Archive for ‘Professional Organizing’ Category

Meet Your Organizing Elves: The Pros Who Help Get Your Life in Order

Posted on: December 15th, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 10 Comments

Recently, at the end of a session, my client joked that I was her own Santa’s elf. We laughed, but her description is not that far from the truth.

YOU AND SANTA BOTH NEED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT

Santa’s elves (and Mrs. Claus and the reindeer, of course) help keep Santa from becoming overwhelmed. After all, Santa is basically running a multi-national corporation.

Certainly, he has to control the means of production for his factory. Can you imagine how much paperwork (and how many computer files) it takes to source, order, acquire, and unpack the resources before the toyshop starts making the toys?

But our friend Kris Kringle also manages a customer base of upward of two billion children (the current number of the world’s newborns through fourteen-year-olds), not even counting all the people for whom the magic of the holidays involves believing in Santa. I’m sure, at some point in the late 20th-century, Santa had to learn how to manage a computer database and CRM system to keep straight not only who was on the nice vs. naughty lists, but track them as their behavior meandered from one to the other and back again. 

Due to non-compete clauses, nobody’s ever ascertained whether Santa has only one sleigh or a huge fleet with one for each of the 24 time zones to which he delivers. Nonetheless, keeping up with the vehicle maintenance and registration requirements in 195 nations must be quite the task! 

 
Time management is a huge headache, too. Not only do those requests for toys and bikes and little red wagons (and all the modern digital doodads) need to be filled, wrapped, and packed onto the sleigh, but timing all of these deliveries in one night, with no respite for bad weather or reindeer infighting, has to be wearying.

It’s a good thing Santa has his elves. 

My clients often feel the same oppressive weights upon them, even if they don’t necessarily have the same international fame as the guy in the big red suit. Whether you need to deal with organizing and productivity pitfalls at home or at work, in your computer or your kitchen, your closet or your warehouse, there are professionals who can give you support.

Perhaps between preparing for Thanksgiving and the winter holidays, entertaining company, trying to make headway on languishing projects with end-of-year deadlines, and figuring out how to make space for everything coming in (to your home, to your schedule, and to your life), you have realized that you could use a little elf-like magic as you go into next year.

Today’s post is a chance for you to get to know all of the organizational (and organizing-adjacent) experts who can help you reduce overwhelm, coach your decision-making, and bring subject-matter expertise to help you overcome obstacles (whether tangible, temporal, or cognitive) so you can be your best self.

(Heh. Maybe that should be my holiday marketing campaign: I’ll be my best elf so you can be your best self.)

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZERS AND PRODUCTIVITY SPECIALISTS

We professional organizers and productivity gurus didn’t all start out and orderly elves. Paper Doll was a television executive. Many, many of my colleagues were teachers. Some were attorneys, social workers, hoteliers, accountants, designers, and so many other types of professionals.

Sometimes, we felt like we were on the Island of Misfit Toys, but almost as if by holiday magic, we all found where we truly belong. And yes, we know that not all elves are always so lucky to find their fit right away.

 

NAPO

Longtime readers of Paper Doll are already familiar with the concept of professional organizers, but many people are surprised by the variety of services we provide.

If you think a professional organizer is just about moving the stuff around, I’ve got a surprise for you. As I tell my clients, “Housekeeping is about the stuff; professional organizing is about the person who owns (and uses, and maintains) the stuff.”

Housekeeping is about the stuff; professional organizing is about the person who owns (and uses, and maintains) the stuff. Share on X

Among the professionals in the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO), there are plenty of generalists. In just the past few weeks, I’ve:

  • helped a client pare down a collection of family photos and slides ranging from the late 1800s to the 1970s
  • organized holiday charitable requests, identified the client’s philanthropic priorities, and oversaw the donation process
  • supported a client with cognitive decline to maintain daily productivity
  • decluttered and downsized: cleaning supplies in kitchen cabinets, books and décor from bookshelves, a wardrobe that largely no longer served a client’s physique or style, and more
  • assisted clients in accessing funds by searching for unclaimed property, organizing supporting documentation for class action suits, and submitting claims for health insurance
  • reworked a client’s overly-ambitious December schedule so that she actually had time to enjoy the holidays. 
  

Although I do specialize in paper and information management and productivity coaching, my in-person clients seek my help for solving all manner of organizing-related mysteries and kerfuffles in their lives, and it’s the same for my colleagues.

Some professional organizers specialize in particular types of clients:

  • people with chronic disorganization or hoarding disorders
  • individuals with brain-based conditions ranging from ADHD and autism to traumatic brain injuries to dementia
  • people with physical disabilities
  • seniors
  • new parents
  • children
  • older students
  • solopreneurs and small business professionals

Others in our field focus on particular types of spaces for downsizing, clutter control, and organizing in:

  • kitchens
  • closets
  • living spaces (main and guest bedrooms, living rooms, bathrooms)
  • home offices
  • playrooms
  • basements
  • attics
  • storage units
  • work spaces (like professional kitchens, law offices, physicians offices, science labs, theaters, etc.)

We also specialist in particularly kinds of services that cross the “who” and “where” categories, like:

  • time management coaching
  • paper management
  • digital organizing
  • organizing and managing photographs and memorabilia
  • financial organizing, including bill-paying, budgeting assistance, and bookkeeping
  • estate management
  • medical history management
  • household management
  • eco-organizing
  • home inventorying 
  • home staging
  • yard/garage/estate sale management
  • packing and unpacking for moves
  • space planning and design

This doesn’t even begin to take into account the services some professional organizers provide to businesses, including: business automation, corporate operations, event planning, records management, technology training, and more.

Basically, are overwhelmed by it, exhausted by it, stymied by it? Do you “just” need someone to come in and do it (or teach you how to do it — or how to do it better)? If it takes less time and you can focus on what’s important to you — then organizing and productivity specialists can help.

To find a professional organizer, visit the NAPO directory directly, or navigate from NAPO’s front page to the Find a Pro menu at the top. Search geographically or within a radius from your zip code, pick the business and/or residential specialties in which you need assistance, and review the list of my colleagues provided.

And don’t forget, much of the work we do with and for our clients can be done virtually, so you can pick that option from the specialty drop-down if you’re open to getting help from afar.

NAPO members represent thousands of separate professionals, coming together to gain continuing education and support one another so that we can support our clients.

  
Certification, Certificates, and Skills

When the NAPO directory provides you with names to peruse, you may see some additional notes.

Certified Professional Organizers (CPOs) are those of us who have attained credentials reflecting specific standards. That originally included 1500 hours (now 1000 hours) of paid client-centric work prior to sitting for a comprehensive exam (among other requirements), adhering to the BCPO Code of Ethics for Certified Professional Organizers, and obtaining continuing education in a variety of subjects during a three-year certification period.

For more about certification, you can check out the “What is a Certified Professional Organizer” tab here on my website, including my article, In Checkbooks And Underwear Drawers: What Certified Professional Organizers Offer Our Clients.

Specialist Certificates — In addition to the deep and wide subject matter expertise needed for certification, NAPO members may also hold certificates in specialized subjects, including: 

  • Brain-based conditions
  • Household management
  • Life transitions

  • Move management and home staging
  • Residential Organizing
  • Team productivity
  • Work productivity

Institute for Challenging Disorganization

Founded in 1990 by my colleague Judith Kolberg and originally called the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD) has as its mission to provide organizing professionals and the public with education and helpful strategies, and conduct research, regarding chronic disorganization.

Membership in NAPO and subscribership in ICD often overlap, and professionals in our field may obtain a variety of ICD specialist certificates related to chronic disorganization, hoarding disorders, and other related conditions.

Other Organizing and Productivity Associations

There are helpful organizing elves everywhere!

Outside of the United States, there’s an ever-growing universe of organizing and productivity professionals.

For our colleagues to the north, Professional Organizers in Canada (POC) has a similar search engine to NAPO’s. At their Find An Organizer page, you can specify services areas and specialties as well as languages spoken. (You didn’t think Santa’s elves spoke only English, right?)

NAPO, ICD, and POC do not stand alone. We have colleagues around the world as part of the International Federation of Professional Organizing Associations, including:

Several times a month, I am asked by friends, former classmates, clients, and random acquaintances to provide referrals and recommendations for professional organizers to help people’s loved ones, whether across the continent or across the world. It’s heartening to know that I have colleagues in so many places, ready to help those who are seeking a little more space or serenity. 

OTHER ORGANIZING-RELATED PROFESSIONAL ELVES

In addition to ICD and POC, and the National Association of Black Professional Organizers (NABPO) referenced above, NAPO has other affiliate organizations.

Daily Money Managers

Santa has to deal with financial transactions in 180 different worldwide currencies. Your finances may not be so complex, but whatever your needs, whether to help Grandma keep up with her retirement investments or to just make sure the bills get paid on time, the American Association of Daily Money Managers (AADMM) has financial organizing professionals to assist you.

Daily Money Managers (DMM) offer a wide variety of personal financial services to individuals and families, and manages financial tasks including bill-paying and oversight, budgeting, and record keeping. Some serve as fiduciaries for clients who are incapacitated. 

Aging/Geriatric Care Professionals 

Santa and Mrs. C. aren’t exactly spring chickens, and like all of us, may someday need support.

The professionals in Aging Life Care Association (ALCA) specialize in aging and disability issues while ensuring client “safety, continuity, and dignity.” As experts in health and human services, they can assist and advocate for families caring for older adult relatives or individuals with disabilities. They can partner with professional organizers and senior move managers whenever clients and their families are going through major life transitions — whether they’re downsizing so family members can age in place or to help them relocate to other living situations. 

