jennifer: I can offer my clients ways to file their family history papers and photos in physical and digital formats to help them preserve and locate them for their research. I use my productivity skills to teach my clients how to manage their time, which is quickly sucked away when they fall down the research rabbit hole. It helps me in the same way when I am researching for my clients or myself. Another essential skill that is part of organizing and productivity is attention to detail. Being detail-oriented is an instrumental skill when looking through historical documents to build a family tree.  

Janine: Organizing their research is something that most genealogists find very challenging. On my blog, I write about how to organize and ways to think about organizing genealogy research (among other topics). Being able to approach genealogy as a professional organizer allows me to understand their problems and perhaps come up with some solutions.

I’m unusual among genealogists in that organizing my genealogy research is fun for me, so I love thinking, writing and speaking about it. Of course, my experience as a professional organizer informs all my advice!

Do you do genealogical research for your clients, help those who do their own research, or both?

Janine: I help those who do their own research. I don’t do genealogy research for others. I help primarily by writing and speaking but I also work with some clients one-on-one with organizing their research. Sometimes it’s data; sometimes it’s inherited stuff.

Hazel: I do both! Most of my clients have no interest in doing the research themselves. But some do. If they are starting from scratch I teach them how to get started. And, if they are a genealogist who just wants my help breaking through a “brick wall” – or, as we call them in New Mexico, “adobe walls” – I am happy to lend a fresh pair of eyes (and additional resources) to find documents they’ve missed, or to help make sense of what they already have, or to focus their research question in a new way.

Jennifer: I do both. I will help clients get started and go forward on their own. I will look over what a client has already started and check for issues. As our friend Janice Simon has said, I can help clients “de-leaf” when they have “over-leafed” on Ancestry.com. Ancestry uses an image of a leaf to indicate hints of information. People often get over-excited when they begin on Ancestry.com and click on the hints adding them to their trees, without adequately evaluating the data. I will take a look at a client’s tree and remove incorrect information.

Additionally, I will take the basic information a client has and build a tree for them. If they want, I can go deeper into the details to further develop their ancestors’ story. I will put it in a shareable space where family members can add their memories to the collected data.

Paper Doll‘s maternal great-grandfather (Paper Mommy‘s grandfather, the baker who “specialized in pumpernickel and bagel”)

What’s the funniest, kookiest, or most interesting anecdote you can share from your work in genealogical organizing? 

Hazel: I’ve determined that I’m (very distantly) related to two of my clients! My roots here in America run very deep. I’ve found that if my client has similar, Western European, origins, and if I notice an unusual common surname in their tree, I can run it back a few generations to see if their tree intersects with my own. When that happens, it’s fun for them too!

Janine:  I attend a lot of genealogy conferences and in 2015 I attended the Genealogy Society of Southern Illinois’ one-day conference. There was  one speaker for the whole day, Joshua Taylor, who is a bit of a genealogy celebrity. (He’s one of the hosts of PBS’s Genealogy Road Show and has serious genealogy cred.) Near the beginning of the first of his four talks he mentioned one of his own ancestors. I quickly consulted my family tree and confirmed my suspicions that we shared that ancestor. I excitedly went up to him after the first talk and told him about our relationship. (I think we are fifth cousins once removed, which might not sound like much to a non-genealogist, but I think it’s a big deal.) I’ve enjoyed a bond with him ever since. I’ve heard him speak many times and have featured him on my blog and collaborated with him through a Family Tree University class I hosted. He’s a great guy.

Jennifer: Finding the articles about your great-aunt’s 200lb wedding cake was pretty kookie. [Editor’s note: It sure was! Not even Paper Mommy or her cousin, the daughter of the bride, had seen that clipping!] 

I’ve been working with a client on the Italian part of her family. One of the stories I heard from some of her relatives about her great-great-grandparents who owned a bar/tavern in New York around 1908. The “Black Hand” moved into the area and threatened business owners that their children would be kidnapped for ransom if they didn’t pay protection money. Worried about their children, the family sold the bar and moved back to Italy. They received enough money from the sale of the bar to buy a decent-sized farm in Italy. 

What’s the most interesting thing about your OWN family history you’ve uncovered? 

Janine: My great great grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Igleheart (1945-1913), was a Civil War Veteran who served as a substitute. He was not drafted but, rather, was paid by a man, Jacob Gish, who had been drafted and did not want to serve. I was able to find their contract; Benjamin was a couple of months shy of his 18th birthday when he signed on. I don’t know, however, how much he was paid. I’m sure glad he survived (obviously)!

