http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogList.asp?sort=organizer&schedule=55 Our finances, the paperwork associated with our finances, and the clutter that results from that paperwork are things that keep many of us awake at night. The goal of my Sunday financial blog is to share my thoughts and tips on how we can minimize both the physical and mental clutter that our personal finances often give us. Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:45:19 EST en-us http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2721 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2721 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST One of the things they never taught me in MBA school was how to be a master of my own business administration. I started to learn what I hadn't learned when I was several months into running my business. I couldn't work at my desk. It was covered with paperwork: office equipment manuals, business plans, and various other papers presumably related to the business. I remember thinking that, if I was going to put myself out there as an organizing expert, I had better get my own stuff ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2704 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2704 Sun, 8 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST Every business has employees. Every employee has paperwork and/or electronic files associated with him or her. Even if you own your own sole proprietorship business, you need to keep some employee files for yourself. Start by separating the documents related to each of your employees into categories: · Employment documents. These are the papers your employees filled out when they were hired, or when they changed their withholding allowances. At a minimum, each employee's ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2693 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2693 Sun, 1 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST When I heard the word "vendor", I used to think of guys selling things from carts on city streets. In my mind, those "vendors" were trying to forcibly sell me things I really didn't want. When I became a business owner, my definition of a vendor expanded. I now define a vendor as a person or a company that sells goods or services to my company to enable me to engage in my business. Some of my company's vendors, particularly the ones who want to sell me advertising space, still ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2681 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2681 Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:30:00 EST Keeping track of your customers is critical to the financial success of your business. So your customer files are not the place for disorganization in your office. What goes in your customer files? Regardless of the nature of your business, you will need to capture the following information about your customers in an organized system: · Contact information · Contract or letter of agreement · Records of sales: estimates, orders, invoices, sales ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2670 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2670 Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:30:00 EST I know, I know. Most of you small business owners would rather be out there working in your business (and making money) than creating and maintaining paperwork and electronic filing systems for your business. Go ahead and groan, but please keep reading. Business filing does not have to be complicated. If you own a franchise business or are an independent consultant for a company, your parent company may have already given you a ready-made, tried-and-true structure for maintaining paper ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2637 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2637 Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:30:00 EST Last week I spent two and a half days exhibiting at my county's Senior Expo. I spent the other two and a half days getting ready for it and recovering from it. I spent a lot of money on the Expo, spent a lot of time on the Expo, and didn't make much money last week because of the Expo. It was a good week. As a small business owner who also works IN the business a lot, I realized that I haven't been wearing my "business owner hat" nearly enough. I love working ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2622 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2622 Sun, 4 Oct 2009 11:30:00 EST "It's too expensive." "I can't take time off from work and family." "It doesn't directly increase my business, so why should I do it?" Those are three of the excuses why small business owners don't bother to attend educational conferences. And they're not true. I just attended the annual conference of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization. www.nsgcd.org This group (of which I am a subscriber and board member) always puts on awesome conferences, and ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2612 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2612 Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:30:00 EST Many years ago, a very successful corporate vice-president asked me if his desk was the messiest desk I had ever seen. As a professional organizer, I'm asked that question frequently. Usually I smile and reassuringly tell the person that their desk (home, office, or whatever) is nowhere near the messiest I have ever seen. But that day I paused and said, "You know, I think you do win the prize for the messiest desk I have ever seen." Upon further exploration, I realized ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2605 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2605 Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:30:00 EST It happens every April. Small business owners gather their prior year's business records to organize them for their tax preparer. They start making lists of their income and expenses by category. So far so good. Until they stumble across transactions they simply don't remember. Was that UPS charge back in July for products she sent to a customer, or was it for the birthday gift she shipped to her mother? How about the Starbucks receipts? Were they for meetings with clients, ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2583 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2583 Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:30:00 EST Last week, I talked about how business, particularly