Best Results Organizing

 

Over the past weeks, our discussion of the five essential filing categories for reference papers has dealt with the practical elements of life. Organized financial and legal records allow us to protect ourselves and our possessions. Well-maintained medical records keep us and our loved ones healthy. And the household papers we discussed last week allow us to live with ease and convenience. But what of our personal papers?

So often, we live our lives and maintain our personal papers as if we were hoarding our personal history. Are we so sure that someday, in some way, we will be famous and revered, so much so that we need to build up our memoirs? Or, rather than living under the grand illusion that some day our personal histories will be sought by one and all, are we afraid that our identities, or our memory of who we are (or once were) will fade away if we don’t maintain the proof?

As with the medical paperwork we discussed a few weeks ago, we break down the sub-categories of PERSONAL paperwork by individual.

A. PERSONAL HISTORY
This is where you keep the papers that represent who you are (or have been). There are the building blocks of the archive of YOU; the less likely you will be to have a Presidential Library or have your children write a nasty tell-all, the less you need to save. You may have files related to your:

1. Educational history – These would include files for:

• School transcripts
• SAT/GRE/LSAT/MCAT/GMAT scores
• Letters of recommendations from professors or academic mentors
• Select papers bearing particularly heartwarming comments or grades (Toss freshman biology labs, assorted blue books and the test graded by that snarky teaching assistant. You have the diploma; you don’t need every paper and test to prove you were there!)
• Continuing education credits or certificates
• Your senior or graduate thesis (However, if it is bound as a published thesis, shelve it with your books or in a framed, decorative case).

2. Professional history
The longer you have been in your profession, and particularly the longer you have been out of a former profession, the fewer old papers you’ll need for reference. Of course, if these materials, like your educational records, bolster your self-esteem and you have adequate space, keeping a representative portion is fine. Current and archival files for your professional history may include:

• Licenses and/or certification – file by issuing organization, or, if applicable, by state.
• Resumes – keep one manila folder with copies of your current resume; if you keep old resumes, pick one copy of each, reflecting major revisions.
• Professional letters of recommendation
• Citations regarding your professional success and/or letters of gratitude from superiors, vendors or clients
• Newspaper clippings (but not the entire newspaper) noting your professional successes and/or acumen

3. Military History
If your career, or part of it, has been in the military, you will want to keep a copy of the records. Your basic military service records go in the VIP section of your legal paperwork; those are the official records that allow you to collect your benefits and otherwise prove your service record.

However, your military history also includes the more personal records of your time serving your nation, so this is where you would maintain:

• Awards/Decorations/Citations and/or written references to them
• Letters of commendation
• Correspondence regarding replacement of medals
• Enlistment records
• Copies of military separation papers (the originals should be in your safe deposit box or fireproof safe)
• Training and qualification records

4. Public Service History—If you played a role in local or national politics or other kinds of public service (The Peace Corps, Teach For America, Americorps, etc.) create a hanging folder, or even a series of them, with the major records from each experience.

B. PERSONAL INTERESTS
Generally, anything that brings you joy, delights your intellect or warms your heart or soul would likely fall under personal interest. This includes activities and areas of intellectual/emotional interest, which can be further broken down into the appropriate categories, like:

• Hobbies—depending on how many hobbies you actively pursue and how zealously you pursue them, you might have one manila folder or many hanging folders. Keep only the reference material that provides information you don’t already know or can’t access quickly via the web.
• Volunteer activities—Are you a Big Brother or Big Sister? Do you hammer for Habitat for Humanity? Here’s where you might keep copies of registration materials and instructions.
• Memberships—Keep track of ID numbers and renewal information for every professional and personal group to which you belong. Are you a member of the National Parks Service? Were you (or are you) a Girl Scout or Camp Fire kid? Are you in Rotary or a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union? (I won’t ask if you’re in any secret societies; if you’re a Freemason, you’re not likely to tell Paper Doll.)
• Issues/Interests – If you have pet topics (Social Security reform, Lost, local zoning laws, wrinkle removal, George Clooney), you may clip articles for later review. While it’s better to read, purge and move on, corralling clippings in one place is better than letting clutter flutter.
• Travel—Do you find stories of distance lands (or even distant restaurants) enticing? Here’s where to keep those clippings–in a travel subcategory. If, however, you start planning for a particular trip, say to Ireland or the Grand Canyon, create a folder especially for that dream journey to help you iron out the details. If you plan many years in advance, be sure to prune out the outdated articles annually, like the ones that refer to “the 48 states”.
• Books/videos/music/gifts you want to experience or acquire – if you like to clip reviews of potential purchases, create a folder to hold them all. If you’re a serious shopper, a hanging folder with categorized, labeled manila folders may help you keep it all straight. However, creating a wish list at Amazon.com or your favorite e-store would allow you to note that you wanted to acquire things while keeping all this information digitally.