Hazel: Oh, gosh, where to begin? The time my maternal grandparents raised their family in a gangster hideout? (Yikes!) The fact that I come from a long line of Quakers, the very knowledge of which completely skipped a generation or two? (How?) That one of my Quaker ancestors was a Loyalist? (Huh?) My slaveowner ancestors? (Ugh!) The time my great-grandmother and her unborn baby died of the Spanish Flu, leaving my 14-year-old grandmother to raise her three younger brothers and two-year-old baby sister almost single-handedly? (Awww.) The origins of the famed Iowa State Fair, formerly the Thornton Farmstead? (Cool!) I love writing family stories, and many of them can be found here.

Jennifer: I am trying to uncover what happened to one of my great-grandfathers. I hope it will become an interesting story. I have heard that he abandoned his family in Chicago sometime in the 1920s by running off with a female cousin. I know he was with his family in 1920 because he is on the U.S. Census record with them that year. But by the 1930 Census, he wasn’t. I’m trying to figure out if he did run off with a relative, where did they go, and when did he die? We have a pretty distinctive last name, so did he change it to hide, and that’s why I can’t find any other records? There aren’t many relatives left around that may know more facts about him. 

Paper Mommy, circa 1947, with her parents and baby brother

What’s the hardest aspect of genealogy organizing? 

Jennifer: So far, for me, the hardest aspect of genealogy research is pulling back when I am finding great information for my clients, but they have only paid for a specific amount of work. I get a charge out of finding new details, and I don’t always want to stop. I also think that carving out this niche is tricky. We are trying to bridge this area that is part Professional Organizing and part Professional Genealogist—making people aware that several of us are here and able to do this work. We can organize your very special family documents and photos, and we understand and appreciate their significance.

Janine: In terms of organizing my own genealogy research, I think the hardest part was putting in place a system that works for how I think. Once I got that locked in, the hardest part became taking the time to do the organizing of the documents I find; that is, analyze the documents, enter the facts into my database and create a source citation before moving on to more research. Try as I might to avoid it, I often find myself with a backlog of documents to process. 

Hazel: The hardest for me, and the most important, and the first thing, is to manage client expectations. Genealogy research is a never-ending project, so it’s important to define the project and pay attention to scope creep. If I’m doing research for a client (and not just helping them organize their papers, files, and other genealogy-related materials), I explain that we can “go wide” (i.e. find your 8 great-grandparents); “go deep” (trace one branch back as far as we can); or “focus” on a particular ancestor, location, and timeframe.

When you’re not organizing or delving into genealogy, what’s going on in your life?

Hazel: Before COVID or after? Ha! Actually, I’m writing a book that combines my interest in genealogy, photos, storytelling, memorabilia, and downsizing now so your loved ones don’t have to later. It’s called What’s a Photo Without the Story? A Guide to Leaving Your Family Legacy. Progress on the book during 2020 was replaced largely with Netflix. Fortunately, it was already well along, and I am back at it now. (Click on the title, above, to follow my progress.)

Jennifer: When I’m not organizing or delving into genealogy, I like to spend time with my husband and our four dogs. I enjoy working on craft projects and reading, primarily non-fiction.  

Janine: I co-host a podcast called Getting to Good Enough, about letting go of perfectionism so you can do more of what you love. I’m a knitter and spend an inordinate amount of time knitting and watching TV. My husband and I have a wonderful standard poodle, Bix, whom we take great delight in. I also enjoy hand lettering. I honed that skill while writing thousands of postcards to voters between 2018 and 2020. As a new pursuit, I’m trying to learn American Sign Language for the fun of it. Oh, and right now I’m wearing the same dress every day for 100 days. That will end on March 13. It’s been fun!

National Genealogy Day is coming up on March 13, 2021. If you’d like to celebrate with a deep dive into your family history, consider contacting Janine, Hazel, or Jennifer for guidance.

Janine Adams‘ genealogy site is Organize Your Family History. You can order Janine’s three current Orderly Roots Guides (10 Secrets to Organizing Your Genealogy Research, 10 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Doing Genealogy, and Organizing Your Genealogy Right From the Start) and forthcoming book at this site.

Reach out to Hazel Thornton at the Genealogy Services section of her website. If you’re an organizer (or want to live like one), you can acquire her Original Clutter Flow Chart, designed to help her clients continue decluttering when she wasn’t right there by their sides, followed by a whole collection of flow charts, which she custom-brands for other organizers. As noted above, Hazel’s current book is in-progress, but her real-life tale will captivate trial and true crime buffs — Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez Juror.

Professional Organizer & Family Historian Jennifer Lava can be reached through her site, JenniferLava.com, where you can read her blog and learn about her organizing, genealogy, and speaking services. I can’t guarantee that she’ll find you a 200-pound wedding cake, but I bet she’ll find the sweet spot in your family’s history.

Posted in Genealogy, Paper Organizing, Photographs | 34 Comments »

Ask Paper Doll: How And Where Can I Donate Lots of Books?

