Using the Go-To System
Ready to get organized? Get in touch to schedule in-person help. Or if you would rather tackle things on your own, here is what you can do:
Step 1: Assemble your supplies
Locate six banker boxes. These will be used at first during The Big Sort and then will become your archives.
Label each box: Family, Finances, Health Care, Home, Possessions, and Wills/Estate.
Designate two large containers or garbage bags to use for Recycle and Shred.
Step 2: Retrieve your paperwork
Pull together all your paperwork from wherever you can find it: filing cabinets, countertops, drawers, the floor.
If your documents are already in folders, leave them there for the time being.
If your documents are in envelopes, remove them, and use staples or paper clips instead.
Step 3: The Big Sort
Without taking time to study each document, choose the appropriate banker box destination.
Work as quickly as you can; later you will be examining the documents more closely.
As you go, remove any obvious papers that belong in the Recycle or Shred containers.
Step 4: Review and purge
Choose a banker box to start with; remove its contents.
One by one, consider each document and ask yourself:
Do I need to keep this handy in my Go-To Files, either for my own use or to help someone else get a complete picture of my obligations and practices?
Could this go into my archives? It would be less handy, but I might need it for tax purposes or want it for future reference.
Should I recycle or shred this because the information is outdated or I could easily find it online? (See my blog post, Financial Records: keep or shred?)
Put each document where it belongs: the Go-To Files, back into the banker box, or into the Recycle or Shred container.
Step 5: Set up your archives
Decide how many archive boxes you want, based on how many documents you have decided to keep and how much storage space you have.
If you have consolidated your archives into fewer than six banker boxes, re-label the boxes with their new categories, for example, “Family, Health Care, Home, Possessions” and “Finances, Wills/Estate.”
Use hanging folders to divide categories within a banker box. Additional hanging folders are handy to keep documents from sliding to the bottom of the box.
You only need to further organize your documents if that suits your style. Spend time now organizing or spend time later searching!
Step 6: Go paperless wherever you can
Eliminate your future paperwork clutter by enrolling in electronic delivery wherever feasible. But first, print out a document that provides key information about that account and put it in your Go-To Files and/or your Archives.
Ensure that trusted individuals know how to access your accounts.