Best Results Organizing

You know that sinking feeling. You just had the directions, airline tickets, passport…and now they’re gone. Or you just (well, not that long ago) saw your insurance card, your prior year’s tax return, the envelope with the key to your safe deposit box…

Disorganization is cruel — when things are not assigned a home, we’re far less likely to notice when something is missing before we absolutely, positively need it. Because we tend to put things DOWN instead of putting them AWAY, finding something again when you need it is dependent upon remembering where we put it down. But of course, if we were paying that much attention to the item when we put it down, wouldn’t we have made the effort to put it where it belonged? Oy.

As we put more and more papers down, rather than away, our papers pile up like sedimentary rock layers, and we generally know that the items near the top are (relatively) recent, and the items near the bottom date from the Pleistocene era (when we sported bad perms and wore leg warmers). Of course, one unexpected tug from a toddler learning to toddle or one flourish of a conversational point made with sweeping arm movements can cause what the Earth Science teachers might have called disequilibrium due to shifting plate tectonics. (Don’t hold me to that; there was a really cute boy in my 9th grade Earth Science class.)

In most cases, if disorganization causes you lose an important paper, you can find an alternative or a replacement. Sometimes that involves ‘fessing up to the person who gave you the original contract or document, prostrating yourself with apologies and embarrassment and promising you’ll do better in the future. There are, however, some situations where you can get yourself in gear with minimal fuss.

For today’s example, let’s say you need your recent tax returns. As we discussed in the post on financial filing, you should save your tax returns forever, while the supporting material need only be archived seven years if you’re really short on space. However, there are many reasons why you’d need to be able to locate your last three years of tax returns:

• You’re being audited. (Ouch!)
• You’re ready to buy or build a new house and are applying for a mortgage. (Watch that interest rate!)
• You’re seeking vendor capital for a new business. (Welcome to entrepreneurship!)
• You’re trying to get a loan from a bank or lending institution. (Uncle Morty may not ask for your tax returns, but he also may come over unexpectedly and more often than you’d like to check how you’re spending the money.)

In the last three cases, lenders are going to want to verify your income; in the first case, I give you my sympathies. In any event, you don’t want to keep your potential lenders (or the IRS) waiting, but what if you can’t find every return?

Maybe you haven’t set up your family filing system yet. Or maybe your movers did a terrible job labeling boxes and you’re still being surprised when you open packing boxes, not knowing if you’ll find bunny slippers or rabbit ears (on an old TV). Or maybe (and I hope this is not your situation), you are a victim of Hurricane Katrina, the California wildfires or other natural disasters, which have separated you from your records or destroyed them altogether.

Whether you’ve climbed through hundreds of boxes (or have no boxes at all) and can’t find the right file, worry ye not! You can get replacements of your tax returns in the following ways:

Check your computer – if you used a commercial tax preparation product like TurboTax or Tax Cut, you should have a printable copy of your tax return right there on your hard drive. You may have to navigate the forms and files embedded in the software, but assuming you’ve still got the program installed, it’s an easy (if easily overlooked) option. Free!

Surf the web – if you used an online tax preparation, like TurboTax, you can access your prior year or years of tax returns from your “online vault”. Just log in with your password (or use their online function to have a forgotten password re-sent) and “Access Your Prior Years Returns” will be one of your main options. Just download the return in PDF form and print it out. Free!

Contact your tax preparer – if you hired a CPA or storefront service, you should be able to request a reprint of your return from their computer records. Fees vary on this; if you have a good relationship with your accountant and the return was simple, she may give you a free copy, or if your return was complicated, might impose a nominal copying free. Storefront services might charge a slightly higher fee, but it’s better than missing your audit.

Talk to the Feds – The IRS can provide copies of your returns from the past seven years. Just call 1-800-829-1040 or go to http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=110571,00.html and print and mail IRS Form 4506T Request for Transcript of Tax Return.