Posted on: January 18th, 2021 by Julie Bestry | 14 Comments

This is the first in a recurring series of Ask Paper Doll posts where you can get your burning organizing questions answered by Paper Doll, a 20-year veteran professional organizer and amateur goofball.

Dear @NomdeB,

These are actually three (excellent) questions! The first, implied, is the bulk of what will address today: where and how can we donate a largesse of books? The second, “Who wants so many?” is partly answered along with the first, but the truth is that if you have a huge book collection (and it appears that you do), you’ll probably be making donations to multiple venues.

But the question at the end of your tweet deserves a bit of attention.

PRINT BOOKS VS. DIGITAL

Do people still want real, tangible books?

And, at the risk of sounding like I’m saying, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” yes, @nomdeB, people do still want, and read, real books. At the very least, in the United States, even in an era where all-things-digital are the rage, physical books still outsell ebooks. Statistics from 2020 have not fully been reviewed, but in the prior year, the U.S. book industry had $26 billion in revenue; $22.6 billion of that was for print books and only $2.04 billion in digital books. (The rest, one imagines, are in audio books, braille, and rarer, specialized formats.)

[Editor’s note: After publication of this post, results were released showing that print book sales rose 8.2% in 2020, the largest annual increase since 2010!]

It seems the death of the printed book has been greatly exaggerated. There’s some academic research as to why many people (like myself) still prefer tangible books. For example, one study found that print books had the edge over print when it comes to greater reading comprehension and lesser eye fatigue. Further anecdotal evidence indicates that people appreciate the tactile sensation of progress as you get further along in a print book. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t share findings from my alma mater, Cornell University, which has found that “both users and non-users of e-books generally preferred using printed versions of textbooks.” (I hope it’s not just because you can satisfying slam a textbook when you can’t understand what you’re reading!)

People like to read, and people who like to read have a fondness for books they can hold in their hands, show off on the subway, bookmark and annotate easily, and display in their homes to impress their beaus or in their offices to impress their bosses. A book is not just the content of what is written inside, but what it allows one to feel upon seeing the cover, and what we hope it says about ourselves. Books, like people, are complicated.

With that concern dispensed of, let’s move on to what to do when you’re simply ready to let go of the excess – the books you’ve already read and won’t read again, the books you’ve outgrown, and the books you never read, either because they were ill-fitting gifts or you acquired them for aspirational rather than practical purposes and you’re finally, finally giving up trying to read them. (Hello, Moby Dick?)

YOUR BOOKS

@nomdeB, you’re not kidding about having a ton of books. 

From the photos you showed me, you do, indeed, have a wide variety of books, both on bookshelves and in boxes, and they are almost all perfectly categorized into genres. (Though I do wonder how Hemingway and Thomas Hardy got blended with Geological Hazards.)

From Harry Potter to Mario Puzo, from 660 Curries to Puppies for Dummies, from C.S. Lewis to a Hindi-English/English-Hindi dictionary, you could open up your own bookstore or lending library. (Though I’d be glad to take that Short Walks in English Towns off your hands.)

DONATE YOUR BOOK TO CHARITIES

We’ll begin with a bevy of traditional charities that accept donations of books. As you’ll see further along, this is not the only option, but it’s where most people start. You probably already have some favorite charities, like Goodwill or Vietnam Veterans of America, but if you’d like to look further afield, consider the following.

Donate Books to Members of the Military — Did you know that the surge in popularity of paperback books actually began in World War II, with the creation of publishing arms dedicated to printing smaller, lighter books? (It helps that the proliferation of book-burning by the enemy helped make the reading of books an almost patriotic activity!) If you’d like to read more about this era, Molly Guptill Manning’s When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II offers great insight.

Yes, I digress, but it’s my column and I can meander if I want to! The point is that donating books to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Guardians is a worthwhile endeavor. Consider these options:

Books for Soldiers – With the motto “Care Packages for the Mind,” Books for Soldiers lets any deployed member of the military request a book (or DVD, or video game). Donors can view book requests, and you send books directly to the troops rather than to a central repository.

Operation Paperback – Through a network of volunteer shippers (that is, donors) around the country,  this non-profit lets you input the genres you have and OP’s system will generate a customized address list to which to send books. Operation Paperback also provides books to wounded warrior programs and veterans hospitals in the U.S., as well as USO centers at US Airport transit points.

Donate Books to Prisoners –  Education is a key to rehabilitation, which is essential for inhibiting recidivism. In recent years, many prisons have curtailed the ability of prisoners to accept books. During COVID, many prisons are in lockdown, leaving few opportunities for human interaction. Most prisons do not not allow friends or family members to send books directly to prisoners, so only bookstores, online stores, publishers, and donation programs can get books into the hands of prisoners. Each organization has a list of requested genres and items they cannot accept. Please read them carefully, and note that in all cases, dictionaries are highly desirable. 

