Confession: There are two boxes in the corner of my office waiting for me to sort through them and organize the contents. They are filled with receipts and paid bills and other stuff that I think I need to keep.
Another confession: I have over 4,000 messages stored in my email inbox (My friend Meggin McIntosh--who teaches people how to zero out their inbox everyday– is having a major coronary from reading that, I’m sure).
Although I’m getting better, I know I save way too much information. I laugh when I see those accordion file folders with tabs for each month at the office supply store because my annual collection of paperwork fills a banker’s box or two.
But, why?
This morning, I was contemplating that when I saw my grandfather’s financial records on my mother’s table after he passed away last winter, I was amazed that everything fit into about six file folders. And my tax accountant brother said that my grandfather’s records were impeccable…those file folders contained information about his banking, savings, investments, insurance, credit cards, copies of his will, etc. Everything my brother and mother needed to know to get my grandfather’s estate wrapped up.
So why was my 96-year-old grandfather able to only have six file folders and I have banking boxes? I’d like to say that the extra paperwork comes from tax-related stuff associated with my husband’s art business and my coaching, writing, and school related expenses. But that isn’t the truth.
The truth is that I hold onto old bills and other paperwork because I think I might need them. And it isn’t a paper versus electronic format thing, either. I hold onto old emails because I think they will contain important information that I will need sometime in the future. As a result, I am overwhelmed with informationitus and, ironically, can’t find what I need when I go looking for it.
My paternal grandparents had one file drawer in their desk for all of their financial records. After checking the Good Housekeeping’s chart on how long to keep important papers, it’s easy to see how they and my grandfather kept everything succinct. I can discard/shred/delete about 90% of what I keep.
Am I the only one who suffers from this malady? Will you join me in clearing out information clutter?
Oh, you are hardly alone. And remember…we teach what we most need to learn so that’s why I teach productivity concepts. I need them most of all!!
Grab the shredder and make confetti
. I used to keep everything. It was to the point where it took hours to find what I was looking for. Then a few years back I purged and I haven’t missed any of it. Now I just keep reminding myself to keep it simple.
Not me…I am the opposite. THROW IT AWAY!!!!
However, I know what it is like. When we moved my parents 8 years ago, I about had a coronary. They BUILT their house, so it’s not like they didn’t know they would be moving. NOTHING was packed. We packed them and moved them in the same day(and I was 7 months preggers at the time *sigh*). I found paperwork from when my mom was in the hospital when I was 3!!!! I will be 40 soon. WHY WHY WHY!!!!! When I suggested we shred/burn/trash/recycle whatever…GASP!!! You would think I had threatened to kill my brother. *shake head* I dread the day I have to deal with their estate (for more than the obvious reasons).
Good luck. THROW IT OUT!!!!
The great irony is that I detest clutter and stuff and generally have a “throw it out” attitude…purging comes naturally to me. The chink in the armor, though, has been the financial paperwork stuff. It may be related to the time I was a teenager and I helped my parents (both packrats) clean out their office. I threw away something that they did, in fact, need about six months later and I felt horrible because I thought it was my fault. (Now, *cough* years later, maybe I can forgive myself for their pain by acknowledging that they were the ones who were so disorganized that this important document wasn’t put in a safe place.)
(PS to Lorie: Don’t get my younger siblings started on having to move parents…they haven’t forgiven my older sister and me for living in other parts of the country while they had to deal with The Move)
Yes, I wish I had an office like that picture…a place where you can think and aren’t distracted by the clutter. My husband is even worse than me – he has a beautiful office full of junk – old records, collectible toys, post-it notes with numbers he “might need” – it is my greatest frustration. I am more of a “pile” person – thinking that if I see a pile, well naturally I will address it and finish the project. Doesn’t work. I only have 5 e-mails in my inbox however!!! Before my inbox was a catch all – each e-mail a “To Do” and or information for storage. Now, I label anything I may need in a subfolder, I have a “To DO” label for somethings, and what is in my inbox is only to do’s that are not easily categorized or things I need to address in the next day or so. Did this recently – it is great!
I used to keep a lot more but now I’m pretty good at getting rid of paperwork. What might help is to keep a “3-year box”. Put files in that box that you think you might need forever and every year go through the box and for every file that has been in there 3 years, make a decision on whether to keep it and move it to a 7-year or Forever-box or to toss it. Sometimes if you haven’t needed or looked at the paperwork in a long time, it makes it easier to get rid of. This has worked pretty well for me.
