Drowning in paperwork and unsure how long to keep important documents? Don't let the clutter consume you! Learn the secrets to organizing your financial life and gain peace of mind.
In this episode, Erika Bell, owner of Organize with E, shares her expertise on how to effectively manage paperwork, digitize documents, and communicate crucial information to loved ones.
In this episode, you'll discover…
A surprising tip for conquering the overwhelming feeling of paperwork buildup
The key to creating a personalized organizational system that works for your unique habits
A simple rule to prevent clutter from taking over your life
The critical conversations you need to have with family about important documents
The one thing you must do to ensure your loved ones can access vital information when needed
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript:
April Schoen: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode. I'm April Schoen and I have a special guest here with me today, Erika Bell. Welcome Erika.
Erika Bell: Thanks for having me.
April: Absolutely. And Erika is the owner and head organizer of Organize with E, so I'm super excited to have her on the show today. We get tons of questions about, like, how do you organize your documents, your life? There's like, so much going on. How do we get that stuff organized? And I know you've been helping me with a few things, so I'm excited to have you on and share with everybody today.
Erika: Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here.
April: Wonderful. Well, let's get started. So, first Erika, can you just tell everybody just a little bit about yourself, and how did you get into the world of organizing?
Erika: Sure, and yeah, so funny, because I get this question all the time, and I never know how to answer it, because I feel like I don't remember a time when I was not doing this. It's like in my blood, it's in my bones. Even from a young age, I'd go to people's houses and be like, tidying things. Whether they wanted it or not.
So then finally, it just kind of seemed like the right time to actually start my own business with it. So I have a master's degree from Florida State and visual merchandising is part of it. So I've always been drawn to making things look nicer, but also understanding the puzzle pieces that go into organizing someone's home.
And all of the intricate details of why people are unorganized, and what has led to that. And I've always wanted to help people, so it just was the right time to start my own business. So I did that a few years ago, and now I'm actually getting paid to help people, instead of having my neighbors and friends and family ask me for free.
April Schoen: No, I love that. That's great. That's great. So you've been doing it for a few years.
Erika: Yes.
April: Awesome. And so talk about the range of services. So professional organizer. Break that down for us. What is that? What do you do? How do you help people? Kind of break that down for us.
Erika: So it's so funny because it doubles as a therapist. Like, I was saying, there's a reason why people maybe get unorganized or have a lot of clutter in their home. It's not black and white. It's not just things just happen, you know? There’s things that go with it.
So someone will reach out to me. It can be anything from just maybe one simple project, like help them with their desk, or help redo their office, or it can be their entire home. I have some people who are still recovering from the pandemic. They bought too much, and now they're just flooded with things. So it really can range across the board to even kind of life organizing.
Let's get our schedules where they need to be. How can we kind of flow through our days and be more productive? So I say home organizer, to help people, but it really is life organizing too. You name it. If you have trouble with it, we can help you create systems that will work for you and your family.
April: Absolutely. So give us some examples. What do you see as most common?
Erika: What do people most ask for? Oh, it's so funny. It's so it's across the board. When I first started this business, I was thinking, okay, it's going to be working moms with young kids. So she was my target audience. That's who I thought I was going to be helping. I help single dads, I help widows, I help older clientele. It can be across, really, across the board. So everything from a pantry to, I have too many papers, and help me with these papers.
April: Yeah. And I know when we first met, one thing we talked about was how it's almost like a domino effect. We can start in one area, I'm sure we'll get into this. But the idea of it can be a little overwhelming. You think about having someone come in and you may need some help across maybe the entire home in this case. Maybe you started with one project, but then can you talk about how then sometimes that bleeds over into everywhere else?
Erika: Yeah, and that was the other thing, when I had first started, was like, oh, maybe it's going to be cut and dry. Someone will call me in, we’ll redo their pantry. That'll be great. And I did not realize how much it would bleed into other areas of the home, but that makes sense. You have your pantry.
You don't have enough space in it. You're putting things elsewhere now. You're putting things in your linen closet where things don't need to be. So it's really a giant puzzle. And luckily, I've always loved to do puzzles. That's why it's not easy to say, okay, it's just this project.
I let people know that, okay, I'll give you a quote for hours, but it could take a range because we do end up in different rooms. They're like, oh, I didn't realize you're gonna end up in my garage. We just are trying to kind of get to square one and start fresh in those spaces and do it the right way too.
April: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So when you're thinking about helping clients, or just anyone listening to this, what are some top three tips that you would give someone who's maybe just starting out?
Erika: Yeah, sure. So not only to have grace and patience with yourself. Don't beat yourself up, don't come from a place of judgment. It's very easy to do this, but then we don't really get anywhere when we do that, right? But besides that, start small. It's overwhelming. Even if it's one space, it can still be overwhelming.