Prison Book Program – In addition to general reading for entertainment, escape (no pun intended) and self-education, they have special programs for disseminating GED study guides, legal books, and dictionaries. Prisoners write essays and reviews of the books they’ve read. Due to COVID, they are not currently taking donations by mail and limiting in-person donations. Please keep an eye on their donation information page as we (hopefully) exit the pandemic.

DC Books to Prisons – This organization accepts English- and Spanish-language paperbacks. Due to COVID, they aren’t currently accepting donations at their usual location, but their volunteers are meeting donors by appointment. The link I’ve provided indicates the genres and titles (both fiction and non-fiction) most desired.

Books Through Bars – This group sends books to prisoners via their offices in New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston. 

Books to Prisoners – This Seattle-based nonprofit mails free books to incarcerated person across the U.S. Operations are currently closed due to COVID, but please keep this option bookmarked for future consideration. 

Inside Books Project – This group sends more than 35,000 books to incarcerated Texans each year.

Women’s Book Project – Mail books or donate locally in Minneapolis.

Donate Books to the Wider World – Both at home and abroad, books are heartily desired to build collections in libraries and schools and to be sold so profits can support literacy programs. (The following primarily seek adult books; a future post will cover donations of children’s titles, as the requirements tend to be complex and geographically-specific.)

Better World Books – Simply box up your books, print a shipping label (the cost of which is covered by BWB) and ship to their facilities in Indiana. The books will either be resold to raise money for literacy charities or donated to a child in need, as appropriate. They also have drop boxes in a variety of cities; just enter your community in the search map. (You can also buy used books from their site to help them raise money for their literacy causes.)

Books for Africa – This group seeks paperbacks and hardcovers published in the past 15 years, textbooks, and reference books (including medical and IT/computer books) from the last ten years.  Over the past 23 years, they’ve shipped millions of books to children and adults in 46 countries. Donation dropoffs are available in Atlanta, GA and St. Paul, MN. See their requirements.

Open World Books – This Chicago-based 501(c)3 nonprofit accepts donations at their headquarters and at donation drop-boxes around the city, allowing for 24/7 contactless donation. They operate a  used bookstore, the proceeds for which fund literacy programs for children and young adults.

Books 4 Cause – Book donations to the Chicago-based Books 4 Cause have helped create 118 libraries in Africa, recirculated hundreds of thousands of books, and saved even more from landfills. Their campus book drives have collected textbooks for developing libraries and supported educational programs in Africa. In addition, donated books for children and adults have been distributed to people in need in Chicago and worldwide. Donations are accepted in Chicago and New York City.

And remember, if you don’t want to even leave your house, Give Back Box is an easy option for getting books donated and on their way with minimal effort and at no cost to you.

DONATE IN YOUR COMMUNITY

While the above non-profits are meaningful, many donors prefer to give their books new lives in the communities where they live. The following donation solutions will differ from community to community and venue to venue. Take an extra few minutes to check out the venues and make calls to each to see what the genre requirements and preferences are, and what, if any, special donation rules exist during COVID.

Retirement homes – If you’ve ever visited a friend or relative in a retirement community or assisted living center, you may have noticed how anemic the “library,” if there is one, seems. A mere smattering of bound Reader’s Digest Condensed Books is heartbreaking to an eager reader. While large print books may be the most appealing for some, lifelong readers love to read and will welcome a wide variety of genres.

Think “old folks” just want classics or naval war histories? Get real. Remember, folks born 90 years ago were just in their 30s in the swinging 60s. My 96-year-old friend watches Grey’s Anatomy and keeps up with the same shows I do. Age is no barrier to reading tastes. If you like a book, someone twice (or even thrice) your age may like it, too!

Age is no barrier to reading tastes. If you like a book, someone twice (or even thrice) your age may like it, too! Share on X

Hospitals, especially children’s hospitals and veterans’ hospitals – During COVID, patients can’t have their loved ones with them. Many hospitals have terrible Wi-Fi and books offer a rare comfort. And even in “normal” times (remember those?), patients and parents of children often seek something to occupy their minds and time. Call the volunteer director of your local hospital(s) and ask if they have a patient/family lending library and if they are accepting donations. 

Ronald McDonald Houses – Across the country, Ronald McDonald Houses offer home-away-from-home respites to families of sick children so they can live close to the hospital during treatment. Not all RM Houses accept used books, though, so call your local RMHC chapter or program house and ask whether they have a library to which you can donate. If you’ve got a TON of books, as @NomdeB has, you might be able to help them create an entire library from scratch!

Homeless shelters – Unhoused people lose so much of the dignity of their former lives; a home is not merely a place in which to live, but it’s a space in which to seek refuge. Books are a place in which to seek mental and emotional refuge. While space is likely to be limited at homeless shelters, it’s worth calling to ask if they have a library area in the building and if they are able and willing to accept donations. (If it’s within your power, you might also want to donate bookshelves.)