Photo Organizers

Many NAPO professional organizers are comfortable helping their clients organize their photos or find solutions for digitizing them. But The Photo Managers (formerly the Association of Personal Photo Organizers) use their passion for photo collections and personal storytelling to assist clients with culling, organizing, and digitizing photos, as well converting older media to newer formats and sharing pictures.

OTHER MONEY ELVES

Every year, I learn about new types of professionals who can help me help my clients overcome the obstacles that clutter their daily lives. These include:

Claims Assistance Professionals

As I discussed in Organize and Lower Your Medical Bills: Spot Errors, Negotiate Costs, and Save Money, there are a variety of medical billing specialists, medical cost advocates, and patient advocates. In addition, if you’re drowning in medical claim paperwork that makes no sense, or you’re getting the runaround from the insurance company, you may want to reach out to a claims assistance professionals through The Alliance of Claims Assistance Professionals.

Financial Advisors

Knowing what to do with your money can be confusing, and it’s scary to wonder whether the advice you’re being given is good for you, or just good for an advisor taking a percentage of what you earn.

Before considering hiring a financial advisor, talk to the elves in your life: your family members, friends, and colleagues who seem to handle their dollars with sense. I am neither a fiduciary nor a money maven, but I do recommend that if you’re seeking help with building your financial future, you should find a fee-only financial planner. That’s someone you pay a flat fee, rather than a percentage, to provide you with advice.

The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) is a great first start. You can also find Certified Financial Planners via the location search at PlannerSearch.org.  

Appraisers

A professional organizer can help you divide the wheat from the chaff when you’re figuring out what to donate and what to keep; we’ll hold your hands when we tell you that your collection of mini Beanie Babies you got at McDonalds will not fund your retirement. We may help you research the provenance and potential value of what you own. But no organizing professional is going to tell you for certain whether that piece of furniture or jewelry or coin collection is worth. For that, you need an appraiser. 

An art appraiser is not a stamp appraiser; fields of specialty range from wine to textiles, furniture to musical instruments, coins to fine art to books. Start with an accredited appraisal association like:

to find the experts that can help you understand the value of your property and make wise decisions regarding what to do with what you own.

Certified Divorce Financial Analyst 

Paper Doll hopes you never have to deal with a divorce (unless it’s something that will make your life better). However, I’ve worked with enough clients going through the divorce process to know that attorneys don’t have the bandwidth to deal with some of the intricacies of the financial situation.

Certified Divorce Financial Analysts are professionals who can help you figure out the complex financial aspects of your divorce. This may help you secure an equitable share of marital assets in order to plan your financial future. 

If you or someone you know needs support in this area, start with the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts. 

OTHER HOUSE ELVES

When you hear house elves, you probably think of Harry Potter. As a GenXer who grew up near Canada, I start daydreaming about house hippos.

But I digress.

In addition to the residential professional organizer services covered by NAPO and her sister organizations, there is some crossover into home relocation specialties.

Senior Move Managers  

The National Association of Senior and Specialty Move Managers is made up of relocation specialists. They’re focused on strategies for helping older adults (and their families) with the relocation process, including downsizing, as well as packing and unpacking, and assisting with logistics.

Home Stagers

In the olden days, when you wanted to sell your house, you hired a real estate agent. They told you to clean the house and pop a sheet of cookies in the oven to make things smell nice. Over the last few decades, however, home staging — literally staging your home to make it possible for prospective buyers to imagine themselves living there — has become a big deal.

Staging can involve removing objects that are overly personal or reflect particular belief systems, subtracting or adding furniture or décor to create a particular aesthetic, and generally working to show a house off in the best light.

As with senior move managers, you will likely find some crossover between NAPO/IFPOA professionals, but to find a home stager in your area, start with the Real Estate Staging Association and the America Society of Home Stagers and Redesigners.

Obviously, your organization and productivity needs are complicated, and by talking about elves, I am not entirely making light of anyone’s struggles.

Sometimes you just need a handy-person to help you lift and carry things to the attic or out to the curb; however, most of the time, a professional organizer or productivity specialist is the ideal person to guide you through the myriad decisions to make to move your life in the direction you want.

And when the real obstacles are not the things, but ourselves, and special services are needed, their are ADHD coaches, life coaches — even decision-making coaches — and mental health professionals!

Today’s post is a reminder that whatever is causing clutter in your space, your schedule, your finances, or your mind, you’re not alone. Reaching out to experts is a gift you can give a loved one — or yourself.

I suspect Santa would approve.

Paper Doll Plays Ice Cream Man: Cool Organizing and Productivity Treats for Hot Days

Posted on: July 7th, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 10 Comments

We’ve managed — perhaps with a few bumps and bruises to our productivity — to make it through one-half of the year.

Perhaps you’ve reached your goals or are on our way toward them. Maybe the temperatures and the general atmosphere in the world these days leaves you feeling indolent, and the last thing you want to think about today is striving toward yet another goal or completing another task. 

I get it.

We all deserve a little fun. So today’s post is like a Popsicle on a sweltering day. There are no systems for you to implement, and no heavy-duty academic research to study. Instead, just think of today’s Paper Doll post as the ice cream truck driving through your neighborhood to make your week a little sweeter and your mood a little lighter with some surprising treats.

MOD PROTECT

Earlier this year, I wrote a five-part series on using timers to help yourself be more productive. In case you missed it, feel free to read the links below to get caught up.

But again, this is an ice cream truck; just take what you find yummy.

In part 3 of the series, when we discussed tangible timers, I shared my love of the Time Timer MOD and all of its gorgeous styles, including the Time Timer Mod Home Edition,

the MOD Home Metallic Edition,

and the various durations of the MOD Education Editions.

I handle my devices pretty gingerly and rarely worry about bonking them on the ground, but not everyone lives in an almost-entirely carpeted (hello, late 1970s construction!) apartment. Some folks have kids, or spouses or co-workers who behave like kids, or pets who tend to knock things on the floor.

 

Time Timer understands the frustration that comes with rough-and-tumble living. While there are already pretty protective covers in a variety of styles to cuddle the Time Timer MOD editions, they’ve now come out out with a new super-protective line: two different “fun and functional” Time Timer MOD+ Protective Cases.

Both versions partner a whimsical personality and hardy protection with (what I think is already) the niftiness of Time Timers. 

Meet Bunny and Tread.

Time Timer MOD + Protect Case Bunny

Protect Case — Bunny is friendly and playful, and will appeal to little and big kids, alike. Whether you’re in kindergarten helping to develop little minds, working in various environments with with sensitive souls or neurodivergent brains, or just enjoy anything that adds something charming and fanciful to your workday and time management struggles, take a peek.

Why not serve up a fun-but-sturdy embrace for the visual time cues that keep kids and adults from staying time-blind?

Bunny is brightly colored, soft, and tailor-made for those who would prefer getting help transitioning between tasks, monitoring their own (or others’) screen time, or completing homework (or office work) from a sweet, gentle character rather than a garish, digital taskmaster. 

Say hi to Bunny. (Hi, Bunny!)

Bunny measures 5.1″ high x 4.1″ wide by 2.4″ deep. The soft, removable case is made of light blue silicone, and, as you can see above, faintly bunny-shaped, creating a playful touch to surround the Time Timer MOD. 

Time Timer has tested the Bunny Protect Case’s drop protection to 5 feet. So, whether you’re using it in an academic or play setting where tiny humans may drop or throw the Time Timer MOD, or you or your co-workers or family members take time-based stresses out on small, (mostly) inanimate objects, the Protect Case -— Bunny can handle it.

The Bunny’s soft silicone makes it easy for tiny hands to grip without slippage, so there’s no need to worry that your MOD investment will be lost in a smash-pow-kerplunk moment! Parents, teachers, therapists, colleagues, and tiny humans should all be delighted by the protective nature and cute appearance of the bunny.

On it’s own, the Protect Case — Bunny is $14.95 at the Time Timer website.

Additionally, you can purchase the Time Timer Rainbow Wheel MOD + Protect Case Bunny bundle for 39.95.

Time Timer notes the combined MOD and Bunny protective case bundle is:

  • Focused on Time Awareness — As discussed at length in my blog post series on timers, an analog approach to time helps make time visible and “real” to children and others with a less-than-concrete feel for the flow of time. The Time Timer Rainbow Wheel MOD’s rainbow-colored disk assigns a color to each five-minute increment, adding a clear, colorful cue to help discern how much time remains. This has positive implications for helping achieve smooth transitions and emotional regulation.
  • Especially supportive for neuro-diverse individuals — The product was created with children with ADHD, sensory sensitivities, and autism in mind, implementing a soothing, calming design.
  • Sensory-friendly — As Time Timer notes, “with soft bunny ears and gentle colors make time less scary and more approachable for young learners.” The sensory-friendly materials can help children who self-sooth primarily through touch.
  • Designed for the hard knocks of real life — As noted, when nestled inside the Bunny, the MOD Rainbow Wheel withstands tumbles, tosses, and falls up to 5 feet. (That’s almost an entire Paper Doll!)

The Time Timer Rainbow Wheel MOD + Protective Case — Bunny bundle includes One Year Premium Access to Time Timer® App.

Time Timer MOD + Protect — Tread

The Bunny is cute, but not everyone is seeking fluffy bunny mode.

Do you, your tiny humans, whimsical teens, or colleagues operate in a more rough-and-ready, active environment? If so, you or they may prefer something with a more hearty or rugged appearance.

Tread is a durable silicone case styled as a beefy tire, such as you’d see on an earth mover or big truck. It’s tailor-made for active households and busy classrooms, but is equally at home in therapy centers and workplaces where cute+tough is the right style choice. It measures 4.2″ wide by 4.2″ high by 2.4″ deep.