a home-based business, can take over our time, if we allow it to do so. The same can happen with our space. If we don't consciously carve out a space at home in which to conduct business, our work will quickly migrate onto every available horizontal surface in our homes. Location, Location, Location It was the most important factor when you chose where to live. Location is also the most important factor in choosing where you ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2568 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2568 Sun, 6 Sep 2009 11:30:00 EST As we approach Labor Day 2009, I'm thinking about all of us who are home-based business owners. We never do truly get to take a "labor day" holiday. Whether we love or hate our work, it's always right here, beckoning us to attend to it 24-7. Your Homework for This Week: Examine your home-based-business work situation. Is your work taking over your life, in terms of time? Although work is an important part of your life, it should only be a part of your life. Take some ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2549 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2549 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 11:30:00 EST My old roommate used to say, "I must have money in the bank, because I still have checks left!" Unfortunately, she was serious. When I told her that – no, that may not be the case, and that she should reconcile her checking account with the bank every month, she told me that, why yes, she does reconcile her bank account every month. Her method? When she got her bank statement in the mail, she simply wrote down the ending bank balance in her checkbook, assumed the bank must be right, and ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2530 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2530 Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:30:00 EST At least once a week, I have to tuck my tail between my legs and admit to some online entity that I've forgotten my password. Fortunately, most of the time they can send me an immediate e-mail that allows me to enter the website, change my password, and go on with my business. That is, until next week, when I forget it again. We've spent the last few weeks discussing security issues related to our finances. Password security is an important component of our overall financial ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2511 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2511 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:30:00 EST How annoying is it to pick up your daily mail, only to find that ¾ of it is junk mail (or as my friend Debbie in the business would correct me, "Direct Marketing Mail")? Whatever you want to call it, I call it a thief: It is a thief of my time because it makes me take the time to open it, read it, and shred it. It is a thief of the natural resource of trees. It is a thief of our tax dollars that pay to recycle it. It is in collusion with thieves who steal it from our mailboxes and our ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2498 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2498 Sun, 9 Aug 2009 11:30:00 EST My clients have many different philosophies about the subject of shredding. Some of them (gasp!) don't bother shredding ANYTHING – a practice I strongly discourage. Others won't discard ANYTHING with identifying information on it until they have shredded it. You can imagine the volume of papers that accumulates, waiting for that elusive date when their owner finally has time to sit and shred them all. And some of them shred SOME THINGS, like old bank statements and checks, but worry ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2475 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2475 Sun, 2 Aug 2009 11:30:00 EST I just read a startling statistic: 9 MILLION cases of identity theft are reported annually! Don't become part of that statistic. You've spent a lot of time organizing your financial records. Now you need to protect them! The Department of Justice offers a handy acronym, SCAM, to advise us how to avoid being a victim of identity theft: S TINGY – Be stingy about giving out your Social Security number. There are very few organizations that legitimately ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2456 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2456 Sun, 19 Jul 2009 11:30:00 EST We have spent the last month creating a document called What My Family Needs to Know (WMFNTK) – a document that contains all of the information your next-of-kin or personal representative will need when you die and if you are unable to tell him or her where to find it. Your WMFNTK document contains 4 chapters: My Personal Information, My Legal Information, My Financial Information and My Medical Information. If you need to catch up, please see the 4 previous blog entries. Now it's ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2441 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2441 Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:30:00 EST We have spent the last several weeks creating a book called "What My Family Needs to Know" (WMFNTK). The idea is to create a one-stop-shop for all of the important information about your life, so that your family can have easy access to the information when you are not able to provide it for them. The operative word here is WHEN: There absolutely WILL be a time when your family will need this information. So, your WMFNTK book will be a great gift to your next-of-kin (although you might want ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2387 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2387 Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EST Did the untimely death of Michael Jackson at shock you? It shocked me. His music was a part of my youth. And he was a few years younger than I am. His death made me even more aware that life can change in an instant. Did that wealthy man with 3 small children ever imagine that he would die at age 50? Probably not. Had he taken the time to plan for its possibility? That remains to be seen. For his family's sake, I hope so. But we can all learn a lesson from Michael ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2375 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2375 Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EST Last week we began creating a document called "What My Family Needs to Know" (WMFNTK). Why do this? So that your family member or personal representative will be