The “transcript” shows all the major lines from your return (1040, 1040A or 1040EZ) up until you filed it. It doesn’t show revisions made by you, your tax preparer or the IRS after your original filing. (For that, you’ll need to request an Account Transcript, also via IRS Form 4506T. The transcript is free and will suffice for mortgages and other lenders seeking to verify your income.

However, if you need a copy of a full tax return (for example, for an audit), you’ll need to fill out IRS Form 4506 Request for Copy of Tax Return, from http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf.
Note: the IRS will charge $39 per return.

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Lost And Found is a new periodic Paper Doll series. In future posts, we’ll talk about what to do if you lose your automobile title, stock and bond certificates, savings and Treasury bonds, and vital documents like birth certificates, passports and more.

But remember, just because you CAN replace lost documents with a little time, elbow grease and cash doesn’t mean that you should plan your life around these options. These are Plan B—the backup plans.

Keeping your paperwork organized and up-to-date is always Plan A. (“A”, as in the grade I did NOT get in 9th grade Earth Science, because I was trading glances at that cute boy. I should note, in 26 years, this is the first time I’ve needed to recall anything about plate tectonics, but organized papers have helped me practically every single day.  Just a thought.)

It’s been three weeks since Boxing Day. Are you still surrounded by cardboard shipping boxes from Amazon? Shiny paper boxes with plastic windows for Barbie and all her Botoxed friends? Perhaps you got fabulous new electronics? Be honest now — have you or your family members starting using the boxes as end tables?

This long after the holidays, I hope you’ve recycled the used wrapping paper, and if you’ve been following Paper Doll‘s guidance, the greeting cards have been tossed or filed away. But those boxes remain.

To the chagrin of Paper Doll‘s very organized mother, Paper Doll’s father insists on keeping every original cardboard box “just in case”. They take up precious space in the basement and use up ridiculous amounts of energy when they want to reach the luggage or the washing machine. To compound matters, the more old boxes get stored, the harder it is to locate what is needed (in the unlikely event that it’s needed) and it makes it easy to forget to discard a box when the item it came in is finally sent to its final resting place.

It’s been three weeks — it’s time to face the boxes.

Start by tossing the “flimsy” boxes–anything that would be relatively useless for shipping. That includes department store boxes and shoe boxes. If you find a box of intriguing shape or design, you may be tempted to keep it because it’s “so cute”. If it’s that charming, ask yourself if you’re sure you’ll be able to part with it when the occasion arises. If you have room, the box should be stored with your wrapping paper, ribbons, table and other gift-wrapping supplies, in or near your gift closet or gift drawer, wherever you collect gift items earmarked for recipients. Most purchases come with their own boxes, though, so try not to turn yourself into the curator of a box museum.

With sturdier boxes, pull out the essentials–make sure you have the warranty card and/or info, the user’s manual, and the purchase or gift receipt. If you’re going to be sending in for a rebate, you may need to cut the UPC code from the package. (Do this carefully, with an X-ACTO-style knife, with sufficient lighting and when tiny tots are not around.)

To keep or not to keep? There are five main reasons you should keep the original packing boxes:

• You may return the item to the store and will need the original packaging.

Yep, that’s true. But most returns must be made within 30 days of purchase; even items purchased during the holidays with extended return policies will still need to be returned soon. Does the item work? Have you had any problems with it? Do you like it? Be realistic and ask yourself what the likelihood is that you’ll want to return the item.

Two brief notes for easy returns for the places Paper Doll frequents: If you received a gift from Amazon.com (or bought something for yourself), you do not have to return it in the original cardboard Amazon.com box; as long as the original shrink-wrap is still on the item, the shipping box is immaterial. Also, if you received something from Land’s End, did you know you could return the item to Sears? Nifty!

• The item that came in the box is a collectors’ item, such as a holiday-series doll, a Lladro figurine or any other item wherein the value is dependent upon having the original packaging.

Such boxes are designed to help you protect the value of your investment. In some cases, the item must be kept in the original packaging; in others, the packaging must merely be kept for later display or resale. Collectors’ item packaging should be kept in a dust-free, moisture free environment. Consider using a Rubbermaid tub or canvas storage chest to store all similar containers.