When I first saw the Time Timer MOD Protective Case — Tread, my immediate thought was that Workman MJ and his mom need this!

If you’re not on TikTok, you may not know Workman MJ, who first came to fame when his mom sought help convincing her toddler that workers take naps:

 

Over the course of just a few days, all sorts of workmen and women around the country came to her aid and filmed TikToks showing themselves taking naps after lunch — in their trucks and in various safe environments — illustrating to MJ (and all the other tiny workmen and workwomen) the importance of fueling and resting oneself and ones tools. And hey, that echoes Paper Doll‘s advice of about nap-taking, like in:

Take a Break — How Breaks Improve Health and Productivity

Take a Break for Productivity — The International Perspective

If you’re a TikTok aficionado, find your bliss watching Workman MJ and his Mom; their precious videos of MJ-narrated interactions with various workers while learning about their tools and skills are reminiscent of early Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers vignettes, and MJ’s mom (Jessica C. Lee) has even written a book, Workman MJ Takes a Nap, about their “it takes a village” nap experience.

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But back to Tread.

The bumpy, black rubber tire treads add a grippiness that makes the MOD easy for small hands to grab without dropping and adds an extra layer of hearty durability to the Time Timer MOD. Use it at work impress your co-workers with a nod to your “tough approach” to problem solving, or take it to the gym so your Time Timer MOD is safe no matter how rambunctious your workout. Either way, it’s a great companion for workspaces, workouts, or on-the-go time management. (Yes, it’s primarily made for kids, but why let them have all the fun?)

The Tread case is made of soft-touch silicone (easily cleaned by wiping with a damp cloth), and has been drop-tested from a height of 5 feet.

On its own, Tread is $14.95 from Time Timer and you can pair it with any MOD already in rotation in your school, office, or home.

However, if you’re the kind who always orders a combo meal, get the Time Timer MOD + Protect Case – Tread together in a rugged bundle for $39.95. It includes the grey 60-minute MOD with a classic red disk timer and the Tread protective case.

 

As with the Bunny bundle, you a great, confidence-boosting visual timer that supports the executive function needs of children and adults with ADHD, sensory processing challenges, and autism, as well as all sorts of people who need time management support, plus a hearty case that protects the timer from boo-boos.

And let’s face it, that tire tread pattern offers a cool tactile experience for those needing a fidget toy to support ongoing focus and reduce anxiety. Like the Bunny bundle, the MOD + Tread bundle includes One Year Premium Access to Time Timer® App. 

All Time Timer products include a One-Year 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. 

ZIP NOTES & DISPENSERS

We all love sticky notes. Whether we use a tiny sticky note for a label, a standard one for a list or a reminder, or a heavy duty one for intense climate situations, it’s become essential to have a method that just sticks without need for paper clips or staples.

However, sticky notes aren’t perfect. We usually have to settle for one uniform size or purchase multiples different sizes.

But wouldn’t it be cool if we could have a sticky note of any length we desired, whenever we wanted?

Thanks to the Zip Notes Executive Sticky Note Dispenser and Holder, we can.

 

Zip Notes

Invented by Edison, New Jersey-based Victor Technology, these Zip Notes might initially be indistinguishable from Post-its® and their (often less-adhesive) knockoffs, but there are some significant differences:

      • Zip Notes come on a roll — Taking a cue from old-timey adding machine paper rolls or paper towels, Zip Notes come on an 150-inch roll of adhesive-backed paper.

This format is cost-effective and reduces paper waste. One roll of Zip Notes is the equivalent of 600 regular 3″ x 3″ sticky notes!

As much as I love a good Post-it®, there are times when I don’t necessarily have the size I want. For example, on the side of my desk right now, I have a twelve-pack of the Post-it® mini (1 3/8″ x 1 7/8″) Greener Notes.

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They’re perfect when I want to scribble one or two words on a sticky note and use it as a label for a pile of papers. Conversely, for most purposes, a standard 3″ x 3″ sticky note works fine, but when you have a lot to write, it’s always nice to have a 3″ x 5″ sticky note on hand, because it has ample room, and you can turn it vertically to create a list.

But what if, in the course of an afternoon, you have several short, medium, and long sticky notes to write? You could keep all different size sticky notes in your drawer, but with Zip Notes, you wouldn’t have to, and you’ll never waste paper with a “continued on next note” situation.

Just hold down the button until the sticky note paper unspools to the length you prefer and tear it off. Suddenly, you have a note with a customized length!

      • Zip Notes have an adhesive strip running down the center of the note — The unique design of the Zip Notes, with a central strip of adhesive, prevents the edges from curling and allows for flexibility with adherence wherever you need it: at work, at school, or at home. As with any good sticky note, the Zip Notes are re-positionable.

Zip Notes come in three colors: pink, blue, and yellow, each for about $8.99/roll, either directly from the product page at Victor Technologies or from Amazon. 

Zip Notes work in tandem with three types of dispensers.

Zip Notes Executive Dispenser

The navy blue battery-operated Zip Notes Executive Dispenser dispenses the exact length of note you need so you can customize the length of your notes. It’s available directly from the Victor Technology website for $24.99 or for 23.99 at Amazon, in case you want to take advantage of your Prime Shipping. (Note, the photo on Amazon appears to be grey, but it’s apparently just a poor photo; it’s only available in blue.)

The Executive Dispenser is a compact 5.0” wide x 4.5” deep x 5.5” high, and takes up barely more room on your desktop than a stack of sticky notes. It requires two AA batteries, which are included.

Zip Notes Administrator Dispenser

The Zip Notes Administrator Dispenser can rest on your desk or be mounted to a wall, and measures 4.1” wide x 3.6” deep x 6.5” high. Similar to the Executive version, it takes two AA batteries (included).

The Administrator Dispenser is $24.99 at Victor Technology and $23.95 at Amazon.

Zip Notes Manual Dispenser

In addition to the two battery-operated versions, there is a manual Zip Notes dispenser. Without the nifty “zhhhh” sound and the button to push, it’s not quite as cool as its battery-operated counterparts, but at $9.99 for the burgundy dispenser (measuring 3.5 deep x 3.8 wide x 4.5 high), it might be handy to keep in your mobile office kit. Just pull to the desired note length and rip.

The Zip Notes Executive Sticky Notes and Dispensers are a neato combination of a different type of sticky note and a different way of dispensing them. If you’re GenX, you may be thinking, “It’s two mints in one!  

 

ANXIETY BOOKSHELF

It’s possible that only my professional organizer colleagues, Paper Mommy, and I will appreciate this product line, but Anxiety Bookshelf is a cute way to incorporate the soothing aspects of organization into your life without having to invest your heart and soul into downsizing or systematizing. 

What Is the Anxiety Bookshelf?

The conceit of the Anxiety Bookshelf is that when you’re feeling overwhelmed, you can shake the miniature bookshelf (which is actually a latched, hinged, window unto a bookshelf-like shadow box) to free all of the miniature “books” from their safe perches and knock them to the “floor.” 

Then open the hinged cover, take up the little books, and re-shelve them as you see fit. Why? To allow yourself to create a sense of order when things in your life are feeling disordered.

Arrange alphabetically by title or author, keep them in genres, or go rogue like the Home Edit crew and organize the books by color. (OK, please don’t do that. It gives me hives.)

 

Start by buying the actual Anxiety Bookshelf. 

  • The original Anxiety Bookshelf — the hand-painted bookshelf cases come in eight colors: brown (natural wood), white, pink, black, yellow, blue, green, and purple.

It measures 9.8″ wide x 7.8″ high by 2.7″ deep, and comes with 260 miniature books, from classics like George Orwell’s 1984 and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird to modern titles like John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars and Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. While the majority of the books are novels, there are memoirs and non-fiction titles, too. (You can see the titles by scrolling down to the bottom of this page.)

The original Anxiety Bookshelf, with a full complement of miniature books, is $54.98.

  • For the same $54.98 price, you can also purchase the DIY Anxiety Bookshelf, which comes with the bookshelf, white foam book block inserts, and sheets of 264 book cover stickers.

 

  • Alternatively, you can buy an empty bookcase in two sizes:
    • The full-size (empty) bookcase is $39.95.
    • The small (empty) bookcase is $19.95

and then fill the shelves with whichever of the various Anxiety Bookshelf book collections you prefer, at various price points (or a set of random mini books in 60, 120, 180, or 260 book counts).

Obviously, I’d pick the Jane Austen collection to start, before branching out. 

You can even customize the books you want and order from one to 10 different titles, starting at $5.90 for one-to-three titles, up to $18.90 for ten customized books. If you’re an author, you could even get your own mini books for your bookcase! 

Depending on how much anxiety you’d like to soothe or how many miniatures you need in your life, there are discounts for multiple bookshelf purchases. Save $10 on a purchase of two; save $15 if you buy three; save $20 if you purchase 4 bookshelves so that you can pretend you are Belle in Beast’s library.

  • There’s even a Pocket Anxiety Bookshelf for anyone who feels the urge to self-soothe by organizing tiny books on-the-go, like during breaks at school or work. It comes in six colors: (TARDIS) blue, black, green, white, pink, and brown, and has just three little shelves. It measures 2.8” wide x 3.7” high x 1.9” deep and comes with 60 books. The Pocket version is currently $29.95.

In addition, for those seeking some bookish solace, Anxiety Bookshelf has some adorable Room Box items with the same latch and glass front (for safe shaking), in case you want to re-arrange a cozier space, available with or without the miniature books.

Is This An Open-and-Shut (Book) Case?

For each of the bookcases, you can open the bookcase; there’s a latch on the side of the bookshelf for a secure closure before you shake the books off the shelf.