C. SUCCESS FILES
Keep track of personal successes. These can be letters of gratitude for a job well done, benchmark chips (30 days, 1 year, etc.) from 12-step programs, or anything that reminds you of achievements or challenges surmounted. We all have rough periods, and a success file can help us through them.

D. PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE
If you’re lucky enough to have a pen pal in the age of cyberspace, here’s the perfect place to maintain meaningful letters. But don’t be lulled into thinking having filing space means you can save all your postcards, birthday cards, dental appointment notices, etc. Save correspondence that contains original sentiment; part with emotions penned by Hallmark containing only a signature.

E. INSPIRATIONAL FILES
Do you clip O Magazine‘s monthly spread called Breathing Space. What about adorable babies (or pets), black & white glamour shots, quirky headlines, or motivational anecdotes from newspapers and magazines. Instead of keeping such items stuck on your refrigerator (only to find, within months, they are dusty or jam-covered), create a folder for the items that stir you to think, write, create, or dream.

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Each member of your family can have his or her own section of personal files. However, if you have specific FAMILY activities that you do together (like attending your house of worship or planning an annual family reunion), create a family section, as if the collective family were an individual person.

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Over the last six weeks, we’ve discussed the essentials for building a personal reference file system, reviewed how all the reference papers in our lives can fit neatly into one of five categories, and discussed how to turn fluttering paper clutter into a streamlined and usable system.

Reference papers are only one element of the papers that come into our lives.  Next year, we’ll be talking about all the other papers that make up our lives, including action items like permission slips, bills, and coupons, helpful papers like Mapquest directions and shopping lists, and memoirs and memories, like photographs and personal journals. And we’ll talk about what to do with the sneaky papers masquerading as “important” that fill up our purses and briefcases, message pads and Post-It notes.  We’ll have a new slate in ’08!

 

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.

Do you speak Japanese? Then why are there foreign-language instruction manuals for your toaster in the kitchen junk drawer? (And do you really need help making toast?)

If you were robbed, could you prove your losses to the insurance company?

Continuing our discussion of the family/personal filing and how everything can fit into one of five reference categories, we’ve reached:

Financial
Legal
Medical
Household
Personal

HOUSEHOLD paperwork is the most straightforward cateogry – it encompasses anything that keeps your home (be it ever so humble) and all the stuff in it running smoothly. Create hanging folders for sub-categories like:

A. Household Services – Maintain individual folders for each ongoing service for which you’ve arranged regularly scheduled household care, like Terminex or lawncare. (Monthly or periodic invoices belong in the financial section, but the “terms of service” paperwork belong here.)

B. Home Maintenance Records:

• Escape routes / plans in case of fire
• Schedule of seasonal household maintenance
• List/description of non-standard replacement light bulbs for ceiling, garage and outdoor lights.
• Battery record – it helps to keep a running list of what size batteries (AA, AAA, C, D, 9-volt, etc.) each item in your home requires. When you buy something that requires batteries to operate it (or its remote control), jot down the battery size here.

C. Household Inventory
Include a written, photographic and/or audiovisual household maintenance of all of your rooms, including furniture, electronics, silver, crystal, jewelry and anything for which you might make an insurance claim if stolen or damaged. Note the item’s name (and brand name), date of purchase, where it was purchased and the price you paid.

Create written inventory files in the computer and just print a new one to replace the old when once you’ve acquired more goodies. Maintain a copy on disc for the written and audiovisual inventories in your safe deposit box and/or fire-proof safe, and keep an updatable copy in your home files. Also, keep inventories for:

• Second homes
• Time-share properties
• Off-site storage facilities
• College dormitory summer storage

D. Auto Maintenance Records
Even if your mechanic keeps computerized records of all maintenance to your car, keeping accurate records will help you financially. If your automaker issues a recall or technical service bulletin, you may be able to recoup money you’ve paid for repairs. If you sell your car privately, prospective owners may be more inclined to purchase a car with a carefully maintained service history. Keep a file folder for:

• Service records — Each time you get an oil change or have a car repair, the mechanic should provide you with printout of what was done, on what date, at what mileage.
• Purchases – Include records of all purchases for your car, such as tires, batteries and windshield wipers.
• Mileage records – While not essential, if you do maintain mileage records for purposes other than tax deductions, keep these here.