Domestic violence shelters – The strength it takes to escape a violent household and build a new life for yourself (and possibly your children) is immense. Emotional reserves of strength can be fortified by education, entertainment, and motivation – all attributes to be found in books. As above, call to see if donations are accepted.

Local professional, community, and high school theaters – When you go to the theater, you probably pay the most attention to the actors, but good sets create an ambiance. Check with your local theaters to see if they would like donations of books, particularly hardcovers to line the shelves of sets for spaces like attorney’s offices or fancy-pants rich people’s home libraries.

Libraries – Although libraries have limited budgets, many public library systems have rules regarding what they can accept for circulation. However, if your community has a Friends of the Library organization, it’s likely that there’s some sort of annual library book sale to which your books can be donated.

Additionally, the American Library Association helps American and international libraries after natural disasters. In general, financial aid is sought, but there are often needs for books, particularly children’s books, when library collections are destroyed. Your library may post requests on your branch web site, so it’s great to get in the habit of visiting your public library’s site to keep abreast of such needs. Also, check out the ever-changing tabs at the ALA’s Book Donation Programs site.

School libraries and academic departments – While public libraries may not be allowed to expand their collections with donations, many public schools, particularly in disadvantaged communities, might find your books a boon. If the middle or high school has a home economics department (do schools still teach Home Ec?), those cookbooks of yours could be a delight!

Homeowners Association Clubhouses and Community Centers – @nomdeB, all those gardening books would be a boon to people in a starter home who have never had their own garden. A quick call to an HOA or community center (sometimes found in houses of worship in smaller communities) could find a great home for your how-to and DIY books!

BUILD YOUR OWN LENDING LIBRARY

One of the greatest book-related charms over the past decade has been the growth of the Little Free Library movement. Their website provides all the information you need to start your own lending library program from right outside your own home. Build your library, register it, and trust that the right people will find their perfect reads.

 

@nomdeB, thank you for asking the first Ask Paper Doll question, and I hope this helps you find homes for your gorgeous collection of books.

Readers, if you have a favorite option for donating books, I encourage you to share in the comments. And, as always, feel free to reach out through social media or my site’s Contact page to contribute your own Ask Paper Doll question.

Posted in Ask Paper Doll, Books and Reading, Downsizing, Paper Organizing | 14 Comments »

Introducing “Ask Paper Doll” — Organizing Advice for the Third Millennium

Posted on: January 11th, 2021 by Julie Bestry | 24 Comments

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius freely gave his son Laertes some advice, most notably, “This above all: To thine own self be true.” (Fans of both Shakespeare and Paper Doll will note that I don’t always follow Polonius’ second-best-known advice, “Brevity is the soul of wit.”)

Known as “agony aunts” in the UK in the late 1800s and early 1900s, we know them as advice columnists. Twin sisters Abigail Van Buren and Ann Landers (Pauline Phillips and Esther Lederer), doled out relationship and other guidance, often in “zinger” format, in competing newspapers over more than half a century. Examples of the lighter variety:

Dear Abby: I know boys will be boys, but my ‘boy’ is seventy-three and he’s still chasing women. Any suggestions? —Annie

Dear Annie: Don’t worry. My dog has been chasing cars for years, but if he ever caught one, he wouldn’t know what to do with it.

As a recent arrival in the United States in the early days of the 20th-century, my Poppy (Paper Mommy‘s father) used to read a Yiddish column in the Jewish Daily Forward called A Bintel Brief (“a bundle of letters”) answering questions from new immigrants. (A Bintel Brief continues to this day, but online, and in English, and is written by two women named Abby!)

And busy-bee First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wrote If You Ask Me for Ladies Home Journal and McCall’s.

When I was in elementary school, I read the comics pages and Dear Abby every morning, rarely fully understanding the problems, let alone the advice, but (pre-Google) there was huge appeal in the idea that there was someone out there who could answer burning questions. As a teen, I read the horrifying advice in Ladies Home Journal‘s long-running Can This Marriage Be Saved? (I often suspected it could, but ought not.) Nowadays, there are all manner of advice-givers on a variety of topics, including Dear Amy, Dear Prudence, Dear Sugar, Miss Manners, and others.

I don’t just like reading advice, I like giving it. To steal from radio therapist (and famed chef of tossed salads and scrambled eggs),

Frasier Crane, I have never known the luxury of an unexpressed thought. (Editor’s note: As this post was going to press, I learned that while I’d first heard the quote on Frasier, it appears to have originated with United States Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen.)