However, you can’t open the miniature books because (duh!) they aren’t actually printed texts. Rather, each “book” is a block .87″ high x .55″ wide x .12″-thick blank foam with a book cover sticker wrapped around it. 

So, although you can’t open the books, you can customize the ones you want, as noted above, and arrange them in whatever way will soothe your frazzled nerves. 

 

Isn’t This Just Clutter?

Maybe?

At first glance, this might just look yet another (cute) knick-knack destined to become clutter, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend this for everyone. However, the various iterations of the Anxiety Bookshelf may greatly appeal to certain subsets of the populace, including:

  • people who like closed-end crafts, as opposed to projects that go on forever. Even with the DIY version, once you apply all the stickers to create the books and shelve the books, there’s no more “work” to do.
  • those who are soothed by being able to control their environments on a small scale — because how often can you sort your junk drawer to calm yourself? (But hey, when you do, be sure to check out Is Your Junk Drawer a Drunk Drawer? 3 Steps to An Organized Junk Drawer for guidance.)
  • those who are soothed by closed-ended organizing projects and just need a short-term meditative organization project
  • folks who like to create customized displayable art that can also be played with rather than merely admired.

When I was little, Paper Mommy and I worked together (by which I mean that I read the instructions and she did the handiwork) to create adorable little “mouse house” shadowboxes with intricate detailing. I find the little bookshelves and miniature books similarly charming. 

But I also appreciate a product made specifically for the purpose of soothing anxiety of dealing with disarray in one’s personal world and the world at large. As a Certified Professional Organizer® — in fact, I just recertified for the sixth time since 2007), having helped clients with organizing and productivity for the past 24 years, my work doesn’t just help my clients; it’s therapeutic for me, too.

When something is stressing me out in my own life, I’ve been known to dump out my purse or lingerie drawer, sometimes to downsize, but usually just to create a little order and maintain some control.

I admit, this reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, from novelist Lucinda Rosenfeld:

“We order our salad dressing on the side because we’re control freaks. We’d like to control you. Because we can’t, we control lettuce.”  

Often, clients contact me because they’re anxious about organizing. But quite often, a focused approach to organizing, even (or especially) on a tiny scale, helps conquer anxiety and create just as much inner peace as meditation or a walk in nature. Sometimes, it helps just to be able to control something. Even lettuce. Even tiny books.

Although I never recommend purchasing a product, whether functional or aesthetic, unless you both need and want it, sometimes, it’s just nice to know what’s out there. You may not chase the ice cream truck down the street, but isn’t it nice to hear the music and know the truck waiting?

Finally, for Paper Mommy, from whom I learned my love for all things tiny, here’s Anxiety Bookshelf’s Mini Book Cart, available on its own, or with 60, 120, or 180 books.

I bet it could hold quiet a few miniature Popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, and Nutty Buddy ice cream cones.

Paper Doll Shares How To Select a Shredder, Shred Responsibly, and Save

Posted on: April 8th, 2024 by Julie Bestry | 14 Comments

Much of the following post originally appeared in 2021 and has been updated for 2024 with current product links and shredding discounts. 

Klop. KaKLOP! Klunkety klunkety. KaKLOP! Grrrrrr uggggggg. KaKLOP!

No, unlike the officer at U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), I haven’t let a tiny human take over my keyboard. The above is a close approximation of the sound my shredder made last weekend when, after two decades of faithful service and about halfway through shredding documents no longer necessary for tax time, it gave up the ghost.

At first, I thought I might have just fed one too many staples into the grinding teeth of my little document destruction devil. But, when I lifted the shredder from the bin and turned it over, nothing was stuck in the teeth. However, as I shifted the up-ended shredder motor from my left hand to my right, I could hear something sliding back and forth within. Ruh-roh!

Far more curious than mechanically inclined, I took a screwdriver to the whole housing unit, wondering if I might be able to just stick something back in place. (Yeah, go ahead and laugh.) Sadly, I found that a large octagonal metal washer (for want of a better description) had broken completely in half. The wheels on this bus were NOT going to go round and round any longer. I had to buy a new shredder.

DIY SHREDDER ESSENTIALS

Although I haven’t had to purchase a shredder in a long time, this is not my first shredding rodeo. Many of my clients find themselves either buying a first or replacement shredder as part of our work when we’re organizing and purging paper. So at least I knew what I needed to consider.

I hate to be crude, but size matters: the size of your shredder unit, the size of your “shreds,” and the size of the pile (or capacity) you can shred at one time.

Shredder Unit Size

There are three general sizes/types of shredder units: mini, medium, and heavy-duty.

Don’t buy a mini.

Yes, I know, regular readers of this blog recognize that I rarely invoke absolutes; the world is far more grey than black-and-white. However, unless you are buying a shredder for a child, I want to discourage you from buying a mini, or desktop, shredder.

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I admit, most “desktop” shredders are not hand-cranked and adorable like the one above. Indeed, most are more like the Aurora AS420C Desktop Style Cross-Cut Shredder below, in that it looks spiffy. But looks can be deceiving.

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Often, I find that clients purchase desktop mini-shredders hoping that the small profile and easy desktop access will incline them toward keeping up with their shredding. However, the opposite is true.

Tiny shredders like the Aurora above only take four sheets at a time (vs. 8 or 12 for a more serviceable shredder), fed through its 4-1/2-inch “throat,” or feeder slot. As most mail is 8 1/2-inches wide, anything not already folded into halves or thirds will need to be folded before fed.

If you’ve got a multi-page credit card or utility bill (AmEx bills are usually a ridiculous number of pages, for example), you’ll have to separate the bill and feed just a few pages at a time. And the entire shredder can only accommodate 40 sheets, meaning you’ll have to repeatedly empty the basket. You’ll likely dread the prospect and avoid the task. 

You may not ever need to power-shred, but mini- or desktop shredders just aren’t designed for the kind of paper that the average household, and especially the home-based office or actual office, needs to destroy. I‘ve said it before: A mini-shredder is a lot like an Easy-Bake® Oven. Yes, it can do what it promises, but would you cook Thanksgiving dinner without a full-sized oven?

Paper Doll Shares How To Select a Shredder, Shred Responsibly, and Save Share on X

For typical home use, and for one-person offices, a medium-sized shredder should suffice. It should be able to handle four to six gallons of shredded paper (or about 150 to 400 sheets).

If you work in a large office, particularly one that deals with medical paperwork (covered by HIPAA regulations) or client financial information, you will want a shredder designed for large-capacity, heavy-duty shredding, one with an eight-gallon or larger basket/bin and the ability to shred for much longer without the red-light-of-doom. (You’ll also be looking at a shredder that costs many hundreds of dollars, rather than one in the $30-$150 range.)

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Shred Size and Shape

There are generally three types of shred sizes produced by consumer shredders. (Industrial shredders can pulverize paper into a fine dust, but that might be going overboard for destroying old bank statements.) These are known as strip-cut, cross-cut, and micro-cut.

Shockingly, I have another absolute for you: don’t buy the old-style strip-cut shredders; they’re rarely sold anymore, but even if you see a good deal at a garage sale, pass it by. Strip-cut shredders offer poor identity theft protection if someone really wants to get their hands on your data. 

You will want a cross-cut or micro-cut shredder. A cross-cut shredder reduces your paper to 1-inch to 1-1/2-inch squiggly strips; such shredders are considered secure or “medium-security” and are rated P4 or P3 security levels, respectively. On average, a cross-cut shredder shreds paper into 200 pieces (for a P3-rated shredder) or 400 pieces (for a P4-rated shredder). At home or in a one-person office, a cross-cut shredder will suffice.

A micro-cut shredder chops paper into tiny fragments; micro-cut shredders are rated P5, P6, or P7 (the latter is also called nano-cut, and recommended for government and classified documents) in terms of security levels, shredding papers into 2000, 6000, or 12,000 pieces, respectively.

For an office that deals with HIPAA compliance, financial data, or spycraft, consider a micro-cut shredder. However, this is going to be over overkill (in terms of both function and cost) for use in a home office. (I mean, unless you’re a work-from-home spy, in which case…cool, dude!)

Capacity

There are three aspects to consider when looking at the capacity of a shredder:

1) How many sheets of paper can you feed at one time? 

Most shredders you’ll be looking at for home use will be listed as handling 5-10 sheets at a time; for an office, a capacity of 10-18 sheets can be fed at one time. (There’s some cross-over in the home and office categories.) Bear in mind that at the home level, staples and thicker paper can reduce the number of sheets that can be safely fed at one time.

Heavy-duty shredders designed for office use can accommodate anywhere from 13 to 38 sheets at a time, with those at the higher level being much pricier. (That said, remember that shredders are office equipment and can be tax deductible for business use.)

While shredders are generally rated by the number of sheets shredded simultaneously, Paper Doll believes many manufacturers are a bit too optimistic in self-reporting. Just aim for the highest capacity shredder in your budget range.

2) How long can you shred before the shredder conks out? (This is called the shredder’s duty cycle.)

Ever get the red-light-of-doom while you’re shredding? This is the “Do not pass GO, do not collect $200!” message that means your shredder needs to cool down. Promotional materials usually claim that smaller shredders for home use can operate for two-to-three minutes continuously before needing a 20-to-30 minute break.

That doesn’t seem like very much time, but recognize that if you’ve got your shredder set to “on” rather than “automatic,” the shredder is only operating while you are pushing papers through. So, skip the automatic setting, take a few seconds between each multi-page pile of papers, and you’ll be OK for getting a bit more use.

Shredding companies have started listed their duty cycles on promotional material, but official capacity and real-world usage can be at odds, so do read the reviews.

3) What else can your shredder accommodate besides paper? 