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Heavy-duty drivers may find it more convenient to keep auto maintenance records in reverse chronological order, in a flexible three-ring binder under the driver’s seat, rather than in the file systems.

Ease of access is an advantage, but Paper Doll worries about what happens to these records in case of a serious accident or car theft. Instead, keep a photocopy of major purchase records (tires and batteries) in your glove compartment in case you need to replace the warranteed item while traveling?

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E. Gardening Records
If you have a black thumb (like Paper Doll) or own nothing larger than a window box, skip this category. However, if your property includes plants, shrubbery, or heirloom flowers or you have a vegetable garden for which you need to maintain adequate rotation records, create a sub-section for your garden journal.

F. Decorating/Remodeling Plans – Keep items such as:

• Project notes and plans for decorating and/or remodeling jobs
• Project budgets
• Photos of projects as they progress
• Receipts* related to the project – *Note: this is one of the few times I recommend keeping receipts outside of the Financial section. However, when you’ve had work done that improves the ongoing value of your home, keeping the receipts and photographic records will be helpful for personal planning and long-term tax planning.

G. Warranties — Divide these by category:

• Major appliances
• Kitchen appliances
• Computers
• Entertainment/electronics
• Gadgets
• Furniture/carpets
• Miscellaneous items

H. Instruction/Maintainance Manuals
Only keep the manual as long as you own the item. Seriously! If you give something to charity or sell it in a yard sale, provide the instruction manual; if you throw the item away, toss the manual! As with warranties, this category breaks down into:

Major appliance warranties and manuals for large items like your furnace, refrigerator, washer/dryer, etc.

Small household or personal appliance manuals (for items like toasters and hair dryers) –before you save the manual, consider whether there’s any information you would actually need. It’s rare to find adults who don’t know how to make toast or dry their hair.

Electronic toys and gadgets, as well as computer hardware and software, often have complex and detailed manuals which require a PhD to understand. Unlike the investment prospectus material I advised you to toss when we discussed financial paperwork, keep the electronics manuals even if you can’t make heads or tails out of them. Qualified repair technicians and ridiculously adept 12-year-olds seem to have no trouble with these manuals.

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Instruction manuals don’t have to live in your file system. Depending on the number and nature of the appliances in your home, it may make sense to keep a three-ring binder with all of the kitchen appliance manuals right in your kitchen. (Just don’t waste valuable counter space; instead, tuck the folder in a seldom-used drawer or cabinet, such as the rarely-used space above your oven fan bonnet.) You can keep hardware and software manuals in a few magazine holders on the bookshelf nearest your computer.

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It’s easy to be tempted to keep any paper related to your home “just in case”, but remember, clutter comes from deferring decision-making. Ask yourself:

Why/when would I need this paper?
If you know how to use hair dryer or grown your mini-Chia Pet, there’s little sense in keeping the manual. If you aren’t fluent in the language in which the manual is written, say hasta la vista!

What’s the worst that could happen if I tossed it out?
With many items, you can call the manufacturer’s customer service line to get help. Plus, there are a variety of web sites offering online manuals:

Next week: PERSONAL PAPERS

A doctor who cannot take a good history and a patient who cannot give one are in danger of giving and receiving bad treatment.

Are your medical records pretty meager? Maybe you’ve kept up with your children’s immunization records, and you might have copy of your recent contact lens prescription, but if your life depended on knowing how long ago you had a particular procedure or who performed it, how quickly could you access the information?

Continuing our discussion of the family/personal filing and however everything can fit into one of five categories, we’ve reached:

Financial
Legal
Medical
Household
Personal

Doctors tend not to share medical paperwork, records, X-rays unless patients request them, opting to safeguard the records themselves, so you might have a pretty slim collection. In fact, you might think that you don’t need to keep any medical records at all because you can always get copies from your doctor. Actually, there are good reasons to maintain your own records:

• You may need to access information in a hurry. (e.g., if your child’s summer camp calls to report a minor accident and wants to know how long ago your child’s last tetanus shot was.)
• The doctor’s staff may be unreachable on weekends and holidays.
• A change in insurance company may require you to provide detailed medical history information.
• You may be able to avoid unnecessary medical tests if you can show you’ve already been tested.
• Your doctor or dentist may retire before you have a chance to get copies of records.
• You don’t have a regular optometrist and can’t recall where you last got an eye exam. (Was it at the mall? You remember there were holiday crowds…)
• You vacation or work outside North America – you’ll often need proof of health and immunization for travel.