If you’ve only started to become a collector and are unsure about how to store and care for the item and/or whether you need to keep the boxing, use Google to locate a collectors’ group for your interest and post a question to their online forum. In the era of the web, there’s no reason not to have the information you need!

• You might want to sell the item someday and believe you will get more money if you have the original packaging.

This depends on the value of the item. If it’s not a collectors’ item, or you’re planning to sell it at a garage sale rather than on eBay, chances are the “cost” (in terms of storage space and your inconvenience) of maintaining the original box won’t exceed the extra negotiating value. Your yard sale revenue won’t dramatically increase if you have the original box for a toaster or baby shoes.

• You think you’ll need the original box if you move.

Reality check: in most cases, movers have perfectly adequate boxes, blankets and packing material for your items. Some items, like your vacuum cleaner, won’t require boxes at all.

There are a very few cases where movers will require you have the original packing materials. For example, if you own one of those fancy-schmancy big-screen plasma televisions, your moving company may require that you either have the original packing materials or purchase an (expensive) specialized packing container.

“Aha!” says your box-keeping self!” Not so fast! You may want to ask yourself–how likely it will be that you will move while you own this item? If you live in an apartment and relocate every other year, moving is a real concern. However, if you purchased your dream house three years ago and plan to live in it until your great-grandchildren feel it’s time to argue over the will, and if your attic or basement storage space is at a premium, maintaining a box for a moving day that may never come is foolhardy. Don’t sacrifice the here and now for the “maybe someday”.

• You fear you may need to return the item for repair.

For most purchases, if you don’t have the original box handy or a similarly-shaped or sized box, you can inexpensively acquire cartons and packing material at Walmart, office supply stores or The UPS Store.

Of course, if you’ve bought an electronic device like a computer, tricked-out cell phone, X-Box36000 (or whatever number they’re up to), the most convenient way to return the item for servicing is during the warranty period is, indeed, in the original box. If you’ve purchased a product that has “specialized” packing materials, like my beloved iMac (about which you heard last week), you’ll want to save that, too.

It’s extremely rare for a company to require that you ship items for repair or exchange in the original box, but it does happen. Before tossing the cartons for warrantied items (especially those under “lifetime” warranty), read the warranty to determine if you must, indeed, keep the packaging.

In these cases, you will want to err on the side of caution. But boxes don’t have to take over your life. Slice the tape holding the bottom of the box secure and with relatively little force, you can “flatten” the box to store at the back of closets, under guest room beds or anywhere out of the way. Specialized packing, like hard foam shaped to fit around your purchase, will be harder to store, but if you limit what you keep to essentials, you may be able to keep all the hard foam in one still-cubic box, which can then serve as a small table or shelf in your attic, basement or storage area.

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Finally, what can you do with all the boxes you have but no longer need?

• Toss them in the trash (if your neighborhood lacks recycling)
• Ship care packages to loved ones far away–smaller, study Amazon boxes work best
• Recycle–if there’s none in your neighborhood, find out if your employer will start a program
• Compost them in the yard (not recommended if you live in a city high-rise!)

And for you creative types (you know who you are):

• Build a cardboard box robot with/for your kids or for your Wii-addicted friends
• Create a Halloween costume
• Hone your artistic skills by constructing small cardboard castles or some even huge play castles

Just don’t get boxed in!

“I have a theory about the human mind. A brain is a lot like a computer. It will only take so many facts, and then it will go on overload and blow up.”

If you’ve been reading along, you know I feel strongly about offering no-tech, low-tech and high-tech options as often as possible. For example, sometimes the best option for dealing with paper is to file it, but other times, the option is to scan it or to eliminate it altogether by using a computerized alternative (like online billpay). Select what works best for you.

But I’m also a belt-and-suspenders kind of gal, believing in having all bases covered. This is a good thing, because last week, my new computer blew up. And then Paper Doll blew up.