Any shredder you acquire should be able to handle stapled papers and (expired) credit cards. (Seriously, when you get your new credit card, make sure you put it somewhere away from the shredder and double-check the expiration date on the one you’re about to shred. I’ve heard from too many clients that they’ve oopsied this.)

Most should also be able to shred CDs and DVDs, but if you have a lot of data on disk, be sure to check that your intended purchase can accommodate what you need to shred.

Other Considerations 

Aesthetics — Unlike cell phones and other modern electronic devices, nobody seems to have given any thought to whether a shredder is attractive (to the eye or to the ear). I have yet to see a useful shredder in designer colors, and you’re pretty much limited to combinations of black and silver.

Obviously, design shouldn’t be your main concern, but you are likely to avoid using an ugly shredder or one that screeches. (Remember The Great Mesozoic Law Office Purge of 2015? When we cleaned out my father’s law office, he had an ancient, “yellowing” beige shredder. It was capital-U ugly, but Paper Mommy needed a shredder and was convinced she’d make use of it. Yeah. No.)

With regard to sound, whenever possible, test a friend’s shredder or ask a sales associate to help you test a floor model. The noise a shredder makes won’t exactly be pleasant, but some have more vibration or grinding than others. In another “you get what you pay for” instance, high capacity shredders make a smoother, less grind-y noise.

Ease of Use — The main concerns are an adequate-width feeder and an easy-to-empty basket or bin. The nicest shredders have a removable bin that slides out like a drawer or tips out like a laundry chute, but these tend to be more expensive than the budget versions, where the shredding mechanism lifts up and off to reveal a metal or rubber receptacle.

Avoid the low-rent shredders that only provide a mechanism to set atop a trash can; these are usually ill-fitting, poorly balanced, and lead to a flurry of shreds on your carpet, which furry animals and tiny humans will spread far and wide.

Special features — Some shredders, particularly those designed for a communal workspace, market special features at a higher price. For example, Fellowes markets a “100% Jam-Proof” micro-cut shredder upwards of $3100! And shockingly, it doesn’t even come with the hunky office worker pictured below!

© 2024 Fellowes

Others promote energy savings and quiet operations. As always, consider how often you’ll be using your shredder to determine how much extra you are willing to pay for special features.

At the lower end of the scale, you may want to consider the basket or bin into which you shred. The bin for my old shredder, the one that bit the dust, was made of metal mesh, which meant that a lot of the shredding dust poured into the air if I didn’t use a bag, but when I used a bag, I couldn’t tell when it was almost full.

Further, most shredders are designed so that the shredding unit/lid won’t fit properly into the bin if you’ve lined it with a bag, and if they do, most grocery-style plastic bags are smaller than the bin, so you’re not able to use your full capacity.

The front window in my cute new shredder

My new purchase warns not to use a bag; however, the base is made of a solid plastic (much like a trashcan) so there’s no shred dust plume, and has a nice window to give me a sense of when I’m about to reach maximum capacity. At that point, I must carefully lift up the shredding unit, tilt and flip it quickly to avoid spreading bits of shreds everywhere, and then I can upend the whole bin into the trash.

I prefer the shredders with tilt-out and slide-out receptacles, but there’s always a trade-off. I’m frugal and don’t have a lot of demands, aside from my shredder not making the “Klop. KaKLOP! Klunkety klunkety. KaKLOP! Grrrrrr uggggggg. KaKLOP!” sound more often than every few decades.

I purchased the Amazon Basics 8-sheet shredder because it was on sale last week, running five dollars less than it is right now, and because it was a Best Seller (probably because it’s so inexpensive).

[Editor’s note: I have now lived with this shredder for three years and have zero complaints about function. But yes, it would be cool to have a purple shredder.]

Because you need to live and work with it, it’s important to pick a shredder with the features you need and want.

Still not sure what you want? Fellowes offers a very cool interactive Shredder Selector tool to help you choose among a variety of features, including shredder capacity, feeder type, number of users, volume of shredding, maximum run time, security level, shredder safety, and even a few extras.

PROFESSIONAL SHREDDING SERVICES

You already know how important it is to shred the papers that you no longer need for tax, legal, or proof-of-ownership purposes; merely tossing them in the trash could make you a quick victim of identity theft. But you also know that once your shred pile is as tall as the youngest of your tax-deductible dependents, your home-rated shredder is likely to wimp out before you get through your seasonal pile shredding.

If you lack the time, space, shredding power, or intestinal fortitude to conquer your backlog of shredding, you have a variety of options for getting professional help. A number of companies are available nationwide to help with document destruction, including:

You are likely to have local and regional shredding companies at your disposal as well.

If you need help finding shredding services in your area, turn to the International Secure Information Governance & Management AssociationTM (i-SIGMA®) (formerly the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID)). 

Search the iSIGMA portal for an interactive map of NAID AAA-certified shredding companies nearest to you. Enter your zip code and the system will provide you with a map and list of document destruction services in your area. You can also narrow your search to filter for different kinds of destruction certifications.

Note: Most shredding services offer a combination of drop-off and secure pick-up services; if your office or organization requires regularly scheduled shredding, you can arrange for periodic pickups. 

Many retail locations also have relationships with document destruction services. In these situations, you generally self-serve your papers into a slot in a large, locked container that looks much like the garbage and recycling cans you wheel to the street on trash day; the shredding companies usually do pickups every week–to–two weeks and either shred paper in a specialized truck in the store’s parking lot, or trade out an empty bin and take the full one to their physical operations.

Getting your shredding done in the same parking lot where you pick up your groceries or get your office supplies is convenient (and less labor than shredding piles of paper for yourself), but the cost is likely to be a little more than you’d pay if dealing directly with a document destruction service. Prices typically range from a dollar per pound (when discounted), upward.

Check with your local retail locations to see if, how, and at what price they offer shredding services. Start with:

Office Depot/Office Max

Staples

UPS Store

FedEx Office

Note, some locations (such as FedEx Office) will shred paper but will not shred CDs, DVDs, credit cards, non-paper ID cards, 3-ring binders, file folders, or laminated items. If you have multiple non-paper items to shred, call ahead to your local retailers to verify what they will shred.

Before you head out, be sure to check the retailers’ sites for discounts, or use your favorite search engine to search “[store name] shredding coupon 2024” to see what discounts are currently available.

Office Depot tends to change discount offerings each month. Right now, Office Depot is offering 5 pounds of in-store shredding for free and 20% off any one-time shredding pick-up service. Both offers expire April 27, 2024. To get the actual scannable coupons barcodes, scroll to the bottom of the Office Depot shredding page and present the coupons on your device at time of sale. 

(And sigh, no, I don’t think the fella in the above picture is include in Office Depot’s serivce.)

Staples doesn’t appear to be offering any consumer-based shredding discounts right now, but you can be a hero at your office if you point out Staples’ Iron Mountain 10% off discounts fro one-time shredding of 1 to 21 full-sized bins.

FREE SHREDDING EVENTS

Throughout the year, various government agencies, banks and credit unions, community groups, senior centers, houses of worship, universities partner, and AARP partner with shredding companies for free events billed as shredathons and shred days. In particular, watch for Better Business Bureau-affiliated shredding events associated with tax time and Secure Your ID Day. (Dates vary by region.)

Document destruction companies (like Iron Mountain, Shred-It, Pro-Shred, and Shred Nations) bring their giant paper-chomping trucks to specified parking lots so you can get your papers securely shredded on-site. 

Tax time is the perfect opportunity to clear out your file folders, your desk drawers, your purses, wallets, and pockets, and to shred all those random receipts and documents that you don’t need to support your tax returns, keep you legal, or prove ownership of your stuff. 

Of course, if you don’t know what you need to keep vs. what you should shred, Paper Doll has you covered with Do I Have To Keep This Piece of Paper?

Whether you shred at home or work, use a service, or attend a shredding event, plan time in your schedule to shred. Declutter, protect your identity, and save time and money! 

Reference Files Master Class (Part 3) — Medical Papers

Posted on: January 29th, 2024 by Julie Bestry | 16 Comments

For our final post of Get Organized & Be Productive (GO) Month, we’re continuing our refresh of classic posts and essential concepts in paper organizing. So far, we’ve looked at: 

Paper Doll Shares 12 Kinds of Paper To Declutter Now

Reference Files Master Class (Part 1) — The Essentials of Paper Filing

Reference Files Master Class (Part 2) — Financial and Legal Papers 

Today, we continue onward with the next element of the reference papers in your personal or family filing system.

  • Financial
  • Legal
  • Medical
  • Household
  • Personal

MEDICAL FILES

There’s a special name the information you maintain about your medical life: a personal health record (PHR). With the financial and legal documents we covered last week, I strongly recommended using to develop your file management skills; however, you’ll see that with medical information, I recommend a hybrid approach with paper and sometimes a digital one.

Your Role as Personal/Family Medical Historian

You may wonder why you might need to keep medical paperwork of any kind. After all, don’t the doctors all have your files? It’s not like the average person has a collection of all their own dental X-rays and test results laying around. But there are certain reasons you should keep at least some of your medical information, if not your actual records. For example:

  • When you go to a new health care provider or visit the hospital, you will be asked for a detailed medical history. Will you really remember the years and types of all of your (or your family members’) illnesses, surgeries, and complications? Which physicians were seen and what their contact information was? Which medications caused allergic reactions? It’s your job to provide that information.
  • If you change health insurance companies or apply for life insurance, you’ll have to provide a detailed medical history. If you are found to have given even the teeniest of wrong answers, your policy could be voided retroactively and you could be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars of healthcare!
  • First responders may need information in a hurry. This is why you need to keep updated copies of your medication lists (medication names, dosages, prescribing physicians) in multiple places, immediately accessible. (See Organize to Help First Responders: The Vial Of Life for details on this specific issue.)
  • Quick access to accurate information may determine a medical course of action. For example, if your college student calls to say they had a minor accident and the student health center wants to know how long ago they had a tetanus booster, don’t you want to give the right answer? (Better yet, arm your adult kids with copies of their records so they’ll know!)