A little preventative organizing can literally save your life down the line. Start with these basics file sub-sections:

MEDICAL CONTACTS
Keep contact information for each medical professional each person in the family sees. Unless one family member sees a lot of specialists, a few sheets of paper tucked into a file in the front of the medical section usually suffices. In the tense moments of an emergency, you wouldn’t want to have to rely on your memory.

For each health care practitioner, include the name, address, phone and fax numbers, and email address. To get you started, collect information for:

• Internist/Family practitioner
• Gynecologist/obstetrician
• Dentist
• Optometrist/Ophthalmologist
• Specialists
• Alternative Care Practitioners (acupuncturist, herbalist, massage therapist)

Next, you want to create a hanging folder for each person in the family including at least these three folders for each specific area:

MEDICAL — include the following information:

• Immunization records – when was your last tetanus booster shot?
• Test Results (cholesterol and other blood test results with numbers, letters confirming results of mammograms, pap smears and bone density tests for women, prostate and other exams for men, etc.)
• Medical History – keep notes regarding any serious illnesses, accidents or surgeries, transfusions or procedures; Download this sample form to get you started.
• Pregnancy History – keep a copy of all test results and a simple log of any procedures
• Mental health – as with physical health, note any mental health problems, treatments and medications as well as the dates
• Medications

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Sidebar on MEDICATION HISTORY
For most families, keeping a page in each individual’s “Medical” folder will be enough. However, if your family members take many prescriptions, you may wish to keep a separate folder to track all medications. Create a spreadsheet or online record where you can quickly update your prescriptions, and print a copy for your files in case you need to fax or quickly provide it to a physician or hospital.

Include each medication’s brand or generic name, dosage, frequency, prescriber (if applicable), purpose and date started. Include:

• Prescriptions (e.g., oral contraceptives, preventative and curative medicines and acute-care drugs like epi pens and migraine medicine)
• Dietary supplements – vitamins, minerals, beverages
• Herbal remedies – include those recommended by alternative care providers like acupuncturists as well as any you’ve picked up at health food stores
• Nonprescription medications — include aspirin-a-day therapies for preventing heart disease and stroke

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DENTAL
Dental professionals vary in how much information they generally provide. If you don’t ever have a detailed dental treatment plan, don’t worry about this. However, if your doctor or orthodontist creates a treatment plan, keep it in this folder. Also, keep notes regarding when you’ve had dental X-rays and what procedures you’ve undergone. Dental health is closely tied to medical health, so a complete record is important.

VISION
If you often switch where you have eye exams, it’s essential to keep records of your prescriptions in order to gauge vision changes over time. Keep copies of your old eyeglass or contact prescriptions in this folder, in reverse chronological order.

The three categories (dental, medical, vision) usually suffice for most families. However, if anyone in the family has a specific, ongoing medical condition (allergies, arthritis, etc.) add extra manila folders to cover more extensive paperwork. For allergies, in particular, I suggest having one folder, with a page for each family member, noting whatever allergies they have to:

• Drugs
• Foods
• Animals
• Environmental/Chemical agents
• Other allergies

If you are single and in your twenties, your medical file may only include your immunization record and notes on occasional healthcare visits. However, starting your filing system early will make it much easier to know where to put notes as your medical history (and family) grows.

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What if you don’t even have any medical records to even start this paperwork? I know, most of Paper Doll is about helping you get rid of excess paper, but this is one time you want to acquire paper.

One of your important legal rights under HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is the right to obtain copies of your medical records and to make sure the information within is accurate. HIPPA covers just about all medical records except your child’s K-12 school nurse records.

When you move or change doctors, or when your child goes off to college or starts his/her own filing system, use this letter template for requesting a copy of all your medical records, http://www.privacyrights.org/Letters/medical2.htm

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Finally, if you have pets, keep veterinary medical records in hanging files just behind those of the human family members. Each pet needs just one file folder – you’re safe skipping special dental and vision files for pets.

To your health!

Next up:  Household Papers

A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.

~Samuel Goldwyn

Before Thanksgiving, we talked about the first category in the family/personal file system. With FINANCIAL items out of the way, we can move on to the next important category: LEGAL.