I don't just like reading advice, I like giving it. To steal from radio therapist and chef of tossed salads and scrambled eggs, Frasier Crane, I have never known the luxury of an unexpressed thought. Share on X

What may contribute to my family’s dismay — “know-it-all” may have been an aspersion cast at some point — this is somewhat to the advantage of my clients. And at my speaking engagements, the Q&A portions of the event have sometimes lasted longer than the presentations themselves, and more than once, I’ve continued holding forth as attendees followed me to my car.

As the Press Room page of this site attests, I am extremely lucky (and grateful) to get some great opportunities to share my advice. In 2020 alone, I got to serve as an “expert” for Real Simple Magazine in four issues (February, May, October, and November) talking about organizing challenges as varied as purses, medicine cabinets,  garages, and electronic cables and wires!

 

Just last week, the first week of the new year, I got to contribute my insights to roundups for Hire-A-Helper’s “We Asked 12 Professionals How They Made Their Moves Easier,” as well as Geralin Thomas’ “Tools of the Trade for Professional Organizers,” and Ronni Eisenberg’s “The Best of the Best Advice On How To Get Organized In 2021 — Part 2.” And my past advice on organizing for the new year has been updated at Dumpsters.com’s Take the 30 Day Decluttering Challenge.

You just can’t shut me up! 

In part, my love of sharing advice about organizing and productivity is what encouraged me to start the Paper Doll blog in 2007. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in Janet Barclay‘s Productivity and Organizing Blog Carnivals, and having contributed 50 posts to the carnivals, I have now achieved Megastar Blogger status, shared with five other organizing blogger colleagues: Ellen Delap, Audrey Cupo, Linda Samuels, Hazel Thornton, and Sabrina Quairoli.

Productivity & Organizing Blog Carnival

As I start my 20th year as a professional organizer and productivity consultant, I want to add something different to the conversation. A brand-spanking-new, recurring feature of this blog will be Ask Paper Doll, an opportunity for you to ask your questions about organizing. I hope you’ll consider me the Dear Abby of the organizing and productivity set for this third decade of the third millennium.

When the Paper Doll blog first launched, not on my own platform, but on Ramona Creel‘s late, lamented OnlineOrganizing.com, under the title Paper Doll, Tackling the Stacks and Piles, the description read:

Periodic Ask Paper Doll posts will cover the same sorts of things, including (but not limited to) organizing paper, information, and our behavioral approaches toward being more productive and organized. First up will be a request from a friend of several decades, the result of a Twitter conversation. 

My alma mater had its annual Cornell Cares Day this weekend, a day of service for students and alumni, and along with sharing the link, I included one of the ways to get involved that was most up my alley: “Clean out closets and donate clothes, toys, and books.” In reply, my friend wrote:

My love for giving advice kicked in, and I promised I’d write a blog post “just for her” on the subject of donating books. That will be the first Ask Paper Doll post.

Here’s where you come in. What would Abby and Ann have done without their readers? (OK, they’d probably have just made questions up, but we’re not going to do this.) Already, in testing the idea out, questions have included:

  • “My get-up-and-go has got up and went! How do I stick with my goals and resolutions?”
  • “How do I convince my spouse to be more organized?” (I promise this won’t become a modern-day “Can This Marriage Be Saved?”)
  • “What if none of my stuff gives me JOY? Does that mean I can toss my tax returns?”
  • …and a ton of questions on organizing health insurance paperwork! 

If you have any burning questions you’d like to submit to future Ask Paper Doll columns, feel free to use the Contact page here at Best Results Organizing (putting “ASK PAPER DOLL” in the subject line), or message me on any of the social media links on this page. If you don’t want your identity included, just provide a nom de plume, like Cluttered in Cleveland, and we’ll go from there.

P.S. To be clear, I am my mother’s daughter. In my family, we refer to asking advice of Paper Mommy as “opening the Mommy Encyclopedia,” and the May 2020 (Mother’s Day) issue of Real Simple included my answer about the best advice my mom gave me:

At least you know that I come by it honestly.

Posted in Ask Paper Doll, Paper Mommy | 24 Comments »

6 Steps to Ease Your Way Into Organizing the New Year

Posted on: January 4th, 2021 by Julie Bestry | 20 Comments

Happy New Year! Paper Doll knows that the first week of any new year (let alone after the year we’ve just escaped), can be daunting. Instead of weighing you down with homework, how about we set you up for success with some simple strategies that will ease you into a more organized approach to this year? Deal?

START WITH BABY STEPS

When it comes to clutter, it’s not the space it takes up in your house, it’s the dent it puts in your life!

When it comes to clutter, it's not the space it takes up in your house, it's the dent it puts in your life! Share on X

If you’re late every day because you can’t find your keys or your kids can’t find their homework, that’s a much bigger deal than a cluttered guest room closet or piles of old birthday party photos that haven’t been scrapbooked. (Need I explain to younger readers that photos used to be on paper?)

Focus on your biggest daily stressors, break them down into small, actionable steps, and solve those first. 

