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Re: PaperTamers' Challenge - Tame by 2009
Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 10:38 am
by Harriet
I made those DPCs and out of 7 regular or semi-regular bills, 5 can be paid automatically. 3 are already set, one has all the paperwork and should email me to let me know it's accomplished, and 1 is snail-mailing me the paperwork now.
Re: PaperTamers' Challenge - Tame by 2009
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 11:31 pm
by happylittlemom
Today I worked on Taming my Paper!! I got through all the papers I had dumped into my "in" box (which was actually a copier paper box, so it was a big one). It was only about half full. I used the principles from "Getting Things Done" by David Allen and I managed to get through every single paper, etc., in the entire box. I am profoundly proud!! I have more papers in the abyss of my master bedroom, but I'm confident that I can and will get them under control! Good luck to everyone else who is up for the Challenge
Re: PaperTamers' Challenge - Tame by 2009
Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:52 pm
by Harriet
Great job, happylittlemom - that is a lot of paper to have dealt with. I have an "abyss" or two to consider myself.
Read my above post with great disappointment in two businesses. The one (AT&T, btw) that promised to email me about status of auto-pay has not done so. The one that was going to snail mail me the paperwork for auto-pay has not done so. Why doesn't anyone do their jobs any more? Really had my own efficiency revved up and can't get any participation here - good grief the point is to PAY THEM, so you would think I'd get some help.
Let's see, some successes - bill-paying schedule for my parents plus all December bills with check numbers etc all recorded in a folder. All financial paperwork gathered into one physical place at their home - probably takes up 3 or 4 square feet right now, and no, not in the filing cabinet yet since that is full of oddities that I'll have to sort through 
(oversize photos, oversize maps, etc stored in the filing cabinet to keep them safe while years of paperwork resides in produce baskets. Sigh.). Plastic checkfiles available for both our own 2009 bills/receipts and my parents'. Their bills paid current for 2008, their checks deposited and current, plus a year-end donation to our church made it into the plate for them Sunday (something they were worried about). Oh, stamps purchased.
Omissions discovered here - I can't find any magic tape when I thought I had several boxes of 3/4-inch-wide to fit my dispenser. Sigh. Can't find the regular size stapler OR the little palm-sized one. Double sigh. But what a step forward to know WHAT is missing - I didn't even know that when we started this thread! Oh, I found brads 
. Maybe not particularly useful, but I have a box!
Re: PaperTamers' Challenge - Tame by 2009
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 8:33 pm
by Harriet
How did we do in our 6 weeks? In hindsight maybe ending on January 1 was not such a good idea, LOL! Talk about a busy time! If anyone needs a further papertaming thread, please go right ahead and post it. I thought about a papertaming/phototaming thread, but then I thought maybe photograph organization is kind of a Creative Home thing?
Anyway, here's my finish-up report today:
All our receipts and statements for 2008, with tax-related ones already pulled out and rubber-banded on top, are out of our plastic checkfile, neatly into a large Swiffer-Wet container, labeled and awaiting the tax-document mailings that will come during January. I'll just put those in as they arrive and be ready to file taxes efficiently. 
I reclaimed another plastic checkfile for my parents as well. So now two plastic checkfiles are ready for Desk Days for both households in 2009.
Further desk organization: my master sheets for rotating declutter/focus cleaning are mounted on the inside of my left desk cabinet door. My new check-off schedule for rotating exercise workouts is mounted on the inside of the right one.
Loose ends - AT&T got in touch yesterday and the auto-pay for my parents is in place, Woo Hoo! They have changed the address to mine (I was able to request that because my parents had previously put me onto their account as a person who could make decisions) so that's one less company my parents will ever even have to think about. I found the stapler, Woo Hoo! and I bought the large 675-inch size of replacement magic tape so I am no longer doing without that vital supply!
I don't know if you really get "finished" with this, or if the tiger ever gets "tamed". But I am light years ahead of where I was 6 weeks ago, so thanks to this thread!
Re: PaperTamers' Challenge - Tame by 2009
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:53 pm
by happylittlemom
Harriet it looks like you have totally rocked this paper taming challenge!! I have recently become "in charge" of my step father's paper and bills (btw, he has NOT put anyone on ANY of his accounts and simply won't). I have a hard enough time with just my own, so two sets are totally knocking me around
!! I need to spend some time tomorrow setting up my online payments on my bank's website. I know autopay might be better, but I get nervous about the paycheck and the payment hitting the bank at the right time, etc. Maybe I'm just thinking too hard
Today I'm taming the address/phone list clutter and am transferring info into Outlook. I finally figured out how to sync it with my iTouch, so life is a bit better
. I have my supplies all in one place for my desk time and all my pending/actions needed papers in a folder and my dad's in the other. Hopefully it just looks like it is going to take a long time, but really will go quickly once I'm sitting down and focusing on it.
Re: PaperTamers' Challenge - Tame by 2009
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:43 am
by sherinjoy
Hi Harriet and HappyMom - Happy to see both your successes. And I see the three of us have recently taken over our parents finances/paperwork, which I think put us into overwhelm. It is enough just handling my own family's, it has been quite a shock to be responsible for someone elses too. I have had some success though, with setting up files and payment schedules. That helped a lot with my stress over finding important papers and making payments on time. I haven't gotten my DM's checks into Quicken yet, and that will be a big step forward. I have used Quicken for years and my familiarity with it will make her info easy to understand.
My key to moving out of overwhelm is consistency of effort, so I have committed to 30 min. a day to working on DM's paperwork until I get it at a maintenance level. So I hope we keep the papertamers challenge going, because I will need the accountability.
Re: PaperTamers' Challenge - Tame by 2009
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:42 pm
by catnipper
Although my parents are both gone, we still have some issues with their estate as well as my inlaws, my BIL's house, and my husband's uncle. (2 moms, 1 brother, 1 uncle all gone in the last 2 years). We couldn't have done some of these things without a conservator. These people are wonderful if you get a good one when you need them.
Re: PaperTamers' Challenge - Tame by 2009
Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 10:09 am
by blessedw2
You really do have great ideas.
Re: PaperTamers' Challenge - Tame by 2009
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:45 pm
by Smile*Lee
Hi PaperTamers!
Goal #1 - Get my office spaces organized by tax time. Lots of family/sickness issues since Thanksgiving, so my papertaming is WAY out of control.
Goal #2 - Our church is offering a Dave Ramsey course on finances, which I signed up for. Although I keep track of spending and bills, I could do a better job budgeting and preparing for future expenditures.
I don't know why I never thought of reusing the Swiffer boxes. I have 25-year-old baby wipes boxes still in use. 
I've also recycled old silverware dividers in drawers for pens/pencils/markers.
Mini-goals for today: bills - calls -update Calendar - menus - grocery list - school scheduling
Val~
Re: PaperTamers' Challenge - Tame by 2009
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:28 pm
by Nancy
Dave R. is good!
dd listens to him on the radio all the time.
Paper taming has been on going here this week
and I'm about half way done with
the creativity room aka my office.