I love my (newish) iMac. It’s sleek, easy to use and pretty to look at. Software updates are practically automatic, requiring only the click of a button. And though I’ve not yet upgraded to Mac OS X Leopard, whose Time Machine allows one to automatically back up EVERYTHING and search all old records (and not merely the most recent), I do a good job of backing up. And yes, even Paper Doll has been known to keep printed copies of special documents as emergency backups…”just in case”.

But last week, a confluence of events made me realize (and led me to remind you) that sometimes, all the organization in the world only helps you cope with catastrophes more easily; it doesn’t help prevent them.

In my case, on Saturday night, I was playing a video podcast of an old joke over the phone, for my hip-but-computerless mom. Just as it got to the punchline, my computer unceremoniously turned off, and would not, under any circumstances, turn back on. For the next few days, I had a very expensive doorstop.

Luckily, prior to that night, I did everything right.  I had a manila folder in my file system (under the Household section, in the Electronics sub-section) for the new iMac.  In the folder, I had the required documentation that would be required:

• Apple’s troubleshooting instructions in the mini-manual included with the computer
• Apple’s Technical Support phone number
• My iMac’s registration number
• My AppleCare registration number

[AppleCare is a special kind of extended warranty. While I generally don’t advise purchasing extended warranties, they are very helpful in terms of computer ownership.]

After many hours on the phone with tech support, it was determined that I and all my computer-nerd friends were probably right – the culprit was likely the power supply (and possibly, but less likely, the logic board.  All agreed my data was safe. (Note: Paper Doll is not a computer expert and moreover, I am not YOUR computer expert. If you are not a certified computer technician, get an expert’s advice and don’t try poking around in the electrical innards of your PC. Electrocution is bad for your hair and voided warranties are bad for your sanity.)

While I would have been willing to drive the computer two hours to the nearest Apple Store, AppleCare delivered a field technician to my door (alas, a few days later due to the darned New Year’s holiday). Having the essential papers with all the reference information handy (instead of buried in my dead-to-the-world computer) was a big help, but I had some other advantages that helped me (barely) keep my sanity in the intervening time:

While I use my computer’s Outlook Express Task List as a back-up, I generally keep my running to-do list in my daily planner.

As noted last week, I keep my client schedule and personal appointments in my paper planner, too. (Even if you’re bound and determined to live by your Blackberry or MS Outlook, printing one week’s schedules and To-Dos at a time couldn’t hurt.)

I keep a low-tech, old-fashioned address book with phone numbers in case my computer or cell phone decides to rebel. Instead of maintaining a pile of loose business cards and scribbled napkins, once a week while listening to one of two snooty game shows on NPR, I record the important contacts in the computer, and also in a business card file.

I have a file folder for computer alternatives (to my own) with the telephone numbers and hours of operation of local public libraries, Kinko’s and Internet caf’s. That way, my copious back-ups on flash drives can actually be put to use on other computers. (And, of course, I have an up-to-date library card.)

What about you?

Does your paper filing system support you in case of a computer emergency, or are your computer references buried under the bed (or worse, were they tossed out with the wrapping paper)?

Do you have the manual(s) and emergency information for your computer handy, filed with your household files or near your computer?

If both your computer and Internet connection are working, you can use online resources like:

Tech Support Forum
The Help Site
Computer Training Manual
Tech 24

If the computer is dead, do you have the resources to research your computer’s technical support team? Take a moment to be sure you have the technical support phone toll-free number; for example:


Apple……………800-275-2273
Dell…………….800-915-3355
Gateway………….800-846-2301
HP/Compaq………..800-474-6836
Sony…………….888-476-6972
Toshiba………….800-457-7777


Do you have a home for your yellow page (business) directory so that you can always find it when necessary (and when Googling isn’t an option)?

If your computer crashed, could you access your online bill pay, credit card companies and utility services? Do you have the URLs (and requisite user names and passwords) and/or phone numbers, in case your city is paralyzed by a weather-related situation that prevents you from getting to alternative computers?

Computers are wonderful, and Paper Doll is an admitted geek. But I’m also a pragmatist, and there may well be days when all your efforts to coddle your computer, vanquish viruses and back-up your baby won’t be enough. Please make sure your offline (i.e., paper) life supports you when your computer can’t.

