My desk isn’t quite this cluttered, but it’s pretty bad.
My desk is always a mountain of papers. I just can’t seem to get it organized. This week I finally got sick of it, and I’m really trying hard to get most of my desk paper out of my life.
I found a post on how to stop junk mail at Get Rich Slowly, and I followed the steps, so hopefully that will help stop the inflow of paper. I think I’m also going to scan some of my paper and just keep it on the computer. I’m open to any other tips to help me get in control of the office paper monster!
Being Frugal News
I don’t have any news specific to my blog, but I would like to take a moment to congratulate Paidtwice on the launch of the first Carnival of Snowflakes! The first edition was a huge success! If you’d like to participate in the second edition, submit your snowflaking post here.
Also keep Pete (from Bible Money Matters) and his wife in your prayers. His wife had a large blood clot in her leg and has been in the hospital for the past week. If you’d like to help Pete by writing a guest post to keep his blog going while he’s caring for his wife, contact me, and we’ll get it set up.
Being Frugal Roundup – Favorites from Around the Web
Single Guy’s friend got a second job at a sporting goods store. Find out why Single Guy thinks it’s a bad idea.
Mrs. Micah is doing a series on Alien Abduction packets. Don’t know what an Alien Abduction packet is? You’ll just have to visit Mrs. Micah to find out!
Going on vacation soon? Make sure you visit Plonkee Money before you leave. Plonkee made a great list of resources for overseas travel.
I always love a good list on ways to save money, and Patrick comes through with twelve ways to save money and the earth at Cash Money Life.
You all know I hate credit card companies. If you’ve ever wondered why, you need to read Gibble’s post on the secrets credit card companies don’t want you to know.
And after you read about why credit card companies are bad, head over to I’ve Paid For This Twice Already to find out why Paidtwice hates debt. I hate it too.
The high cost of healthcare is all over the news these days. If you’re looking for ways to save, Pinyo posted a list of 25 ways to save on healthcare at Moolanomy.
There’s a giveaway going on at My Two Dollars! David is giving away a copy of 5 meals for $5. You need to read this post to find out how to win.
Prime Time Money is also doing a giveaway in celebration of his one year blogging anniversary! What’s he giving away? A $50 Amazon gift card! (I could buy a few books with that.)
Are you relying on your home equity line of credit as an emergency fund? The Dough Roller tells you why that might not be such a great idea.
Here’s another bad credit card story. Chase outright lied to Randall of Credit Withdrawal! The story is worth a read.
Do you have a plan for your finances? If you don’t, head to My Dollar Plan to find out how to make your own dollar plan.
I look forward to the day my husband and I are debt free. I know it could be easy to fall into old habits though. That’s why I loved 7 Solid Tips for Living Debt Free at The Wisdom Journal. Ron tells you what to do to avoid falling back into the debt trap.
Emily draws a great analogy between getting healthy and getting fiscally fit at Remodeling This Life. There are a lot of similarities.
Are you ever overwhelmed by too many things to do and a lack of time to do them? Shanti has a fantastic post on time management at Antishay Ventenne.
This last post isn’t personal finance related, but I think it’s well worth highlighting. Cindy at Oh My Aching Debts is going through the process to become certified as a foster care provider. She’s doing a series on foster care, and the first post is right here.
That’s all for this week. Have a great weekend!
Photo by kk+.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the link Lynnae. Good roundup.
Thank you for the link! Glad you enjoyed the article.
As for paper, my mom bought recently a program called Paper Port. It’s a computer filing system – scan your stuff in and file it on your computer and get rid of all that paper. You can even download your online bills in there too to keep everything organized. It’s $100 retail – but with a coupon or even on ebay maybe a better deal could be found. The way my mom talks about it, you’d think the thing was made of gold so it must be good! :)
Great roundup. Thanks for including me.
I don’t know if this will interest you, but it has saved my sanity. I found Maria Gracia’s “My Oh-So-Organized Filing System recently, and ordered it. My files were out of control for YEARS…it took my husband and me six and a half hours three weeks ago to set up the system, and it works beautifully for us. Not only are my files neatly organized in categories we need, but it is quite easy to file papers as they come in, almost daily. I no longer have stacks of paper everywhere, and the sense of relief I felt when I realized we had nine years worth of tax forms finally in order was a palpable relief. I do scan some items onto the computer, but for things you need hard copies of, the system is awesome.
While we have signed up to reduce junk mail, we still receive unwanted mail from local businesses we have used or companies we have requested info from but decided not to use. Yesterday, after picking up the mail, I spent about 15 minutes e-mailing 3 local businesses asking to be removed from their mailing lists. All replied they would. The 4th, an out of area business, required 4 e-mails with questions to be sure we were removed (explanation was they had about 15 mailing lists so had to be able to find ours). We were getting 8-12 pieces of mail monthly from these 4 places.
For filing systems: when we were first married, and thruout our 40 years including 15 of having our own business, I opened and sorted mail daily, doing filing monthly and then weekly with the business. For taxes, long before computer programs, I organized on the 15th of the following month (15th of Feb for Jan). When tax time came around, I was ready by the end of January.
Biggest decision: find a system, or combination of systems, that you can and will use regularly.
You should check out elizabethhagen.com she has an awesome “tickler” file system to tame the paper monster that plagues all of us!! I love it and swear by it for my Avon business and home office!!
Thank you for the link! Time management is one of my strengths :)
I haven’t tamed the paper monster either. :( Fortunately, it’s not causing any impending doom, so I let it be and it lets me be.
Thanks for including my alien abduction piece…more to come! :)
I just signed up to reduce the junk mail too. Thanks for the mention. A lot of your readers have come over to enter the contest. Thanks!
When you pull your mail out of your mailbox (not later, do this as you receive your mail):
Starting today…
Open everything, one at a time.
Put everything into one of these piles:
* – bills. Open them and put the statement, including any paperwork that comes with it that you want to look at, back into the “return envelope”. Even if you pay bills online, keep the return envelope in case of power outage or anything else that can occur. The rest goes into trash/recycling.
* – paperwork requiring action/response
* – items to be filed
* – items to be shredded
* – food flyers/coupons (if these interest you), otherwise, trash/recycle them
* – other people’s mail
* – trash/recycling
Put the bills in a place you’ve designated for this purpose. Don’t mix your bills in with the paperwork requiring a response.
Put your paperwork requiring a response/action into your inbox. If you don’t have one, set one up.
File the papers needing to be filed. If you don’t have a file for something you’ve received, put it in your inbox.
Put other people’s mail somewhere you’ve designated for such purpose. If it is for someone who doesn’t live there, mark it as such and put it wherever you put your outgoing mail.
If you handle your mail every day as it comes in, it won’t take long and you’ll be amazed how much it will cut down your paper clutter and save you time. You will stop handling the same piece of paper several times before getting it either into your file cabinet or the trash/recycler/shredder. You’ll also have the comfort of knowing that all your bills are in one place and anything requiring your attention is in another. The rest is out of your way.
For the papers currently on your desk – spend five/ten/fifteen minutes (whatever suits your schedule/energy level), every day, and process it all according to your regular incoming mail. Just grab the top document and work downwards for the alotted time.
Hope this helps. I know it’s helped me!
Thanks for the mention. :)
Junk mail is definitely a problem, and while the list at Get Rich Slowly is good – it’s missing some of the key places to get off the lists, particularly to get rid of local advertisements.
I created a Squidoo page with all the research I collected and links to the top (4) places to go to eliminate this junk mail. All are free, and it will take 30 minutes to an hour of your time.
Check it out and help spread the word:
http://www.squidoo.com/do-not-mail