Paper-Tamers' Challenge - Tame by April, 2014

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Harriet
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Paper-Tamers' Challenge - Tame by April, 2014

Postby Harriet » Wed Jan 01, 2014 8:21 pm

Don't worry - we've got this!



Stash 'n Dash recovery!
Mailbox dailies
Thank you notes
Bill paying
Financial plan
A clear desk?
Refrigerator art
Magazines
Office supplies
Greeting cards to send
Greeting cards received
A filing system?
Medical records
Catalogs
:shock:

(breathe)

That list could go on and on. Better take charge. You need some friends who are in this PaperTaming thing with you, so post here for accountability and encouragement.

The days prior to and including April are a helpful time to get caught up on papertaming. For those of us in the U.S. and Canada, there's the specific reason of April tax deadlines. :shock: But there are also other spring deadlines for businesses, as Harmony has explained. We can save ourselves a lot of stress if we gather and organize as info comes in, and get finished with that paperwork early.

Please post here any tips and ideas to help others, any recommendations of supplies or storage that have helped you. Feel free to ask questions about how long others keep documents, how they consolidate storage, how they keep on top of complicated tasks, ways to simplify correspondence, what to do when the children's coloring book pages look like more fun than the tax forms and you consider switching - whatever advice will help you!

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Nancy
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Re: Paper-Tamers' Challenge - Tame by April, 2014

Postby Nancy » Wed Jan 01, 2014 10:04 pm

I thought of this we have 2 shredders, one fir the farm stuff, when one heats up we can use
the other one. H. Did not think much of my idea how ever.

Shredding is current for the moment.

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Harmony
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Re: Paper-Tamers' Challenge - Tame by April, 2014

Postby Harmony » Wed Jan 01, 2014 10:22 pm

I have to shred leftover papers and copies no longer needed that have personal information on, and because we are a company I am very careful with employee's information also. Remember to shred or destroy somehow credit card offers that come and other things that have personal numbers, etc. on them.

I think the best tip I have is to go through your mail daily. I put magazines in one place to read, throw away or recycle ads, put bills in their place, etc. It only takes a minute or two every day and makes such a difference. If you don't have a specific place to put your bills to pay, designate a place. I don't understand people who pile their mail up without reading/sorting. Things get so behind and/or lost!

Harriet, I love the picture!

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Nancy
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Re: Paper-Tamers' Challenge - Tame by April, 2014

Postby Nancy » Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:34 pm

I found more shredding that needed attn. So I did that.
Took out the shredded paper & some other items too moved out of the office now I can vacuume in there yea! This must be the focus room / area this week quite possibly the worst room so an5 progress feels like a victory! YEA for more success!

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Re: Paper-Tamers' Challenge - Tame by April, 2014

Postby Nancy » Thu Jan 02, 2014 4:00 pm

I have shredded another small stack of stuff yea for even more progress!

This is the room where stuff got hidden during a stash & dash the door was closed so people could not look in iykwim... :roll:

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Re: Paper-Tamers' Challenge - Tame by April, 2014

Postby Harmony » Fri Jan 03, 2014 12:53 am

Today 3 14" high wire baskets of paper got dumped. A lot of it came from that wood cabinet I cleaned out, the rest came from all sorts of places at my desk. It was unbelievable to me that I found that much, since I think I keep up on paper pretty well. I also "tamed" or updated 2 bulletin boards. I actually hate being surrounded by paper piles and disorganization, so this is something I don't actually mind doing.

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Harriet
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Re: Paper-Tamers' Challenge - Tame by April, 2014

Postby Harriet » Fri Jan 03, 2014 11:41 pm

File cabinet - YES! The big declutter in HRH's office turned up the ring of old keys he just knew the file cabinet key was on. And even though he hadn't seen the ring in years, he picked out the right key immediately and opened the cabinet. It was quite a relief!

Actually, not being able to find that very key ring after the cabinet self-locked :roll: was a big impetus for HRH doing the declutter. And I'm so grateful for the declutter because everything is so much easier to clean now.

I told dd33 about the planner I bought for 2014, which has the "wire-o" binding like a recipe book so it will lie flat. She said now all you need is enough space on your desk surface to put it. ;) Maybe after the current Desk Day push I can go through some of this stuff.

When I purchased the planner, I noticed that the same one with a less popular cover was on sale for $5 so I grabbed it for dd15.

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Re: Paper-Tamers' Challenge - Tame by April, 2014

Postby DeeClutter » Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:18 am

Harriet, what planner did you get? I've been looking
Begun is half done -SO! JUST BEGIN!!

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Harriet
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Re: Paper-Tamers' Challenge - Tame by April, 2014

Postby Harriet » Tue Feb 04, 2014 12:10 pm

This is the "Botanical Gardens" one I bought for me, Dee, and the other view you can click on shows you the pages. I think you can see the "Reflections" one by the same company suggested below this one. I bought it for dd15 (both from amazon). Usually the Reflections one seems to be found at lower prices, yet I can tell you the only difference is the cover design and a very slightly different green to the pages.

editing - the Botanical Gardens one has gotten very cheap at Amazon now - search for " Botanical Gardens Planner 2014 "

I seem to ease into using a planner better when there are different segments to the pages, so the 3 extra segments for notes on this one help. Appreciate the "notes" square area, and the "shopping" area is fine. I know some people would use the other matching side in a "list-y" way, but I just avoid doing that! :)

Taxes - I took both my own and my ddad's initial papers in to the tax preparer yesterday. Missing one form for my ddad and will have to call if it doesn't arrive soon. Have a phone call to make to his bank to answer one question for tax preparer. Estate lawyer says if my ddad has to file, we'll have to keep the estate open longer.

Still finding frustration with the new computer at the desk, although it does give me more desk surface space.

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Re: Paper-Tamers - Tame by April, 2014

Postby Nancy » Tue Feb 04, 2014 2:03 pm

The old calendar is in the trash at the curb.
One old mag is out to the car for donation with too sm. :idea: Print on line is better!


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