Doctor With Stethascope Photo by Online Marketing impulsq on Unsplash

  • If you’re in the ER or at Urgent Care and are asked a question about your medical history, you can’t rely on your primary care physician’s records. The doctor’s staff may be unreachable on weekends and holidays, or in the evenings, or on inclement weather days.
  • Your physician or dentist may retire with little notice, giving you no chance to get copies of records. (I’ve had three doctors and a dentist retire in the last 5 years. Yes, I’m starting to take it personally!)
  • If you can prove you’ve already been tested for certain things, you may be able to avoid unnecessary (and expensive) medical tests.
  • If you have proof of immunizations, you can make sure you’re protected against all sorts of yuckies without having duplicate ouchies! (Yes, these are the correct medical terms.) Proof also ensures that your children can attend school or go to summer camp. (You do not want to spend the days prior to driving cross-country to your student’s new campus rushing to find a physician who will squeeze your 18-year-old in for shots.)  
  • Speaking of immunizations, if you ever work or vacation outside North America, you may need proof of health and immunization for travel; you don’t want to have to contact your doctor over and over and be beholden to their convenience and schedules. (For more, check the CDC’s Yellow Book on Traveler’s Health.)

Additionally, you may be responsible for making decisions or overseeing care for someone else. This might be your child or your spouse, where you can rely on your memory. But what if you’re involved in the care of an elderly and/or ailing relative? Wouldn’t you prefer they had this information organized and available to you?

And what if you’re the one who is ill and needing someone to advocate for your medical well-being? While it’s important for your healthcare proxy (the person with your medical Power of Attorney) to have access to the full picture, sometimes it’s just helpful for your loved ones to be able to provide educated input when you are feeling woozy or distressed. 

Methods for Organizing Medical Information

To start, create a hanging folder for each person in the household. How many internal folders you’ll need for each person depends on how much information pertains to each individual.

One folder may suffice for younger, healthier individuals with limited records. However, my clients often use three — one for medical information, one for dental information (often including extensive orthodontia plans), and one for vision (to track vision changes and safely keep eyeglass or contact lens prescriptions until needed). If anyone in the family has a specific, ongoing medical condition (diabetes, arthritis, etc.) add extra interior folders as needed so you can track specialized medical information.

There are other auxiliary methods for maintaining medical records: 

  • 3-ring binders — If you or someone in your family has a complicated medical situation, a chronic illness, or is undergoing cancer treatment or dialysis, and is visiting many doctors and hospitals, often having to supply information repeatedly, a sectioned-three ring binder for mobile use may make it easier for you to take notes or have providers make copies of your information. Consider this an adjunct to your paper file system, with sections for appointment dates, notes, special instructions, and test results.
  • Medical Organizer — If you are in college or newly graduated, your filing space in a dorm or small apartment may be limited. To get you started, you may want to use a something like the multi-pocked Smead All-in-One Healthcare and Wellness Organizer.
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  • Digital records (DIY approach) — Spreadsheets like Excel or Google sheets, or typing and/or scanning to note-taking apps like Evernote or OneNote allow you to maintain records and access them digitally. Collect and collate your paper files first; transfer notes once you feel like you have a handle on things. 
  • Digital records (using apps) — There are a number of Personal Heath Record apps available, from Apple Health and Android Health built into your phone, to free and paid apps like MyID, FootprintID, and MyChart. 
  • Patient Portals — Doctors, medical groups, and hospitals have patient portals where the medical providers store information for you (and other providers to access). Depending on the portal, you may be able to upload and download information for you own use.

DIY digital storage, PHR apps, and patient portals all have advantages and disadvantages for different user types; we’ll discuss these in greater depth in a future post.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” A bit of preventative organizing of your files and information is worth the effort to preserve your time, money, and possibly even your health.

I'm sure you're familiar with the old saying, 'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.' A bit of preventative organizing of your files and information is worth the effort to preserve your time, money, and possibly your… Share on X

Let’s look at the kinds of information you can and should maintain.

MEDICAL CONTACTS

In the tense moments of an emergency (or the fuzzy moments of day 2 of the flu), you don’t want to have to rely on your memory to contact the right medical professional.

Keep contact information for each medical professional seen by each person in the household.

For each health care practitioner, include the name, address, phone, and email address. Some providers still use and require fax machines. Yes, just like 1987. If they list one on their website or appointment cards, put it in your records; you never know if another physician will have to send or receive requests via fax.

If you use your provider’s online patient portal, note how you access it (app? URL in the browser?) and your login credentials.

To get you started, collect information for any of the following that are (or might be) applicable for the members of your household:

  • Primary care physician (Internist/Family Practitioner)
  • Pediatrician
  • Gynecologist/Obstetrician
  • Specialists (endocrinologist, pulmonologist, cardiologist, etc.)
  • Dentist/Orthodontist
  • Optometrist/Ophthalmologist
  • Alternative Care Practitioners (acupuncturist, chiropractors, herbalist, massage therapist)
  • Nurse line for your insurance company, for when you’re not sure what to do, whether something is an emergency, or whom to see. If you do not have insurance, check to see if your state’s Department of Health has an Ask-a-Nurse line.
  • Your regular pharmacy — Additionally, if you spend time in other places (Grandma’s house in Florida, a time-share, your child’s college town), list your preferred pharmacies there, too.

Unless one family member sees a lot of specialists, a sheet or two paper tucked into a folder in the front of the household medical section (in front of personalized folders) usually suffices.

If you create a mobile medical binder, put this at the front.

Digital approaches to tracking medical contacts

If you’re building a personal health record digitally, either in addition to or instead of a paper record, your options (from least to most effort) include:

  • Snap photos of appointment/contact cards and store in an album in your phone’s photo app (labeled Medical Contacts) or in a cloud-based note storage system like Evernote or One Note.
  • Enter each contact in your phone’s contact app. You may want to enter each physician prefixed with “Dr.” (even if, strictly speaking, they aren’t doctors) or “Med” so that when you look at your phone, all medical professionals will be in sequence for quick and easy scrolling. That way, if you’re feeling panicky, you can focus on all likely names at once.
  • Create a page in a spreadsheet (like Excel or Google Sheets) for medical contacts. Don’t forget that you can have multiple spreadsheets in a workbook, with each sheet having its own tab at the bottom, so you could build your entire personal health record in one workbook, for you and your entire family. 
  • Use the contact fields in a medical record/PHR app.
  • Keep a contact list in your primary care provider’s medical portal if there’s a field or module for that.

As a caveat, know that you can’t always get on hospital WiFi or access cell service, and when panicked you may not be able to remember your passwords. (A digital password manager helps with the latter.)

MEDICAL HISTORY

  • Basic details “cover” page — birth date, sex assigned at birth, blood type, organ donor status, status conditions you’d want to remember to share first (organ recipient, current cancer diagnosis, diabetes, etc.) 
  • Medications (see next section)
  • Immunization records — Use these links to review what childhood and adult vaccines are standard and/or required: 

If you have difficulty getting your immunization records, check out the CDC’s recommendations for locating your “owie” records. Additionally, you may be able to access your (or your children’s) immunization records through your state’s Immunization Information Systems (IIS).

  • Test Results — Keep a record of standard and specialized screening results like cholesterol and other blood test results, and bone density tests for women, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests for men, as well as letters confirming results of colonoscopies, mammograms, pap smears, etc.
  • Personal Medical History — Log any serious illnesses, fractures, accidents, surgeries, transfusions, or procedures. 
  • List any chronic (long-term) health conditions, such as arthritis, asthma, diabetes, or high blood pressure.
  • Log all reproductive health and pregnancy history. 
  • List mental health issues — as with physical health, note any mental health conditions, treatments, and medications as well as the dates.
  • Record any implanted medical devices — These may include pacemakers, artificial hip or knee joints, artificial heart valves, implanted lenses after cataract removal, etc. Patients with implants are given cards with serial numbers. Maintain the cards, but keep copies with you (in your wallet or digitally), for when you travel.
  • Keep a detailed family medical history — Use an online template, like this one from the American Medical Association or the US Surgeon General’s My Family Health Portrait.

MEDICATIONS

What medications do you take?

If you are relatively young and healthy, your response to the inquiry might just be one daily Flintstones vitamin, preferably an orange Dino or purple BamBam. But if you are over 40 in North America, there’s a good chance you take any of a variety of meds for cholesterol, GERD, blood pressure, blood glucose, anxiety, depression, and/or other conditions.

As I’ve previously written, in November Paper Mommy fell and fractured her pelvis in two places. In the ER, and again when she was moved to a room, she was asked about her medications. This is not a fast, easy recitation for most people, and wouldn’t be easy to recall when in agonizing pain. I happened to call just as the nurse was beginning to log the information, and asked if my mom would prefer me to fill the nurse in. Because we’d set up primary care provider’s patient portal, I was able to log in and recite each prescribed medication, vitamin, and mineral, dosage, and time of day it was taken.

Reporting accurate meds and dosages ensures that care for secondary issues isn’t compromised when an acute condition causes hospitalization.

Prescription Photo by Polina Tankilevitch at Pexels

For most families, a page in each individual’s “Medical” folder may be enough. However, if your family members take many prescriptions, you may wish to keep a separate folder to track all medications. Compile your own list or spreadsheet, or download a free template, then print a copy for your files (and your binder, if applicable).