And spring for the technical support package. You’ll sleep better.

 

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

I love calendars. In my geeky esteem, the start of the new year conjures Paper Doll memories about the wonderful potential that every new year brings. In my last two years of high school and first year of college, a friend’s Italian aunt shipped us each a medium-sized hard-bound calendar. Emblazoned on the cover was Diario Agenda, which I mistook as a brand, rather than the Italian for “calendar”.

Faux-leather bound, each page bore the name of the month and day of the week in English, French and Italian, as well as the numerical date. The blank, creamy pages could be used as an appointment calendar (agenda) or journal (diario) or doodle book, but to me it represented all the possibilities and dreams I had for the burgeoning future.

What does your calendar mean to you?

• Do you carefully keep one calendar (or PDA program) to keep you from missing all the important dates in your life?
• Are you juggling one calendar at work, another for personal activities and a life-sized calendar for your family in the kitchen…one where nobody seems to remember to write “Cupcakes for PTA bake sale”?
• Are you still using a 2006 (or earlier) calendar adorned with Post-Its to try to keep up with all the demands of modern life?
• Do you have salon and healthcare appointment cards taped to your fridge, blocked by birthday party invitations and months-old reminders?
• Is there any room in your calendar system for your dreams?

Clients sometimes ask whether they are hopelessly out of date using a paper calendar instead of Blackberry or PDA synced to their PCs. The truth is, the type of calendar system you use is far less important than your level of commitment to whatever system you pick.

If you tend to be a linear thinking, enjoy reading gadget manuals, and will remember to write every appointment, click every tick-box, sync and back-up every single day and keep your gadget charged and close at hand, the technical route may work for you!

If you’d rather keep a paper calendar that lets you color-code your appointments and obligations by life category or family member, or the thought of using one more beeping device gives you a headache, paper calendaring may be your best bet.

Commitment to the process, rather than the format of your system is key! (Paper Doll is already committed to her Franklin Covey classic-size daily calendar pages with the New Yorker Cartoon theme. If I weren’t so loyal, I’d be using another well-respected paper system.) With that in mind, if you don’t already have your 2008 calendar, consider the following issues:

• Pick a calendar that lets you see a month at a glance as well ample space for writing notes for each individual day.
• Select a planner that has enough space for you to write. If you have sprawling and not-so-neat penmanship (like Paper Doll), a pocket-sized planner may cramp your style, literally and figuratively.
• Use only one planner for your business and personal appointments. If you keep one calendar for your doctors’ appointments and schedule for your kids, and another for work, you’ll never know if your child’s recital conflicts with a major client presentation, or if you’ve scheduled yourself to attend a work conference the week your children have school vacations.
• Schedule everything you can up front. Once you buy your calendar for 2008, go through your 2007 pages day by day to mark all the recurring events (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) Then, record all the 2008 medical and dental appointments you’ve already scheduled. Haven’t scheduled your well-care or well-child visits for 2008? Call this week to make appointments and put them in place!

Finally, if you’re the type who forgets to check your calendar, use a few technology and accountability tips:

1. Set an alarm on your cell phone to ring at the end of every day, around 6 p.m., to remind you to check your calendar for the next day and/or the coming week.
2. Ask loved ones to prompt you:  “What’s on your schedule for tomorrow?” at dinnertime.
3. When you leave any location you visit intermittently (doctor, dentist, massage therapist, salon, etc.) schedule your next appointment if you have your calendar with you.  If you aren’t traveling with your calendar (tsk, tsk), ask them to call you the next day (at a time you know you will be available) to set up your next appointment.

Happy New Year! Paper Doll hopes your 2008 will be happy, healthy and clutter-free!

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And finally:

What do you get when you cross a kangaroo with a calendar?

A leap year!

A reader inquires:

I was wondering what should I do with my Christmas Cards. I really appreciate people remembering me and sending me cards but what do I do with them now?

