Are you organized? What’s your system?
- Are your important papers and receipts just thrown in a box?
- Is everything neatly labeled and organized in a file cabinet?
- Or is your personal organization system “somewhere in between”?
Do you cringe when it’s tax time?
Could you find your birth certificate or marriage license in an emergency?
Wondering why I would even ask?
When I first started blogging a few readers were struggling with organization and requested I write about organizing.
I hadn’t written about organizing because I wasn’t sure exactly how I wanted to approach the whole topic of organizing.
Fast Forward a year or so later…
I am happy to report … I’ve figured it out. The whole “how am I going to approach and write about organizing”.
I decided to write about organizing your life. Intentionally plan(ning) your life™…one printable and one event at a time.
Now if that scares the crap out of you or you think this has nothing to do with you, keep reading.
I promise I will show you how important it is to have a family (even a family of 1) binder. An organizer that contains all your important information in the event you need to grab-and-go in an emergency.
Ask yourself these questions: just play along, I have a point
- Who pays the bills and manages the finances, the tax papers and the important documents in your family? If it’s not you, do you
- know where all the important documents are located?
- know the combination to the safe or have a key to the safe deposit box?
- know and understand the filing system so you can find important information
- Do you have minor child(ren) who will need to be cared for in the event of your death or disability?
- Do you have a Will, a Medical Power of Attorney, and a Pre-paid/planned burial (or cremation) policy?
- Do you or your spouse have financial and legal obligations? Do you know the details?
- As the surviving spouse, you may be required to ensure those obligations are attended to by the estate of the deceased spouse.
Depending on how you answered these questions, you’re either relieved (a) to have a plan, (b) to have started a plan or (c) you’re freaking out because I just scared the crap out of you.
I’ve got your back!
I repeat…I’ve got you’re back!
I’ve been where you are and now I am going to share with you what I’ve learned and in some cases, that includes my organized neuroses with you.
You will benefit from my quirks, my OCD obsessions and my ability to plan ahead.
So if you’re scared just hang tight. I’ll bring to you information, topics, and products to get you organized and help you intentionally plan your life™
For those of you who don’t know my story I think it’s important to share it with you. I want you to know and understand that I have been YOU, I have been RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE. Right Now!
I married later (than most) in life. When I finally found Joe, I already had a house, a corporate career, some debt and all the trappings of adulthood and the American dream.
Joe was divorced with a young child. He was a state employee with a pension, credit card debt, and financial & legal obligations to a minor child.
I didn’t have any experience with either a child (other than babysitting when I was 16) or the legal system and child support.
I knew enough to know if something happened to Joe WE NEEDED A PLAN. A grown-up, life plan.
I set out to intentionally plan our life.
I created a system to track all the facets of our lives, as I worked to blend our family both physically, emotionally and now on paper.
I would talk about this document and even it share a copy, thinking I was helping people out. But basically a document this big was just too overwhelming.
So I thought we could get to the root of organizing your personal information. Start right there under a foot of dirt. The root ball.
So I ask you. “What’s in your emergency organizer?”
If you’re like most of us, you don’t even know where to start.
Remember I have your back!
Organizing important information
- is essential and necessary (plan for a rainy day, don’t leave the surviving spouse in a lurch, help them be prepared)
- is difficult for some, easy for others (find a system that works for you and make it easy to maintain)
- requires diligence and the help of your significant other (both parties need to know the who, what, when and how of your family organizer)
- is a gift to the survivor (I am speaking from experience; after the death of my dad)
- makes tax season suck a little less (well, tax season still sucks, but it helps that all your “stuff” is organized and in order)
- is a blessing for end of life planning and decisions
The key to my organizational success is my system:
- it is easy to use and easy for me to maintain.
If the system is too complicated, you won’t use it {said the voice of reason and experience} - I label files, folders and boxes
- my family organizer has a detailed, updated section for every member of my family, including one for my mom.
- I can easily archive important information year after year.
Yes, you can throw stuff away, but knowing what to keep and shred are too different things.
