Purge the Paper: 5 Tips
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Sparkplugging is starting a new tradition called “Spark an Idea Thursday”. Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog! If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!
The theme of this week’s theme is: “Spark an Idea About Purging”.
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I talked a lot about filtering today. In a conference call, teleseminar and a talk with a friend. Purging and filtering go hand in hand. When I think of purging, the first thing that comes to mind is purging paper files.
Wow, that’s a lotta paper…
Did you know that the average home office has 3,000 pieces of paper? Are you kidding me? Uh, no. That’s a lot of paper! No wonder people (maybe you) feel overwhelmed by paper in their office!
If your paper is out of control, it might be time to purge, get rid of, sort, go through and get it squared away. Here’s a few pointers:
Don’t keep what someone else already is keeping.
If you’re keeping your electric bills, don’t. If you need a copy, guess who has one? That’s right, your electric company. Better yet, go paperless and set up an online account and have your payment history at your fingertips.
Seven years is good enough for most paper.
If you’re stuck, seven years is a good benchmark. There is certain paper you should keep indefinitely, but not much. Here’s a document that can help (Be sure to check with your accountant or tax preparer in case you have special circumstances.)
Clean out the file cabinet once a year.
Paper can easily get out of control when it’s locked away in a filing cabinet. So, once a year take some time to archive and purge through your paper files. The new year is a great time to do this, and start the year off with a clean slate!
Make it easy on yourself and don’t overdo it.
If you can’t stand a 16-hour purging marathon, don’t. If the thought of purging your entire office filing cabinet makes you dizzy, break it down into smaller times and projects. Do one drawer at a time, 30 minutes at a time. Be consistent, and before you know it, your office will be a new place.
Protect yourself.
Did you know that most identity theft comes from paper? Not the internet, paper. Be sure to shred important documents so you don’t become a statistic. A good paper shredder can be purchased for under $100. That’s an investment well worth making.
Ready to get started? Go do it!
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My husband is an attorney and because many of his aunts/uncles (big family) got married late in life and have no children, they always come to him to help with their financial affairs, wills, powers of attorney, estate planning, etc. He always refers them to other professionals due to conflict of interest. But we always end up “managing” the paperwork, storing it, then producing when a crisis begins or they decease. We set up 4 (5 drawer) old free metal filing cabinets in our shed and store the files in there, no mice, dirt etc. can get in them. We just purged 15 file boxes of papers from his deceased parents that we kept for 10 yrs. (Attorneys in IL must keep files). Now we moved into the empty file cabinets 15 boxes of files from his recently deceased aunt/uncle. That meant 15 boxes of paper out of a bedroom that was the “senior” bedroom. Every once in a while we get an old bill in the mail, and so seem to use the files occassionaly, an heir calls looking for more $ or whatever.That way the files are out of our house and stored cleanly and safely.