Financial
Legal
Medical
Household
Personal

If you had a fender bender over Thanksgiving weekend, would you have known where to find your insurance policy? If your nephew taunted your daughter that she was left on the doorstep by elves and not really yours, could you smooth her worries by pulling out her birth certificate?

While we tend to deal with financial paperwork on a daily basis, occasional mislaid LEGAL paperwork causes the greatest panic. To keep things running smoothly, break your legal papers down into some basic subcategories:

VIPs (Very Important Papers) generally prove you are you who you say you are. In most cases, keep the originals in a safe deposit box, or failing that, a fireproof safe, and maintain photocopies in your family/personal files. Each person in the family should have a VIP folder, including:

• Birth certificates – prove identity and age
• Adoption records – prove identity and age
• Marriage certificates –prove identity in order to collect insurance and benefits (like Social Security and veterans’ pensions)
• Divorce decrees – prove you qualify for remarriage
• Military records –prove qualifications to collect medical, education, and other benefits
• Citizenship/Naturalization papers – prove you qualify to vote and hold certain jobs and elected offices
• Death certificates – to collect benefits and settle estates
• Passports – to prove identity for travel
• Social Security cards – to qualify for benefits

Guard your Social Security card/number as if it were worth millions of dollars; identity theft is pernicious, and the value of safeguarding your SSN is incalculable.

Estate/End of Life Papers
People often skip this category, either because it’s dismal or they feel they don’t have enough assets to be concerned. However, you don’t need to qualify for Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous to take care of your estate documents. As with the VIPs, most of these will be kept in your safe deposit box (or on file with your attorney or the county in which you live), but keep photocopies of the following in your files:

• Wills
• Trusts
• Funeral Plans and Instructions
• Advanced Health Care Directive/Living Will – specifies your preferred “end of life” care, your health care proxy and oher
• Power of Attorney/Durable Power of Attorney (for financial and/or health care) – Be sure the “agent” you have designated has a copy

I am not a lawyer, and even if I played one on television, I am not YOUR lawyer. However, in general, a “power of attorney” authorizes someone to make legal and financial decisions on your behalf while you are alive but unable to act (say, if you are out of the country or otherwise unreachable because you’re trapped in the Big Brother house); if you are incapacitated due to illness or injury, only a “DURABLE Power of Attorney” allows someone to make your essential decisions.

Titles of Ownership
If you go to the effort and expense of purchasing something, make sure you can prove it’s yours. There are some obvious sub-categories:

• Real estate—Keep copies of the deeds and mortgage paperwork for any house, building or piece of land (including private island getaway). Note the exact transaction date of purchase/sale, the gross price and the cost of any legal fees. You’ll need this data for tax prep when you eventually sell any property. Keep track of easements and liens here, as well. Keep a separate folder for each piece of property you own.
• Automobile—maintain the title in a folder for each auto you own
• Boat/Airplane title (and bill of sale)—again, keep a folder for each

In other words, if you own something big enough to live on (or in) or pilot from one place to another, be sure you can prove it’s yours.

Note: your property insurance policy will go under the Insurance subcategory (below) and receipts for payments on mortgages will go in the FINANCIAL section, as we’ve already discussed.

Contracts
Do you recall the recent hubbub when Ellen DeGeneres failed to read the details of her dog adoption contract? Yikes! Make sure you have any legally-binding contracts carefully filed so you can review the details. Remember employment contracts and other agreements for services to be rendered, as well as promissory notes (for loans to or from you). If you’re in your twenties, you may not have any/many such papers, but as your contract file grows, you’ll want a separate file for each.

Insurance policies
Although your insurance agent (whose phone number should be programmed into your cell phone) can look up your coverage, you should maintain a copy of all policies, including:

• Health insurance (medical, dental, vision, other specific policies)
• Homeowner’s insurance
• Renter’s insurance
• Auto/Boat/Plane insurance
• Miscellaneous property policies
• Umbrella policies

Keep your policies filed, be sure to have your most current health insurance card in your wallet, and proof of auto insurance in your glove compartment. (The latter is the law in many states.)

Depending on your personal background, you may have other important legal dealings. For example:

Department of Motor Vehicles
For the average law-abiding citizen, the DMV folder may just hold some handy photo-copies of your driver’s license and auto registration. But I have a few clients who have been known to exceed the speed limit or have had some run-ins with the boys in blue regarding parking or traffic infractions. Keeping a file for these legal wranglings (including tickets, summonses, proof of attendance at traffic court and traffic school, etc.) can help with insurance and legal issues down the road.