Never get rid of legal or ownership papers (e.g. titles, deeds, surveys, legal fillings, proof you paid child support, or tax returns.)Personally I have every return I’ve ever filed since I was 16. But that is my preference, ’cause I’m not messing with the IRS. - I am consistent and follow a maintenance schedule. I update my organizer as life events occur and review the information and files every January, I want to make sure everything is updated. Taking the time to create your family organizer and then never updating it again defeats the purpose of having a plan.
- I keep all legal papers in a fire proof/water proof safe (i.e. passports, social security card, birth certificate, baptism and other religious sacrament papers, marriage license, Will, end of life policy, advanced medical directive and medical power of attorney. The piece of mind of purchasing the safe is worth every penny! Save your latte’ money and invest in a safe.
- My safe is large enough to use hanging folders. I use a simple labeling system that categorize the important information
- Titles: house, boats, cars, motorcycles, RVs, trailers, etc.
- Insurance: one hanging folder for each policy: life, accident, health, property, & burial
- Retirement: Pension/ IRA/ 401K
- I have simplified my filing system and use pocket folders to organize (1) monthly bills and receipts, (2) tax receipts and tax related information, and (3) business specific tax information
Tip:
– if you use a credit card to pay for the doctor, highlight the doctor’s copay amount on the monthly credit card statement.
After the credit card bill is paid; file the statement in the correct tax folder –not the folder for bills…since the statement is now a tax related receipt
– if your credit card statement includes multiple tax deductible items, highlight each one and include a note about the purchase (e.g. professional certification annual dues, doctor visits)
Here are the 10 categories that I started gathering for my important information binder.
- Personal Information
- Religious Affiliation
- Important contacts
- Family / Ancestry Information
- Medical History
- Education Information
- Assets (house, car, cash, stocks/bonds) – An asset is something of value*
- Liabilities (house payment, rent, car payment, insurance payment, child support) – A liability is an asset that is not owned outright, something that you’re making payments on. A financial obligation or debt*
*Note…these are my simplified definitions of asset and liability, to make sure we are all speaking the same language - Financial Information (bank accounts, debt, retirement)
- Important documents (birth certificate, social security card, Visa, Passport, Marriage, Divorce, Separation and custody documentation, deeds, titles and tax returns)
How many do you have organized?
You may come up with more categories or break out the 10 categories above into smaller sub-categories. My list is just a starting point.
Find a binder or pocket folder and start compiling this information.
If it’s too much for you to handle or wrap your head around…I get it. I do! Remember 3 things:
- I’ve been where you are and survived the overwhelming-ness of organizing and blending two families
- I’ve got your back, I’ve got your back, I’ve got your back!
- I’m not passing judgement, I just want to help. Honest!
and that’s the reason I created the FREE Get Organized! Course.
The course is scheduled to launch on October 1st.
Every day for 7 days, I will send you an email with a step-by-step video and easy to follow worksheets.
Print as many copies as you need to build an organizer for your immediate family and your mom too
At the end of the week, you’ll have created your own basic grab and go binder.
Join me and intentionally plan your life™? I’ll walk with you hand-and-hand.
Some parting words:
- Find a system that works for you
- Start somewhere, Start today, Start with a file folder or shoe box – JUST START!
- I recently wrote a guest post in which I referred to Organization as a diet.
- “If your diet is complicated; you’re counting calories, or it’s too limiting in what you can and can’t have…you’ll quickly fall off the wagon.” -Mimi, The Texas Homemaker
- “You didn’t get unorganized overnight and Rome wasn’t built in a day. Organization is a process. Take it a step at a time.” -Mimi, The Texas Homemaker
- “And, if you fall off organizational wagon, grab that donut and hop back on the organizational wagon.” -Mimi, The Texas Homemaker
Invite your friends to join you as you begin the journey
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The contents in this post, the Get Organized! Free eCourse and Perfect Life Organizer™ product are based on personal opinion, personal experience and personal research. All media is provided in good faith and should not be construed or implied as a replacement for professional legal, financial and medical advice.