For example, each night after dinner, sort through and declutter one kitchen drawer. When you change for bed, flip through five hangers to see what’s ready to depart. Put a table near the door for the daily launch pad of essential items you need to take with you. Hang a key hook and charging station there and make it a nighttime ritual with your kids to check that everything you’ll need the next day is there.

Don’t even know where to start? Try some of these easy options to organize your finances, your health, and your life – no heavy lifting required:

  • Make a tax prep folder. Just grab a folder, label it Tax Prep 2020, and as documents start trickling in this month, you’ll at least have some place to stow them. (Don’t know what to watch for? Read last year’s Paper Doll Says the Tax Man Cometh: Organize Your Tax Forms to get a head start.) 

If you want to get a little more advanced, consider Smead’s All-in-One Income Tax Organizer.

  • Flip through your new 2021 planner or your digital calendar to see what medical appointments are already scheduled. Make a list of all the doctor’s appointments that you need — family doctor/GP, pediatrician, dentist and orthodontist, ophthalmologist and/or optometrist, OB/GYN, and any specialists, as appropriate.

Check all those appointment cards at the bottom of your bag or thrown in the junk drawer to make sure you’ve scheduled them on your calendar. Then pick up the phone and make all the other appointments now. (Going forward, always schedule your next appointment before you leave their offices. See if you can make one day a week, like Mondays, your “appointment” day so that you’ll get it out of the way early in any week.

  • Look through your wallet and VIP files to see what needs to be renewed — driver’s license, car registration, passport, etc. Instead of marking just the expiration date, make notations on your calendar to handle renewals enough in advance so nothing falls through the cracks. 

GIVE UP TOLERATING WHAT BRINGS YOU DOWN

Last summer, in Organize Away Frustration: Practice the Only Good Kind of Intolerance, we talked about this at length. Take notice of the things that annoy you, whether it’s a closet too cluttered that you can’t close the door, a light fixture that keeps flickering, or a cable bill that should be renegotiated with a gentle threat to cut the cord. If something doesn’t bring you closer to the life you want to be living, make this the year you let it go. Don’t tolerate what doesn’t delight you. 

Do a brain dump. Think of a brain dump as mental hygiene, like the cognitive equivalent of brushing your teeth. Ever have the taste of garlic or fish in your mouth after dinner, such that you couldn’t really enjoy your dessert? A brain dump, where you get everything out of your head and onto paper, let’s you stop thinking of things and start thinking about them, in context. Taste your life!

Try to make a list of everything that you know you have to do in order to stop being frustrated. Go room to room and write down what you need to address. (If you’re the kind of person who really needs categories, you can create columns for things that are free or only require your own effort vs. things that require payment.) 

Once you have the list, you can start working through what are immediate priorities, what’s worth scheduling, and what can go on the “I’ll do it if I’m so bored it’s between doing this task or watching paint try” list.

Feel free to tackle the tasks in any order you choose, but come up with a plan. Easiest-to-hardest helps you gain confidence; hardest-to-easiest makes everything less stressful because you’ve tackled the most difficult item first. Doing the free tasks first gives you time to budget for the more costly ones, but if you can purchase freedom from a frustration, it’ll release mental energy for other tasks.

STOP USING CLUTTER AS A TO-DO LIST

  • Are you keeping a holiday gift on the dining table so you’ll remember to write a thank you note?
  • Do you have boxes of donations in the middle of the hall to prompt you deliver them?
  • Are you keeping a receipt to remind you to get someone to pay you back for their half of a gift (or to remind yourself to pay them back)?
  • Is your unopened electric bill sitting out to remind you to pay it?
  • Do you have months’ old email in your inbox hoping that keeping it there will push you to reply?

How’s that working for you? Instead, follow these steps.

  1. Clear your desk or a space at your kitchen or dining room table to give yourself work space.
  2. Take five minutes and look around the room you’re in. What do you see that’s out of place because you’re (intentionally or otherwise) using it to prompt you to do something? 
  3. Grab a notebook and for each thing that’s in the wrong place, write down what you should be doing, instead. Yes, this gives you a To Do list that will stare you in the face (but we’ll get to that).
  4. Put the item away so that it’s no longer clutter.
  5. DO THE THING!

©2010 Allie Brosh, Hyperbole and a Half, via MemeGenerator

Let’s see how this works. Unpack and put away the holiday gift and go grab a notecard, envelope, return address label and stamp. Put it down on your cleared desk space.

Now, here’s the first tricky part. You can either write out the thank you note right now (check out my Gratitude, Mr. Rogers, and How To Organize A Thank You Note for guidance) and then you won’t use all your mental energy procrastinating about it, or you can put it on your To Do list. If you write the note now, you can put it on your To Do list and check it off your list, all at once, giving you an immediate sense of accomplishment! Whoohoo!