So my idea, you know, one of my tips, would be to start small. Even if it's a junk drawer, you'll go through it, you'll organize it how you want, and then you'll get the motivation to do more, instead of saying, okay, my whole house is a disaster. And I'm going to start with my closet, which is, spoiler alert, one of the hardest places to start. Don't do that, yeah, start small. Kind of get your trading wheels, yeah, and take it from there.
Also, one thing that people don't always either think of doing or want to do is take everything out of your space. So if you're just shuffling things around, you're tidying more than truly organizing. So you want to take everything out, even though it may seem like a hurricane has come through in your house, take everything out because then you're really going to be able to assess what you have, what needs to go to a different home, either different space in your home, or to someone else's home.
What do you want to keep? What do you not want to keep? So take everything out. It really makes a world of difference. And also, don't be afraid to hire help. Going back to that judgment piece of it, I have a lot of people who say they're embarrassed to hire someone. I'm like, I don't pretend to know how to do my own hair, or I don't cut my own grass. It doesn't need to be anything different than that. You're hiring some help. We all need help.
April: Absolutely. You know, I see that a lot in the work that I do. Right as a financial advisor, where clients, they want that help, but if they feel, I always say a quasi-therapist. They come into my office for the first time and they feel like they have to financially undress. Here's all my mess.
I don't necessarily see it that way. You've seen enough times, I think about that medical doctor, there's no judgment. It's just here's what it is. You're able to give some unbiased opinions and thoughts and solutions and things along those lines. But I definitely can see that. And even the work we did together, oh, this is how this feels. Come into my master closet.
Erika: It's very intimate. And even with finances, people, they don't want to talk about that all the time, and it's an intimate experience, just like organizing. But both of those things are something that we're kind of expected to know how to do without having any training for it. We rarely get financial training unless we have some kind of business degree or degree in finance, and the same with organizing. Either you don't know how to do it, you don't want to do it, but we're expected to keep these clean homes. And it's just not how it works all the time.
April: Yeah, and I'm not sure if you can speak to this, but I think one thing I thought was interesting or surprising is thinking of these storage solutions. Small things that you can buy to help organize a space. Where I don't think I was thinking of any of those.
Erika: That's the thing about hiring an expert in any kind of realm is we have different tools in our tool belt that you don't know about all the time. You know I'm big on let's use all the vertical space in your home because it goes unused so often. Let's use behind your doors, because it goes unused so often. So same when someone comes and meets with you, you're saying, oh yeah, let's use this as a tool for this, and it's like, oh, I had no idea that that was an option.
April: So it's so similar where, you know, you've seen it before time and time again. Oh, this makes total sense. Yeah, I should do this.
Erika: Yeah, right, yeah, the same. And it's a whole new world. And it's those little tweaks that I find make the biggest difference. So for so long I just thought it was commonplace to know a lot of these things, and then the more I would share them with people, it was like, oh no, people don't know about this hack or this tip or this trick.
April: Yeah, absolutely. All those little things that people do make such a big difference. Awesome. So what do you think are some of the like, common mistakes people make when they're trying to do this on their own?
Erika: I think not knowing where to start, and having that kind of decision fatigue and that overwhelm, that's a big thing. So trying to have a plan. Like I said, start small, and then once you map out how you're going to do it, do it in order of priority. If your office is driving you crazy, start there, and even by just having these steps, having a plan, it's going to help alleviate some of that turmoil in your head. That decision fatigue.
Also, a lot of times, people want to buy things ahead of time. And even when I meet with clients, they're like, what can I do? How can I prepare? Which, I love it. I love that you want to do homework. I love that people want to prepare. But I really say, please don't buy anything.
Unless there's a product that you are just dying to use, and then I'll say, okay, we'll make it work. But besides that, I would say, don't buy things ahead of time, because what happens is, we force our items into those spaces, and they don't always make the most sense. So not buying things ahead of time.
Go through and do the purging, do the decluttering, do the organizing. Then you will see what kind of categories you have left, and what kind of makes the most sense for that space, and what is the best solution. Also, along the same lines is people try to look on Pinterest, look on social media, and then they want to replicate these ideas in their home, and it may not work for them.
So we may be looking online, and you and I both have children, young kids, we may look online and see this very minimalist home, and say, oh, I really love that. I'm gonna implement this open shelving concept. And then we're like, oh, wait, that doesn't look as nice when there's Nerf guns in it. So we try to, again, look at these pretty pictures and think that they're going to work for our home, and it just doesn't always work like that.
April: That makes total sense.