Include each medication’s brand or generic name, dosage, frequency (number of dosages per period — as needed, daily, weekly), prescriber (if applicable), purpose and date started. It may also be helpful to list the method (pill, inhaled, injection, patch, etc.). Remember to reference:

  • Prescriptions — Your instinct will be to list meds you take every day, like oral contraceptives or meds for preventative and treatment purposes. But don’t forget acute-care drugs that you might take as needed, like anti-vertigo meds, Epi pens, migraine medicine, or rescue inhalers. Log everything!
  • Dietary supplements — Some vitamins, minerals, and health beverages can, even when not prescribed, can have an adverse effect on your health. 
  • Herbal remedies — Whether you take them based on your own research or as recommended by alternative care providers, a full health record (and report to physicians) must include these.
  • Non-prescription medications — Include low-dose aspirin therapies for preventing heart disease and stroke, or any other OTC meds you take.

ALLERGIES

Keep a page in each family member’s medical folder to note whatever allergies they have to:

DENTAL AND ORTHODONTIC RECORDS

Dental health is closely tied to medical health. Oral health can impact cardiac and hematological health and pregnancy, and conditions like diabetes and osteoporosis can impact oral health. Good medical and dental records complement one another.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a detailed dental treatment plan, but if your doctor or orthodontist provides a written treatment plan, keep it in that individual’s Dental folder. Keep notes regarding when you’ve had dental X-rays and what procedures you’ve undergone.

Dental Photo by Enis Yavuz on Unsplash

Your dentist may need to know what medications you take, particularly blood thinners, and what medical conditions (like asthma, mitral valve prolapse, or epilepsy) you have, to ensure safe treatment.

VISION CARE RECORDS

Keep records of your prescriptions for easy vision-wear re-ordering; you never know when your eye doctor might retire. If you don’t see the same ophthalmologist every time, consider keeping copies of your old eyeglass/contact lens prescriptions in your vision care folder, in reverse chronological order.

VETERINARY RECORDS

You probably consider your pets to be part of the family. Keep veterinary medical records in hanging files just behind those of the human family members. Each pet needs just one file folder — file reports and proof of shots in reverse chronological order. (Just pop each new thing in the front of the folder.)

HOW TO GET YOUR RECORDS

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.

What if you don’t even have any medical records to even start this paperwork? 

  • Check with your parents.

It’s possible that your mom kept your childhood immunization records with your baby book. Paper Mommy did, and it made it easier when I was trying to figure out when and whether I’d had certain types of immunizations.

  • Contact your doctors’ offices and tell them you want to create a personal health record.

If you don’t have a complex medical history, this might be as easy as reaching out to your childhood pediatrician (if they’re still practicing) and your current primary care physician. Alternatively, you could wait until your next appointment, and request your records then.

If you’ve had multiple physicians — not the random provider you saw when you visited the Doc-in-the-Box you had when you had a cold 15 years ago, but specialists you’ve visited for diagnoses and/or treatment — try to make a list, do some Googling, and see what contact information you can put together. Then contact them to request copies of your records. 

If you’ve had any serious hospitalizations, contact the hospitals to see what records you can get. For any physicians, clinics, or hospitals, the longer ago it was, the harder it will be to get your records. But something is always better than nothing.

You have a legal right under HIPAA to obtain copies of your medical records. 

  • Be specific about which medical records you want.

You probably don’t need every single record. After my father died, I went through the paperwork he’d saved, and there was everything from office visit summaries to medication lists that were just copies of records from the prior appointment. Get the essentials, not the also-rans.

  • Sign a release form.

Each office will make you sign a form to release records to yourself just as though you were authorizing them to release the records to another doctor, insurer, or individual.

  • Be prepared to pay a copying fee.

Depending on how extensive your records are, you may be asked to pay a fee to cover the time and labor for copying the files; you can avoid a mailing fee if you can offer to pick the files up from the office yourself. Ask how long it will take to get copies of your records.

Stay healthy, work toward collecting this information slowly, and next week we’ll close out our look at the five major personal filing categories with household and personal papers. 

For reference, the entire series can be found at the following links:

Reference Files Master Class (Part 1) — The Essentials of Paper Filing

Posted on: January 15th, 2024 by Julie Bestry | 9 Comments

COPING WITH PAPER OVERWHELM

After last week’s post, Paper Doll Shares 12 Kinds of Paper To Declutter Now, I had a number of readers mention to me that while knowing what to get rid of helps them deal with their paper piles, they were still sometimes at a loss as to what to do with the rest.

Some fear they should be scanning everything to keep it digital, but don’t even own scanners. Others feel frustrated because even when they’ve arranged to get (and pay) their bills digitally, they still have paper coming to them. Many people feel at odds with the 21st-century pressure to have digital records, and don’t particularly feel adept with handling papers digitally. (They forget to look at email until it’s too late, or they never get around to scanning, or information just doesn’t seem “real” to them if it’s not in tangible form). 

Over the 16+ years that I’ve been blogging as Paper Doll, I’ve tried to get across that whether you use analog or digital techniques — whether for paying bills, or keeping track of your appointments and tasks, or filing or archiving your information — doesn’t matter. That is, the method doesn’t matter; the commitment to a system is what is most important.

But 16 years is a long time. Babies born during the launch of my first Paper Doll posts are old enough to drive! To give you a sense of how long ago that was, Desperate Housewives was still a top-10 TV show (and people were still watching broadcast television). The top song was Crank That (Soulja Boy) and we were all trying (and mostly failing) to do the dance.

I originally wrote about the elements of a reference filing system in the first month of Paper Doll posts, back in 2007. It’s time to revisit the topic, see how digital solutions do (and don’t) help with the paper overwhelm, and introduce new readers to the best ways to manage paper.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll be taking a fresh look at how eliminate the frustration of paper files.

The Ice Cream Rule

The key to making any system work is just that — a system. That means having a location where something belongs and behavioral rules to get them there. I often refer to this as the Ice Cream Rule. If you come home from the store with two bags, one holding a half gallon of cream and one with a package of toilet paper, which one will you put away first? And where would you put them?

Even people who insist that they’re terrible with systems laugh and admit that they automatically know to put the ice cream away first; they recognize that they’ll end up with a melted mess if they do not.

They also have no worries that they’ll put the ice cream where they won’t be able to find it again — in the cupboard or the pantry — because their system not only includes behavioral cues (ice cream before toilet paper), but a geographic location (that is, the freezer) where the ice cream belongs.

Yes, people may drop the bag with the toilet paper on the kitchen floor, or hang it on the linen closet door, or actually put away the toilet paper in the bathroom right after getting the ice cream in the freezer.

Admittedly, the behavioral part of putting away non-urgent items isn’t perfect. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, and when it comes to putting things away properly, ice cream’s urgency is squeakier than toilet paper. (That said, the retrieval of ice cream is likely to be less urgent.)

A HOME FOR YOUR REFERENCE FILING SYSTEM

The point, and I do have one, is that to create order with the paper in our lives, we must ensure that we know exactly where everything goes. How? Filing papers is easy once each item is assigned a place to live. All of your reference papers need to have a home.

Keep in mind, that home does not have to be a palace. You certainly can invest in filing cabinets. These range from bargain 2-drawer metal filing cabinets to office-style 4-drawer tower-style cabinets.

If you prefer lateral filing cabinets (where you stand to the side of the open drawer, rather than in front of it), there are a variety of styles and materials from which to choose.

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However, if you’re new to the process of getting your files in order, or if you’re trying to revamp an old, ill-fitting filing system, I encourage you to start fresh with something portable and accessible.

I’ve always preferred to maintain my files in Sterilite plastic milk-crate style filing boxes, which rarely run more than $7/each. They have internal hanging file rails, usually accommodating both letter- and legal-sized files, are stackable, and come in a wide variety of colors. 

Clients are often surprised that I prefer milk-crate style filing boxes to alternate styles, like transparent, lidded filing bins (which tend to warp over time and don’t have secure handles for making them easy to carry).

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 I also prefer the crates to portable file totes with lunchbox-style handles.

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These can be fine if you have a very small number of files, as may be the case if you’re in college or just starting life after school. But most individuals, and definitely families, find that their paper in the five main reference file categories is too much for one box to handle.

Additionally, it’s been my experience with client files that the handles of overstuffed file boxes tend to break off from the lid. Sometimes, that causes the lid to pull open, and files to spill across the floor. That’s almost as bad as melted ice cream!

Of course, if you move homes often enough that protection and coverage of your files is a concern, handled totes are at least better than flat-lidded tubs. But unless portability in the outdoors is an issue for you, given the price of totes (often $25-30), I still lean toward using crates. Your mileage may vary. 

SIDEBAR ON ACTION VS. REFERENCE FILING

Please note that this post and the forthcoming ones in this series all address reference files, papers we put away for when something in our lives trigger us to go looking for them, unlike action papers, where the information (due dates, inquiries, etc.) on the papers themselves trigger us to use them.

Action papers tend to get stuck on refrigerators or bulletin boards, or in the file risers on desks, though longtime Paper Doll readers know that for action papers, I recommend a tickler file, something with 31 slots for the days of the month and 12 slots for the months of the year. 

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Every piece of action-oriented paper gets assigned a day to either begin action or consider it; as the tickler file is consulted daily, nothing action-oriented falls through the cracks. 

For more information on using a tickler file to organize your action paperwork, I refer you to my classic ebook, Tickle Yourself Organized.

FILE ORGANIZING ESSENTIALS

To get your personal/family reference files in order, you just need these basics:

A Container for Hanging Folders

For pure reference files that you’ll be dipping in and out of, follow the cabinet, crate, tub, or tote suggestions above.