Repeat the process. Carry the donation boxes to your car, then eyeball your calendar to figure out when you can deliver the donations. Schedule the task, delegate it to a family member, or use GiveBackBox to schedule a free pickup.

And again! Use your favorite app, like Zelle, CashApp, Paypal (or ugh, fine, Venmo) to pay or request money and either file or shred the receipt as necessary. Pay the electric bill. Reply to the email or declare bankruptcy on it. 

FOLLOW THE ICE CREAM RULE

So maybe your clutter is there because you don’t know where else to put it.

I tell my clients, “Don’t put things down, put them away.” By “away,” we assume you’ve already got a location in mind. Good organizing systems have two parts: the where & the how. If you bring home a bag with three items, ice cream, toilet paper, and breakfast cereal, I’m pretty sure you’re going to put the ice cream away in the freezer first (and immediately) to keep from having a melted, sticky mess. The freezer is the “where” but putting the ice cream away first is the “how.” It’s so innate, you don’t even think about. 

Clutter comes from deferring that decision making. With ice cream, you don’t even have to stop and think; it’s instinct built from life-long experience. With everything else entering your home (whether a purchase, a gift, or a freebie), decide on a home before you buy or bring it in. Once it’s in your space, build time into your calendar for how/when you’ll deal with maintaining it or getting it back to where it lives.

Do you bristle at the idea of planning when you’ll do things? Maybe you feel like scheduling things belongs in the category of “budgets” and “diets” — it’s about The Man trying to keep you down!

The thing is, if you’re organized, you probably already have a system and your system feels like a safety net rather than a suffocating obligation. If you’re NOT organized, you’ll just have to trust that a system – a plan, if you will – makes life more organized so you don’t have to keep thinking about these things.

What are the triggers in your system? When will you do laundry: when the laundry basket is full or when it’s Tuesday morning after breakfast? When will you file financial papers? When your in-box is overflowing, or when your computer dings to tell you it’s 11:45a on Wednesday? 

Remember: “Someday” is not a day on the calendar. Until something is innate, having an auditory or visual trigger (or both) will help remind you where and when to put things away.

REMEMBER THAT EVERYTHING SHOULD HAVE A HOME…BUT NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO LIVE WITH YOU

Systems are important, but don’t forget a universal truth: not everything you own needs to stay in your orbit forever.

Give what is no longer age-, size-, or lifestyle-appropriate new life via charity or consignment. Let it be a blessing to someone else.

Give what is no longer age-, size-, or lifestyle-appropriate new life via charity or consignment. Let it be a blessing to someone else. Share on X

If it’s broken and you’re not willing to spend the time or money to repair it, let it go. If you have an emotional attachment to something that’s broken, outdated, or takes up too much space to keep, take a photo of you holding it or wearing it. Then set it free!

Setting up a donation station in your home is as easy as putting a box or plastic tub in your utility room, mudroom, or garage. When you’re doing laundry or sorting through toys in the playroom, if it doesn’t fit your life, take it to the donation box right away. When the box is full, log the contents (if you’ll be taking a deduction), and send it to your favorite non-profit. Don’t wait until you have lots of boxes – one box of useful items or clothes, sent on its way, is more useful to others than mountains of boxes that never make it out of your home.

Are your file folders bulging? Do I Have To Keep This Piece of Paper? gives you a clear idea of what you need to keep and for how long. The rest? Shred and send on its way! Buh-bye!

FOLLOW THE BUDDY SYSTEM

Getting your space, time, and priorities in order can be overwhelming, but you don’t have to go it alone. For accountability and support in reaching your organizing goals, buddy up with:

  • Your spouse – Trade the chore you hate (unloading the dishwasher) for the one that annoys your spouse (folding laundry) and you’re each less likely to procrastinate.
  • Your kids – Make organizing a game – play Beat the Clock with your kids to see who can collect the most things that don’t belong in the living room before the song ends, and then work together to put the items away. 
  • Friends – Make organizing social, even when you can’t get together. Text “fashion show” photos or do a Zoom call as you organize your closets. (Friend-of-the-blog Nancy Haworth of OnTask Organizing and I did this last week! I got rid of big-shoulder-pad 80s-style blazers and she jettisoned clothes that pre-dated her strong, lithe, “certified exercise instructor” shoulders!) 
  • A professional organizer – As a Certified Professional Organizer®, I know how much my clients get out of having someone who knows the ropes guide them in making solid decisions and developing systems to surmount those challenging obstacles. Find a professional organizer near you by using the search function for the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO).

Speaking of which, it’s January, so that means it’s GO (Get Organized and Be Productive) Month! It’s the perfect time to focus on making your life run the way you want it to. Happy New Year, Happy GO Month, and just plain…be happy!

Posted in Downsizing, Financial, Paper Organizing, Philosophical, Psychological | 20 Comments »

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