DrDeClutterBlog.com

I’ve heard it a million times in my workshops and on-the-job with my organizing clients, “I hate all this junk mail! How can I stop it?”

Organizing around heaps and piles and stacks, no matter what the size, will never end up with a nice, clean space and surface if you continually have junk mail, and unwanted catalogs, phone books and such that keep coming in.

How do you get off of them?

Go to Catalog Choice and FOR FREE (YEA!) sign up and get to keying in your unwanted mailers and see the clutter start to lessen sooner than later!

Plus, just think what a great “Green” idea this is! The more unwanted paper you stop from coming into your home, the less of those items will be printed! That’s my wish!

 One of the golden rules of organizing is to label files and containers clearly and specifically so that you know what’s in them. A good label with help you know what action to take, when and with what regarding the contents.

I’ve seen lots of mislabeled and oddly labeled file folders and boxes in my years of helping my clients get organized. Here is a short list of ways NOT to label yours if you really want to find what you need when you need it!

1. To Do

There are millions of “to dos” and files that scream in print to TO DO ALREADY! But, TO DO alone will not get you to do anything or know what’s really in the file.

2. Important Papers

Again, so? There are lots of important papers and documents. What are they for? When should them be filed or signed or sent or used?

3. Family Papers.

Same problem.

4. My Stuff.

No explanation necessary!

5. Kid’s School Papers.

What year? What kind of school papers? Which kids? Are there actions that need to be taken?

6. Do Now.

When is “now” exactly? And, if there are too many papers in the folder, it can feel overwhelming, it won’t get opened or done.

7. Do This Later.

?

8. DWD.

This one was on a box at a clients house. Well, actually, several boxes. It stands for “Discard When Dead.” When would that be exactly?

9. Throw Out.

Same problem.

10. Deal With Soon.

This box was very dusty. “Soon” might have meant 1987.

You get the picture, right? When you label your files or boxes of anykind make sure to label it so specifically that “a stranger” would know what and when to do what with it. Then, you can too!

The IRS doesn’t care how you keep your records . . . as long as the numbers add up and match your records if you’re ever audited. Always think “prove” when keeping paperwork, hardcopy or electronic. If audited, you have to “prove” – have “proof” – of what you say you lost (expenses) or gained (income). 

Here are quick tips straight from the horses, er, IRS’s mouth!  

1. Use your checkbook to keep a record of your income and expenses: record amounts, sources of deposits, and types of expenses.

2. Keep documents such as receipts and sales slips, that can help prove a deduction.

3. Keep your records in an orderly fashion for easy access to questions.

4. Keep them in a safe place.

5. Store/file by year and type of income or expense in a labeled box or envelope.

ELECTRONIC RECORDS

All requirements that apply to hard copy books and records also apply to electronic storage systems that maintain tax books and records. When you replace hard copy books and records, you must maintain the electronic storage systems for as long as they are material to the administration of tax law.

An electronic storage system is any system for preparing or keeping your records either by electronic imaging or by transfer to an electronic storage media. The electronic storage system must index, store, preserve, retrieve, and reproduce the electronically stored books and records in a legible, readable format. All electronic storage systems must provide a complete and accurate record of your data that is accessible to the IRS.

Home tax software like QuickBooks should be fine.

Electronic storage systems are also subject to the same controls and retention guidelines as those imposed on your original hard copy books and records.

The original hard copy books and records may be destroyed provided that the electronic storage system has been tested to save and store them effectively.

You still have the responsibility of retaining any other books and records that are required to be retained.

MORE IRS GUIDELINES

To read more on the following topics, go to http://www.irs.gov/publications/p552/

• Why Keep Records?
• Kinds of Records To Keep
• Basic Records
• Specific Records
• How Long To Keep Records
• How To Get Tax Help
• Low Income Taxpayer Clinics (LITCs)

Paper, paper everywhere… over 80% of the paper most people have is either out-of-date or will never be used again.

THE 5 D’S OF EFFECTIVE PAPER MANAGEMENT
   A) Do it
   B) Delay it (File it in an action file to do with a deadline, or archive file)
   C) Delegate it (autopayments are a way of delegating)
   D) Dump it (trash, shred, recycle)
   E) Delete it (email!)

TIP: OPEN MAIL OVER “FILE 13″: The trash, recycle bin or shredder  

 - Start with your daily mail first.Quickly open daily mail right over the wastebasket, recycling container or shredder box.  - Dump everything unnecessary, then, sort and take action on the rest immediately – so it doesn’t have a chance to pile up.

Oh! Have you seen the new “Forever” stamp? They were the bell, that got old to look at. Now, they have beautiful pine cones. See above left. Yea! Those can work for Christmas stamps!

No, it’s really not too early to get out your holiday cards and get them organized and ready to mail when it’s time.  

This time of year the “snowball headed for crazytown” is already moving. If you don’t get holiday cards set up to go, they may not happen at all (again) this year!   