able to easily retrieve your personal, legal, financial, and medical information when you're not able to tell them where to find it. Remember, there is no "if I die". This week, your homework is to create Chapter 2 of your WMNTK document: My Legal Information. Below is a list of possible personal information that you ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2363 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2363 Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EST "If something ever happens to me…" "Just in case you ever need to know where my things are…" "If I die…" We've all heard, and perhaps even said, phrases such as those at some time. They are euphemisms for a subject that we don't like to talk about, but know that we should talk about: our own death, or the death of a loved one. According to Wikipedia, a euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2344 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2344 Sun, 31 May 2009 11:30:00 EST Congratulations! Over the past 5 months, you have worked diligently to purge and organize your financial paperwork. You've created or refined your filing system, and you are proud to say that you can find just about any piece of financial-related paperwork in seconds. Awesome! You should be proud! There is one last step you need to take now to make your financial files "absolutely organized". You need to create a file index . A file index is a simple spreadsheet that lists ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2339 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2339 Sun, 24 May 2009 11:30:00 EST I've written a lot about organizing your insurance policies. Hopefully you have: 1. Located the policies 2. Created a spreadsheet, listing what you have and whom to contact 3. Filed the policies in a safe place These are all vitally important things you need to do to organize these important financial documents. But all the organization in the world won't help you if your insurance coverage isn't up-to-date. Consider these scenarios: · You ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2323 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2323 Sun, 17 May 2009 11:30:00 EST If you've been following the "52 Weeks to Financial Organization" series, you will have already completed your Un-Balance Sheet – a list of everything you own (your assets) and everything you owe (your liabilities). (If you missed this step, go to http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2213 .) You will have already listed your life insurance policies in the Assets column of your Un-Balance Sheet. But did you know that you might have additional life insurance policies for ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2314 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2314 Sun, 10 May 2009 11:30:00 EST I'm taking a break from my "52 Weeks to Financial Organization" blog this week, in honor of Mother's Day. My mother, Edna Hamilton, passed away nearly 4 years ago at age 85, and I'm missing her a lot today. Mom spent her career as a civil servant in the U.S. government – back in the day when the term "government worker" was not an oxymoron. If she were still working today, she would surely be in some type of managerial position, but back in the mid-20 th century she used her ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2297 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2297 Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:30:00 EST If you're lucky, a) you actually have health insurance, b) your insurance pays for most of your healthcare expenses, c) your healthcare providers submit your health insurance claims for you, d) your insurance company processes your claims correctly and promptly, and e) you never even see the bills from your doctors, because of all of the above. But this is real life, and most of us aren't quite so lucky. Without an organizational system for ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2285 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2285 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:30:00 EST The reason we take the time to file any type of paper is so we can retrieve it when we need it. In addition to our vital documents and tax-related papers, the most frequently sought-after documents are the instruction & warranty booklets we get when we make a major purchase. And when we need them, we REALLY need them! If the item is broken, we need to find out how to fix it, and whether or not it is still covered by the manufacturer's warranty. We already have one problem on ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2275 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2275 Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:30:00 EST It's appropriate that we talk about estate organization this week. Remember the old saying: The only two certainties in life are death and taxes? We're painfully aware of the second of those two certainties this week as we scramble to submit our tax returns by April 15 th . Most of us don't "forget" to file our tax returns because the federal and state governments are kind enough to give us deadlines, as well as the incentive to file on-time to avoid interest and penalties. ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2257 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2257 Sun, 5 Apr 2009 11:30:00 EST Last week's homework was to create (or update) your household inventory – a list of and photographs of your household possessions. Now that you have done so, there are a few additional steps you need to take to make sure that you are adequately protected in case of a fire or other disaster: 1. Check to see that you are adequately insured. Most homeowner's insurance policies have a very small coverage limit (if any, at all) on certain valuables. Now that you have a ... http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2249 http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogEntry.asp?id=2249 Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:30:00 EST They say that knowledge is power. If the unthinkable happens – losing most or all of the contents of your home in a fire or other disaster – having knowledge (and documentation) of your possessions will give you the power to begin rebuilding your house and your life much more quickly. This week's homework is to create a home inventory. My husband, who is in the property and casualty insurance industry, told me that your homeowner's insurance agent will love you if you can ...