Divorce or Custody Proceedings
Family court issues are never fun, but frustration can be lessened by keeping the paperwork easily accessible. One of my clients had some disagreements with her ex-husband about certain custody arrangements and had to get the authorities involved. Being able to quickly lay hands on her paperwork gave her the edge in resolving the situation. File divorce and custody paperwork in reverse chronological order.

Depositions and Testimony
You may have been an expert (or other kind of) witness, providing testimony or giving depositions. If the case is ongoing or is in the appeals process, you will want to maintain a record of your prior statements.

Every family’s legal situation is unique — if your family has a unique legal issue, create a new hanging folder and interior folders and label them accordingly. Basically, if it’s a legal document or about a legal situation, either the original or the photocopy (if the original is kept by your attorney, county or in your safe deposit box) belongs in the LEGAL section of your files. However, if it’s a financial item (insurance premium, legal bill, alimony payment record, etc.), even one related to legal categories, it belongs in the financial section.

Next time: Medical Files

Got no check books, got no banks. Still I’d like to express my thanks – I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.

Are you reading this post while waiting for everyone to get ready to go? Perhaps you’re going to fill up the gas tank on the way to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving. Maybe you’re going to the grocery store to get the Butterball turkey or to the mall to start shopping for presents. It’s likely that filing is not foremost on your mind…but please bear with me.

Last week, we covered the first of the five family/personal file categories:

• Financial
• Legal
• Medical
• Household
• Personal

Since we’re finishing up financial filing, and as we’re just moments away from Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and the start of the Receipt Season, you may be wondering, “What do I do about receipts?”

So, let’s look at some basic rules to help you figure out what to do with all of those receipts rushing into your life over the next month:

• Keep cash receipts for things you might return, and for the duration return period only. If you pay for a McDonald’s Happy Meal in cash, toss the receipt — it’s not like you’re going to be returning that baked apple pie you ate yesterday. If you purchase toys or clothing for cash and the store’s return policy is 30 days, discard your receipt after that period.

• Keep all receipts for big ticket items (set your own benchmark–it could be $50 or $500, depending on your lifestyle) and things you might return, but only until the return period has expired. Recently, the IRS has allowed taxpayers to choose between deducting state taxes and sales tax; if you opt for sales tax, the default amount is usually your best bet, but if you’ve purchased a house, car or boat, you’ll want proof of that big ticket deduction.

• Keep all receipts for tax-deductible expenses such as charitable donations and medical expenses in your Tax Prep folder until you’ve completed your taxes. (You won’t know until the end of the year whether you’ve accumulated a high enough percentage of your adjusted gross income to deduct most expenses.) Did you know your pharmacy will print a summary of all prescription purchases? Instead of keeping your pharmaceutical receipts indefinitely, just ask your pharmacy to give you a printout at mid-year and again in January for the preceding calendar year. (Of course, if you use a different pharmacy — for example, when you’re on vacation — save those receipts.)

• Keep receipts for all items for which you are due reimbursement until you get paid. Most often, this will include purchases submitted on your expense reports at work. Less regularly, you’ll submit receipts to your insurance company for repairs done to your home or auto, or for medical procedures where the doctor’s office won’t file on your behalf. Occasionally, you’ll even have to submit the receipts to someone else’s insurance company if the other party was at fault. Be sure to keep photocopies (or better yet, provide photocopies and keep the originals).

• Keep credit card receipts and deposit and ATM withdrawal tickets until your credit card or bank statements have arrived. Reconcile the receipts against the statements, and if the receipts don’t fit any other mentioned category, shred them.

Following these general rules should keep you protected in terms of financial, legal (proof of ownership) and most tax issues. However, if in addition to Federal taxes, you also pay state and local taxes, check with a tax professional regarding any state- and municipal-tax reasons to keep other receipts. For example, Minnesota has two programs that allow residents to save on their state taxes for K-12 educational expenses. As we discussed last week, these receipts would go in your FINANCIAL files category, in a Tax Prep folder.

Have fun shopping this Thanksgiving week, whether at the stores or online. I encourage you to purchase clutter-free gifts that don’t have to be stored or dusted.

Whatever you buy, have a system for collecting your receipts until you get home. Check receipts for accuracy before leaving the store and then put them neatly in your wallet, purse or (if you carry neither) an envelope in your pocket. This year, resolve not to have any crumpled receipts in your pockets or the bottoms of your shopping bags.

Happy Thanksgiving, and I’ll see you back here next Tuesday.

Next up: Legal and Medical files