If you’re holding onto archived files — papers for a closed company, a project long-since ended but for which you have to maintain records, tax folders from more than a decade ago, etc. — Bankers boxes (flat-packed boxes that require no insect-attracting glue) are an excellent option. Avoid random liquor store or Amazon boxes, neither of which are suited to the purpose of long-term, vertical paper storage.

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Hanging Folders

The standard hanging folder is an Army green color that has never won any awards for aesthetics, but you’re likely to find that they’re the least expensive. That said, hanging folders are manufactured in a variety of colors. You can pick one color for all of your files, or (although I don’t recommend it), you can color-code the five main categories of your reference filing system.

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The standard hanging folder has two metal or plastic rods. The more modern rods are plastic, glide more easily on file rails, and are sturdier and less likely to rip away from the paper wrapped around them. However, they tend to be more expensive than the generic, Army-green basic-rod folders.

Smead and Pendaflex have long been the go-to names in hanging file folders (as with interior folders, below). I think the key is to look for the word “reinforced,” such as with the Pendaflex SureHook Reinforced Hanging Folders, which not only have the plastic rods with tension springs, but also polylaminate strips across both top edges around the rods and along bottom fold for increased durability.

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Traditionally, we recommend hanging files like the versions above. They’re expandable (up to a point) though I rarely put more than two or three interior file folders in each hanging folder. There are also 1-inch and 2-inch box-bottom hanging folders (open at the sides, like regular hanging folders) and hanging jackets (closed, with accordion-style side-gussets).

If, even after a serious culling of excess papers, you have catalogs, guides, or thick folders (such as for legal depositions or technical manuals), you may choose one of these options, but they’re not  usually necessary for standard filing.

Lastly, don’t worry about tab-related bells and whistles for hanging folders. Most come with the traditional hard plastic label tabs that you can insert anywhere along the horizontal strips covering the metal or plastic rod. More modern hanging folders have fold-up or pull-up tabs you can label; these are often erasable. 

I’m a big believer in concentrating your labeling on the interior file folder tabs themselves. Because the basic personal/family file system only has five overarching categories (as explained at the bottom of this post), if your interior files are well-labeled, hanging file labels are mostly extraneous.

Over the years, many of the clients I’ve encountered who had struggle with filing chose to only use hanging files without any interior folders — and they hated filing. No wonder! Hanging files weren’t designed to be precisely categorized folders for documents, but staging areas or category markers for general sections of files, to hold interior folders.

I tell clients to think of hanging folders as warm winter coats (an apt metaphor today, given that much of the country is experiencing blizzard conditions) while the interior file folders are more precise, covering specific topics (much like shirts cover the top half of your body, trousers the bottom half, and socks and shoe cover your feet). 

Alternatively, think of paper as having a clothing storage analogy: you have a house, in which you have a bedroom closet, in which you have rods and closets, on which you hang clothes on specific hangers and fold into specific drawers. Similarly, you’ll have filing cabinets or boxes, in which hanging folders will hold interior folders, which are filled with individual papers.

File Folders (Also Called Interior Folders)

For clients just getting started with filing, I encourage using plain 1/3-cut manila folders and not to bother with fancy or obscure tabbing systems or lots of different color combinations.

It’s not that you shouldn’t buy a colorful assortment of folders, per se (though they do tend to be more expensive), but that they introduce a layer of complications.

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Let’s say you intend to color-code your files, and you decide that all of your financial folders will be green. What happens when you open a new financial account but have run out of green folders?

Are you likely to notice you’re running low on folders and order in advance? (If you’re like the typical person struggling with organizing paper, the answer is probably no.) Are you really going to jump up right after your current organizing session to run out and get green folders. (Again, probably not.)

So, depending on your style, you might create a folder in a different color, messing up the color-coded system you decided to use (against my persnickety advice), or more likely, you might not stash those papers in any folder at all, planning to attend to them “someday,” which we all know is not a day on the calendar.

As for 1/3-cut, that means the folder tabs are on the left, in the center, or on the right. (Note: if you run short on left-tabbed folders, just turn a right-tabbed one inside out, or vice versa, and you’ll have what you need! Obviously, center-tabbed folders remain the same.)

Some clients experiment with other tab styles. While they’re less common, there are 1/2-cut file folders, sometimes called half-tab folders; the left tabs take up the left half of the folder, the right tabs take up the right half, offering a larger space for labels, like so:

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This is mostly a stylistic choice, but you are much more likely to be able to quickly replace your 1/3-cut folders with more 1/3-cut folders than to easily find 1/2-cut folders anywhere but online.

Similarly, there are also straight-cut file folders with just one tab running the entire length of the folder. They do provide the maximum space for labeling, but that’s not usually necessary for personal or family files. Again, this is stylistic.

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Finally, I will caution you against 1/5-cut file folders for functional reasons. As you might guess, those have 5 tabs — one on the far left, interior left, center, interior right, and far right. The tabs on 1/5-cut file folders are just too small to label meaningfully. You will be frustrated by these.

If you’re starting from scratch or doing a major file overhaul, buy a box of 100 folders.

Label Maker (semi-optional)

Paper Doll has terrible handwriting. This wasn’t always the case, but the longer I predominantly create using a keyboard, the worse my penmanship gets. If your writing is legible, you can probably get away with using a nice, thick Sharpie to label your folders.

However, I think everyone benefits from using the teeny bit of technology afforded by a label maker. Even if you have good penmanship, the formality and uniformity of a label maker makes a label seem “official.”

For people who are already inclined to keep up with their filing, it probably makes little to no difference. But if you’re tempted to run away and join the circus rather than file away even a small stack of files, anything you can do to make the task more appealing is going to help. That means having “nice” folders (rather than erasing and re-using folders that have been jammed in drawers, stomped on by the dog, or stained by spilled coffee).

Similarly, having labels with crisp, dark text on a white background, in a uniform font, and preferably in all-caps, makes it more likely that you’ll take your filing seriously and pop papers where they belong. 

The big names in label makers are Brother and Dymo. Professional organizers are pretty split on their strong loyalty to one of the two, and I’m no exception. I prefer the Brother line of label makers for intuitiveness and ease of use. If you’re hoping to either start a brand new system or refresh the one you have, begin with a label maker with an easy learning curve, like the PT-70MB Personal Handheld Labeler. It’s light-weight, has 54 font combinations and two-line printing, and usually runs only about $20.

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For anywhere from double to five times the price, you can upgrade to a version with added options, like Bluetooth connectivity, increased font sizes, increased memory, and number of printable lines. Start off simple, and if you really crave something with more oomph once you’ve mastered the basics, you can pass the basic one along to your teen or donate it.

As we go along in this series over the next several weeks, we’ll talk about how to label your files, but the primary concerns will be clarity, specificity, and consistency. 

Finally, where applicable, we’ll be talking about how, if you prefer to organize your information digitally, you’ll want to make sure your labeling system for digital files matches your system for paper files.

Binders (optional)

Some clients have three-ring binders on-hand and plan to use them for their filing system. They quickly come to realize that the more friction — the more added steps — the less likely they are to actually file their papers.

The more friction — the more added steps — in your filing system, the less likely you are to actually file away your papers. Make your filing system attractive and easy to use. Share on X

That said, for most of your personal and family papers, using interior and hanging folders will be the simplest way to handle your filing. Match the piece of paper to the right file folder, pop the paper into the front of the folder (using reverse chronological order filing) and you’re done!

Voila!

However, to put papers in a binder, you have to find your three-ring hole punch, punch the holes, open to the labeled section of your binder (because binders will necessarily encase multiple sub-categories), pop-open the rings, insert the paper, close the rings, flip all the paper to one side (or else a full binder won’t close) and close the binder. See? Friction!

And that assumes you won’t pinch your fingers, which is quite the optimistic assumption.

That doesn’t mean binders are never useful. For example, for financial filing, I tend to encourage binder-loving clients to save binders for investment portfolio filing where the portfolio management company tends to send thick stacks of dozens of papers monthly or quarterly. Often, these management companies pre-punch the stacks, making for slightly less friction, and sometimes even provide binders with pre-labeled monthly tabs.

Binders can also server purposes for creating household cookbooks or for building portable family medical documentation. As we go through the next several posts, I’ll note where binders may be good alternatives to file folders.

A RE-INTRODUCTION TO THE FAMILY FILING SYSTEM

Since 2007, I’ve been talking to readers and clients about the family filing system for all of a household’s reference papers. You may have a three-generation family of seven or your household may just be you (and the voices in your head singing harmony with you when you belt out Taylor Swift while filing). 

There are no rules legislating where you keep your files. A home office is the most logical place, but if you live in a studio apartment or the only area not overrun by your children or furry friends is the kitchen desk file drawer, so be it. Keep your files where it will easy to put papers away and just as easy to get them out again.

You need good (enough) lighting to read your labels, and you (and the rest of the household) needs to not pile random household stuff (pizza boxes? stuffed animals? dry cleaning?) on top of your filing home. Otherwise, pick an area that makes you happy.

The best personal or family filing system is one offering simplicity and ease of access. You need to be able to keep related papers together. To that end, I teach that all of your personal or family reference files will fall under one of five main categories:

  • Financial
  • Legal
  • Medical
  • Household
  • Personal

Over the course of the next several posts, you’ll see that everything for you, your family, and your household will fit in these categories. “Miscellaneous” is a thing of the past!

For reference, the entire series can be found at the following links:

 

Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, and I may get a small remuneration (at no additional cost to you) if you make a purchase after clicking through to the resulting pages. The opinions, as always, are my own. (Seriously, who else would claim them?)

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