Hints for Maintaining an Organized Home Office

Whether your home office is your primary work site or an adjunct to your main office, here are a few tricks that will help you stay organized.

Define a space for your home and personal documents and a separate space for your work documents. It can be as simple as two separate drawers or ends of a shelf with a divider.

Create a filing system with titles that make sense to you and use colored folders for quick identification. For instance all your folders dealing with finance could be green; all folders dealing with warrantees could be purple, etc.

Create a folder for immediate response and handle it before the end of the day. Finish up by filing the documents in appropriate folders.

Keep a planning calendar handy either on your computer or PDA or in hardcopy close to your telephone and computer so it can be updated as your schedule changes.

Use ergonomics (the science of designing the job, equipment and workplace to fit the worker) to make sure your workstation is comfortable and allows you to do the job efficiently. The computer monitor should be directly in front of your face to put your body in a neutral position. The keyboard should be placed so the forearms are parallel to the thighs when your feet are flat on the floor. The chair should be adjusted to maintain appropriate alignment with the monitor and keyboard with feet flat on the floor. The mouse should be located on right side if you are right handed and on the left side if you are left handed. If you use a document holder, place it on the opposite side of the computer from the mouse.

Put items you use the most frequently near the workstation. These may include telephone, fax machine, printer, scanner, stapler, resource books, or editing tools.

If your equipment is placed to minimize physical strain and optimize convenient access to the things you use most often, you will be less likely to rearrange items and pull work to other areas of the house. Comfort and convenience will help you maintain an organized space.

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

Organize Essential Documents

The National Association of Professional Organizers reports that most people identify paper as their biggest organizing problem. The most daunting task is knowing where to start.

Consider dividing your paper problem into categories. Some suggested topics are current mail, bills, correspondence, essential documents. Then decide how you will separate each major category into smaller segments that will allow you to file the documents as they come in, act on them in a timely manner, then archive them for an appropriate amount of time.

Give special consideration to essential documents-those records that you might need for emergency, legal or financial consideration. These documents need to be safeguarded in a waterproof, fireproof safe that can be removed from the home if there is some type of emergency that requires evacuation. Some folks keep these documents in safety deposit boxes in banks. If that is your choice, you should consider keeping copies safeguarded at home so you can easily access them if, for some reason, the bank is not open to you. That scenario happened recently in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. With copies you can at least transact business and obtain substitute originals from the source if necessary.

Here are a few essential documents to include in your emergency file:

Documents that deal with identification like birth certificates, Social Security cards, adoption orders, citizenship papers, marriage certificates and divorce/separation papers.

Documents that deal with insurance like life and health insurance policies including dental and disability, home owners or renters insurance policies, automobile and boat insurance policies and umbrella insurance policies.

Documents that deal with personal and business finance including checking and savings account information, investment accounts, titles and deeds to real estate and other personal property such as cars and boats, stock and bond certificates, and loan agreements.

Estate planning documents including will and trust documents and durable power of attorney for health and finance.

Pulling these important documents together and filing them in a safe place is a good start to organizing paper.

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

ORGANIZE YOUR DOCUMENTS FOR TAX PREPARATION

Tax documents have begun t o arrive in the mail and soon that April fifteenth deadline for filing will be here. Do you have all your documents organized and ready to fill out your forms? Don’t despair if the answer is “no”. You can start right now to set up a simple system that will allow you to do your taxes quickly.

If you do not itemize, you will need one folder in which to put all your forms and documents as they arrive. After you have used the information to fill out your forms, make a copy of your tax documents and all attachments to retain for your personal files. Even if you file electronically, it is good practice to retain a hard copy of your final tax form and attachments. Put those documents in a folder marked with the year for which the taxes are filed and the date of filing. Keep the files in reverse chronological order in a file box that you can access if needed.

If you itemize your tax deductions, you can use a section of a standing file, a portable file or an accordion file with enough sections for the various categories of documents you need to save throughout the year. Some categories you might consider are income, alimony, child support, medical expense, childcare expense, and charitable deductions. Use an additional folder marked “other deductions” to get started. As you separate you receipts you will become aware of other categories you need to create.

After you (or a tax preparer) complete your tax return make sure you retain a copy of the forms and all attachments. I like to keep the finished documents in an accordion file separated into categories that coincide with the tax form deduction lines. That way, if I am ever audited, I have back up for each income and deduction entry. It is sufficient just to keep the hard copies in a folder marked with the year for which the taxes are filed and the date of filing. File the accordion files or final folders in reverse chronological order in a place that is easily accessible in case you need the information. Use the folders you prepared to sort your documents and receipts to collect and file pertinent information throughout the year.

Next year everything will be ready to prepare and file as soon as your last document arrives in the mail.

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

Avoid Paper Clutter

Avoid Paper Clutter

According to the National Association of Professional Organizers, paper is the number one clutter problem in American households. When you really think about it, that covers a lot of territory. There is mail, receipts, documents that record marriages, births, deaths, legal transactions and agreements. There are newspapers and periodicals and even reminder lists and post-it notes. We haven’t even considered the mounds of paper generated doing homework, creating white papers and documenting our thoughts for current readers and future generations. There are warrantees and receipts to keep track of. There are insurance policies and tax records to maintain. There is not one system that works for every one but here are a few hints to help keep things under control.

1. Minimize the paper you receive by contacting the Consumer Credit Reporting Industry to opt out of receiving pre-screened credit card and insurance offers from lists provided by Equifax, Experian, Innovis and Transunion (http://www.optoutprescreen.com)/. You can also contact Direct Marketing Association (http://www.dmaconsumers.org/) to discontinue receiving direct advertising from companies affiliated with DMA.
   
2. Sort mail as you receive it and retain only the documents you need to maintain your records.
   
3. Do not save newspapers and periodicals for an article you need for future use. Clip the needed material only and recycle the rest of the paper.
   
4. Keep warranty information clipped to appliance instructions and the purchase receipt in a file or three ring binder for handy reference.
   
5. Find a home for the paper you keep and them keep the volume under control by setting limits that meet your personal needs. Examples include:

• No more magazines than the magazine rack can hold
• No receipts over a year old other than those for tax and warranty purposes.
• Only insurance policies that remain in force

If you are currently overwhelmed by the paper in your life, start with one area and work on it until you get it organized. It may be culling the magazines or managing the mail. Just pick a place and start. Then keep your solutions simple and make sure they fit the way YOU live.

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net