1. SELECT CARDS

Dig out what you already have. Are you sure everyone has gotten those cards already and you don’t want to buy more? Talk to a few friends and see if they have cards left over. Trade! What a great way to recycle and reuse like new!  

2. PHOTO CARDS

If you send photo cards, great! So, unless you have a tiny infant, you’re not going to change much between now and December! Take your picture now and have it ready. You can even order the cards in the next few weeks and have them ready to go in early December. 

 3. GET THAT ADDRESS LIST IN TOP SHAPE

Gather up all those scraps of paper with new addresses and torn off address labels and put them all together in one spot. It’s OK if you’re not putting them in an Excel spreadsheet! Handwriting, or just typing into a WORD doc is fine. 

4. TAKE TIME TO REALLY WRITE YOUR HEART THOUGHTS

To do all this work and just sign your name is a little crazy. Really write a nice long note. Starting now, you can do a one or more a day and really tell your story. 

5. FORM LETTERS

Form letters have gotten a bad rap over the years. But, personally, I like them. As an example, my friend Lisa who lives in Switzerland, is not on Facebook and such, and could of course email me photos of her kids and husband, but every year she puts together an awesome form letter with photos and stories of what they’re all doing. It’s really nice. So, I say, do it! It’s nice to see what people gather into a front and back piece of paper to share about the story of their life for the year. You might just learn something new!  

My friend Mary in Nebraska always has a really funny letter, with photos of her family and input from each member. Very fun.

Start putting it together now so that you don’t rush later and wish you had included some story, event or photo.
6. ADDRESS THE ENVELOPES

Weather you hand write your envelopes (Martha Stewart would!!), or you run them out on labels from your computer, just do it! If you love the personal touch of handwriting, then start now. 

7. LET THEM FLY!

Not only will you be ready to pop them in the mail before most people have even started thinking about Christmas, but you might even have legible handwriting because you won’t be rushing.  

8. STAMPS

If holiday stamps aren’t out yet you can hold off on stamping them until you’re ready to take the trip to the Post Office.

This is very cool!

I’m not great at using photo manipulation software as I don’t take, send and use photos that much, or if I do, I don’t crop and change them, they have to work as is.

Well, hallelujah! Here is a cool site that makes tweaking our photos more than fun! You can crop and type words on a photo and frame them and all kinds of stuff for free – and for fee if you want more, better, bigger doodads. Awesome. Thanks, Picnik! Go to http://www.picnik.com/, click on GET STARTED NOW bar and have fun!

Is a paperless society dangerous?

In the healthcare industry, for human or animal, it still is says RFID microchip expert and researcher Dr. Katherine Albrecht who launched an important new site today, http://www.chipmenot.org/ to inform the public about health problems associated with microchip implants.

And, whether it’s you or your pet, microchips have not been fully proven safe.

So, sorry folks, stick to paper files! Keep them up to date and organized.

Do you get tired of typing “www.” before the name of a site, and then the “.com” after? Well, for one thing, you actually don’t have to type www. in front of every URL anymore. Just type the name.com, or .org, or .net, whatever it is, and click ENTER, the search engine (Google or others) will add the http:// or www.

However, you can also do this! Type in the “name” of the site, no www. or .com and then key in CTR key plus ENTER. It will take care of the http://www. and the .com for you! Very cool! Go ahead, try it now! If it’s a .org, .net or otherwise, it may not pick it up, it only works with .com. But, very cool!

More than 660,000 tons of phone books end up in the trash every year. This is not good. We don’t need more in the landfills that are bursting at their seems.

What to do:

1) RECYCLE THEM:  Not all recycling systems will accept them, but if they do, both in your curbside single-stream recycling cart and at the dropoff recycle center, that’s where they should go. (If your recycle system won’t take them, see option 2 below.)

According to California’s Green Valley Recycling, by recycling just 500 books, we could save between 17 and 31 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil, 587 pounds of air pollution, 3.06 cubic yards of landfill space and 4,077 kilowatt hours of energy. Wow! Let’s do our part today!

Or, better yet…

2) STOP DELIVERY: Don’t get them at all.

Why do we still get phone books? One of the problems is that we’re in that wobble in some parts of the world about things like this. We’re still advertising in phone books, there are still “the yellow pages”, but with technology and “progress” more and more people are finding what they need online.

So, assess how much you really use your phone book and decide to get off the list if you can and don’t have it show up on your door step in the first place. Or, if there’s just one that you want, but don’t need a stack of them, get off those you don’t care for as much or need and keep getting the one you like.

Until each online phone book site has it’s own opt-in and out page, here are numbers to call to ask to be taken off their lists.

    DEX: 877-243-8339

    Yellow Book: 800-929-3556 (you need to call every 2 years to stay off this one)

    Verizon: 888-266-5765 

    Names and Numbers: 800-592-7625 

Thank you, from Planet Earth!