My clutter relates to projects I’m pursuing, books I’m reading, etc. I’m okay as long as I can leave it on the guest bed and close the door. My husband takes care of the financial paperwork and does a good job. My frustration is with receipts that must be kept if we expect to have recourse on things we buy.
I guess we have to be systematic no matter what.
I also don’t think people had as much paperwork to deal with 50 years ago. I look at my grocery receipt and the advertising and other information on the bottom of it is twice as long as the list of groceries I bought! This kind of “junk information” tacked on to the information I DO want/need also leads to the feelings of overload.
As I started to sort through papers yesterday, the same “what if I need it for an audit?” feeling came creeping into my thoughts.
So — we have to know the rules. What will I need if I’m audited? Seems like those rules change. We have gone “paperless” as much as possible, so a lot of the “paper trail” we used to keep is actually available online. At least, I think it is. Those are things we need to know.
And I agree about the lengthy store receipts. My husband tracks all of our expenditures, and I’ve taken to highlighting the date and amount spent because it’s actually hard to find that important info on some receipts.
Kathy, that link to the Good Housekeeping chart basically tells you what you will need. Basically, the rule of thumb (from what I’ve read and what my brother has told me) is that if you’ve put it on your tax return, you need the evidence to back up your deduction.
I get weirded out because of having home based businesses and so I start double-guessing myself–I use the Internet for both business and personal use. Do I keep the phone bill or not to prove how much the DSL is costing me each month? In truth, probably not because the deduction is based on a percentage rather than itemized…and my bank statements are available to me online anyway and that would be a sufficient record.
I really don’t know why I am weirded out. My brother is a tax accountant with a very low audit rate, so it isn’t like I’m playing fast and loose with the IRS. His website has a link to tax information: http://www.mearstax.com/index.php
This article may help, too: http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/ask/archive/2008/q0103.htm
Kathy, I do the same thing on the receipts for my husband! I tear off the survey/credit card app/coupon or whatever is on the bottom and circle the date and amount in addition to writing the budget categories. It makes it a lot easier for him.
Dear Dr. Julie-Ann, I love your site and thanks to my good friend and mentor Meggin for posting on FB. Your “I might need it informationitus” condition is either highly contagious or it’s in our DNA because I rarely find anyone who doesn’t suffer from it. It’s so tied up with emotional stuff and indecision, people really do suffer and beat themselves up for saving and storing all this paper clutter. You are so fortunate to have had your grandfather prepare everything for you and your family before he passed. He knew exactly what was needed, no more no less. The GoodHousekeeping chart is helpful but I know of an even better tool that I have been using and sharing for over 5 years called the FreedomFiler. It is a filing “system” that has all those retention rules built into the color-coded label system. They call it a “self purging system” which really means that once you file it, you don’t have to make any more decisions because they are made for you. I would love to share more about it if you and your readers are interested, but check out the website http://www.askfreedomfilerexpert.com for more info about the product. PS: notice I use the same overwhelmed lady behind the desk image on my website.
That looks VERY interesting, Susan! Thank you for sharing that resource with us. How did you find it and become an expert?
I was at a NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) conference 5 years ago and saw the product, bought it, and it sat in the box for 6 months. But once I started using it I was hooked. I began to use it in my business, (I’m an estate organizer) advising my clients to use it, and then started teaching workshops on decluttering at the local community college. I completed my certification as a FreedomFiler consultant and am an advisor with the founder and CEO of FreedomFiler, Seth Odam. I began one year ago doing monthly virtual teleclasses focused on organizing your life to find balance, order and joy. I love sharing with people about FreedomFiler and how it can simplify your life and get rid of those piles. Although the product itself is very intuitive, easy to set up and use out of the box, I find that most people can get a lot more out of it with my teleclasses. I also post Q&A’s on my FB page, send a monthly helpful tip, and provide personal consulting. It’s a very rewarding career and I am proud to be associated with the product.
I’d love to say that I’m not a pack rat, but I, too, have old records because I “might need them one day.” A few years ago I met a man who has – are you ready? – NO paper- he and his wife have digitized everything. I’d love to say that would solve my problems, but I bet I’m not the only one who has wondered “now what file did I stick that word doc in? And worse, what did I call it?” That made me realize the problem isn’t the media, it’s me!
Thanks for this entry-now I have a name for what’s wrong with me!
And thanks, Meggin, for pointing me to this.
Doing 10-15 minutes a day to get a handle on this. My email inbox has 2800 messages in it, now. A lot of my saved email is either correspondence between a client and me OR tax-related receipts. I see now the value of setting up boxes for those things and then being able to just save them onto a disk at the end of the year to put into the hard file folder with the rest of the stuff.