Stephanie's Progress
So since this week was coming up with a plan, I did {mostly} that.
- Filing Cabinet - I needed to purge many of these files, so I kinda skipped ahead. I took out all of the files in the cabinet and started to purge and sort through what we needed and what we could shred. I found oil change receipts from 2010, old car insurance premiums from 2008 and only the plumbing fix from originally buying our house over 7 years ago - nothing of the original mortgage since we refinanced, just the plumbing receipt. So I purged and started to sort into new categories for filing. I am currently waiting on my file folders so that everything can go back in.
- Receipt & Mail corralling -
- As far as receipt corralling, you can see what we did here.
- For the mail, I am creating some sort of "mailbox" system so that papers are not just left on the table and forgotten about.
- Photos - UGH! There are so many photos. My husband and I house them on Google Drive and we are nearing our limit. Our goal is to tag each photo and delete all of the duplicates that were put there when we merged my computer files and his. By my calculations of 8 years, 12 months each, plus January and February of this year, I have to go through 4 months per day to finish by the end of the month - starting yesterday. I better go get busy...
- Grocery List/Pantry Items - We started using Grocery IQ for shopping and it works overall but we have some things that don't always get on the list either because we don't have our phones with us or it is something we get all.the.time so we overlook it. So we decided that we need a list on the fridge too. I also need to keep a pantry list in our kitchen so that I know what we have on hand in the basement - I didn't know we were out of pasta this week for example, what Italian do you know is every out of pasta?? So off to search Pinterest for one pre-done or just create my own. We will see what works best!
I have my work cut out for me but I am excited to start to see the progress!
Jenny's Progress:
Oh boy has this month not only been enlightening but also encouraging & empowering thus far!
I took the paperwork from all over the house and put it on a table that I was in the process of transforming and put it in the middle of what I refer to as our "piano room." The cats were VERY CURIOUS about what was going on.
Marco & I pulled up two chairs and got to work on the sorting process. We are ALMOST finished - but not quite. We have only worked on sorting for the first two nights though. All the bags and boxes are emptied - just some stuff to finish sorting on the table itself... no where near the amount that is pictured above! (EMBARRASSING)
We made the following piles; using any type of empty container, box or basket we could find:
- Bills to pay
- To File
- Medical (bills, records, insurance records)
- Kid 1
- Kid 2
- Receipts
- Photos
- Taxes**
- Renovar
- Owner Manuals
- Magazines/Books
- Memories
- To Relocate
- Attorney/Annulment (I am divorced)
We also had a garbage can, a shredder and our paper recycling bin.
We used 33 gallon black garbage bags to try to contain the shredded paper & paper for recycling (don't worry - we don't throw the plastic into the city bins - we empty them out ~ doing our part for Mother Earth!) It still made a mess though. Thus far, we have filled 3 of those bad boys with paper to recycle. That is a whole helluva lot of clutter. Already, our minds are becoming less stressed as we are becoming less cluttered! That part is encouraging and empowering! The enlightening part - is that we NEED TO BE PAPERLESS! We have so much stuff coming in that really can be paperless. So, this week Marco will be on-line signing up for paperless statements wherever we can. That will also help out Mother Earth and will help out our home with clutter and unwanted mail.
We have yet to start our filing process. I am still sorting through medical bills and insurance statements trying to figure that whole mumble jumble of a mess out as this is our priority.
I have ordered photo storage containers and will post on that later in the month...
**GETTING PERSONAL**
We have made an appointment with my accountant to file our 2013 taxes. We also made a future appointment, one month later, to file our 2014 taxes. DON'T ASK & I WON'T TELL! Okay, I lied. Did you know that you do not HAVE to file taxes on time, nor file an extension if you are expecting a refund? {It is risky, so I don't recommend doing this unless you speak with your accountant first - if your calculations are wrong, you will have to pay penalties.} I have done this almost every year since I have been sick to treat my tax refund as an emergency savings account. I usually don't wait more than 2 years because you risk losing the state refund for that type of delay. (Lesson learned the hard way.) Now that we have the blog and the business, we have to catch up and be on time each year. I am going to consider getting a bank CD to hold the money. This method has helped me out tremendously over the years. It has paid my girlies tuition & it has paid medical bills or other debt that may have incurred in the "down times" of life. My thought process: most people can't wait to spend there tax refund on vacation, furniture, etc. We have savings account for those things. It is the unexpected down times of life that we are rarely, if ever, prepared for financially. In almost every instance, that is what my tax refund ie: savings have gone for. Most people don't have to worry about that & you should consider yourself to be blessed! However, in our situation, I am a 2 time brain tumor survivor and a cancer survivor. We have to be prepared for the "down times" in life.
So now that you know what's going on with us, what have you been up to?
Here is your challenge for this week
Month 1, Week 2-3 (The Clean-out & Purge)
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Diminish
-
Discard
-
De-Clutter
-
Paint if needed
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Begin re-organization following week 1’s plan
I know we have started to see some exciting projects coming in! Keep up the good work! Don't forget to follow our Operation: Project Organize Pinterest Board for inspiration and tips!
Happy Organizing!
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