The U. S. Postal Service delivered an estimated 20 billion cards, letters and packages this December — do you feel like most of them are on your kitchen table? Depending on how sentimental you are about cards vs. how ruthlessly you want to eliminate clutter, you have a few options:

1) Throw the cards out!!!
A holiday card is like a phone message or an actual conversation you might have by telephone or in person. If someone wishes you “Merry Christmas” or “Good Kwanzaa” or “Happy Hanukkah”, do you transcribe the conversation and keep the notes indefinitely?  Of course not — toss!

2) Toss most cards, but retain a few for sentimental and practical reasons.

Sentimentality
Pour a cup of cocoa and reread your cards with an analytical eye. Was the message written by an employee of Hallmark? Did the sender write only a few words or merely scribble his name? Check the sender’s current address against your address book and then toss it out.

Next, read through those annual newsletters. If you are close with the sender, nothing should actually be “news” to you; if it’s genuinely newsworthy, you’ll remember it and won’t need the written record. If the sender is not really close, knowing little Jimmy struggled with potty training won’t factor into your continued enjoyment of life. Toss!

Now, with only the most memorable and meaningful cards, think deeply about why you want to keep them:

• Do you feel guilty discarding the cards? Recognize that the vast majority of people do, indeed, just toss out all cards after January 1st. You have Paper Doll‘s permission.
• Do you fear you might be tested the next time you speak with the sender? As long as you don’t forget your friend’s children’s name (make a note in your address book), you’ll be fine. (With grandchildren, you’ll get away with saying “…and how’s the baby?” without specifying anything further.)
• Does the message make you laugh or fill you with joy, love and peace? That’s a keeper!

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With sentimental correspondence, I suggest keeping love letters, special letters from parents or grandparents, and cards related to truly momentous events, like 21st birthdays. As Christmas comes every year, even most hand-written messages would need to be pretty impressive to be worth keeping beyond January. 🙂

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Practicality — A pile of Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas or New Year’s cards can yield practical information: WHO sent you a card and FROM WHERE did they send it?

Compare the return address with the address you have for the person in your address book or PDA. If the address is the same and the message is not deeply personal or meaningful, the card can be tossed immediately. If the address is different, update your data and then toss the non-essential cards and envelopes. Lather, rinse, repeat.

If you “appreciate people remembering you”, show your appreciation in one of three ways:

• Call long-distance senders to let them know you appreciated being remembered. Saving a card does nothing for the sender and clutters up your space. A 20-minute phone call costs less than a First Class stamp. Schedule one name on each Saturday of the new year to give an unexpected, cheery “hello” to those you really care about.

• Send a chatty email. Comment on something in the sender’s annual holiday newsletter — show you care without keeping the clutter.

• Add the senders’ names to your own holiday card list, if you intend to send holiday cards next year.

Just because someone sends you a card, it doesn’t mean you have to send one to them. The dealership that sold me my car in 1998 regularly sends me a birthday card. A dear friend gave up sending cards after her third child. I’m neither flattered by receiving a card nor offended if one does not arrive.  Adopt that same “nice but not necessary” attitude towards cards.

3) Note changed addresses, toss the envelopes and then sort cards into categories like:

• Inspirational printed quotations–copy moving quotations into a Word file or individual signature files in your email software. Save the quote, not the clutter!
• Personal messages — Depending on your personal style, either put the remaining cards in a “Christmas Card” album, as one might do for family photos, or store them standing vertically, in a photo box organizer (the kind that look like shoe boxes, also as one might do for photos) or flat in a keepsake box.
• Cover art that you love — Truly artistic people with (I fear) too much time on their hands like to decoupage or gloss the cards and make ornaments out of them, storing the finished items with other ornaments. Recycle artistically!
• Nothing special–If neither the message nor the artwork/design is particularly meaningful, toss it away.

What does Paper Doll do? Mostly, I toss. I have one small keepsake box in which I keep special cards and letters, tied by a ribbon, so I can reread them on special occasions.  

Just as you can appreciate someone calling you without keeping a tangible record of them having done so, you can appreciate holiday cards without keeping them. Feel the freedom, release the card clutter! Happy Holidays!