Erika: So really trying to create something that is specific for your family and going with how you naturally flow through your life. Don't try to go against what you're already doing. So sometimes people say you kick off your shoes right at the door. I have so many moms who are like, oh, I can't stand that my kids do this.
Well, instead of fighting against and saying having your kids pick up their shoes every time and move them to their room, which is a constant struggle and a constant fight. Let's just put a basket by the door where we just keep our shoes. So not going against what you're already doing, because it's just going to be a headache. Leaning into those things that you're already doing.
April: Well, that makes total sense. Do you find that with some people, because I know this has been me in the past, where it's the start of the new year, and I'm like, I'm going to organize my entire house. I'm gung ho and ready to go at it and I get started.
For me, it was always start with the, I don't know the reason why I picked a room closest to the front door if we were having guests over. So I feel like this needs to be presentable at the start of the year. I might do great with that one space, but then it is, it's overwhelming. Or maybe I'm halfway through a project, and then I don't finish it.
Erika: I think that's where starting small and really just trying to take bite-sized pieces because otherwise, you do get in over your head really quickly. You really do. And it's great to have enthusiasm for the project, but then also having realistic goals. Same with home construction, with anything, just expect that it's going to take a little longer than you think it is. You may walk into a space and think, well, I can do this in an afternoon, maybe plan for the weekend, and then you can kind of get a flow for, get a feel for how things are actually gonna go.
April: Absolutely.
Erika: Instead of being like, oh, I can do this on a Friday afternoon and you're like, oh, no.
April: I've redone the office three times, right? You're like, I'm gonna start, I gotta start here and finish it. The next I'm like, let's start here again.
Erika: And again, it's, I think it's having that plan too, of what do you want, having your goals, having a plan, and then trying to follow it, because otherwise, you're just running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
April: I like one of the things you mentioned too, about just kind of identifying maybe some of those problem areas. Maybe it's not that room by the front door. But like, what area is now causing the most stress or overwhelm, or, hey, this is the part that I don't like, and maybe starting there to kind of get some momentum and feel better about that.
Erika: Yep. Absolutely, absolutely.
April: Love that. Love that. Cool. Let's say someone does go through that they work with you. They start doing this on their own, and they started to organize. I know one of the questions I always have is that how do I keep it this way? I might even go through and organize the kitchen cabinet, but then how do I keep it up?
Erika: So it's so interesting because sometimes I think people think my house is organized, and I never have to do anything again. And I wish, but the good news is, you've done the hard work, but now you still want to tidy your home. So one thing that goes with tidying is something called the two-minute rule, which many people have probably heard of, maybe not.
Okay, so if it takes you two minutes or less, go ahead and do it. That means those shoes that are on the floor, if you don't have that basket, put them away. That paper that you haven't dealt with, just put it away. Do something with it. The email that you've been putting off. It's not going to take that long. But clutter is nothing but postponed decisions, and the longer we postpone them, the more they pile up and the harder it gets to do.
April: Say that again.
Erika: Yes. Clutter is nothing but postponed decisions. The dishes are in the sink. Postponed decision. But then they pile up.
April: The stack of mail that you're like, yeah, I need to do something. I need to file this away. I need to go through this.
Erika: I have a trick for mail, and we may get into this later, or I can mention it now if that's easier. Something with the mail, because a lot of people have problems with paper, and I know we will go into this more in-depth. My trick is that you don't get the mail out of your mailbox until you're going to deal with it. So when you grab it from your mailbox, anything that is coming into your home, you're doing something with.
The junk mail is going in your recycling bin immediately. We're not bringing it into our home. The thing that just needs to be shredded, just hand shred it. It's fine, you know what I mean? You can shred it up enough to put it in the recycle. Then the only things that are coming inside your home are something that you're going to do something with, and that makes a world of difference for people.
April: I love that.
Erika: So back to tidying up. So the other thing is, I suggest, and I've got videos on this and different things that will kind of go into more detail, which I know you can link in the show notes, but I like to say that you should tidy twice a day. Okay.
Now, if you're listening to this and you're like, you are crazy, just hear me out. This is not deep cleaning. When I say tidy, I'm not saying deep clean your house. I'm not saying rearrange things. I'm not saying organize. I'm just saying pick up. This should not take very long. So I like to do it once, like before you go to work, before you walk out the door, so that way when you get home from work, your house isn't crazy.
And then also before you go to bed so that when you wake up, your house is nice. So again, I'm talking about, let's do something with those dishes, or let's pick up the clothes or move the laundry. Stuff like that. Basic stuff. This is not going to add an hour to your day. This should only add a handful of minutes. The more you do this, the less you have to do things that take longer in the long run.
April: That makes total sense.
Erika: Yes. And then also keeping those systems in place, we want to reset or reevaluate things every couple of months. You know, if you have kids, especially, you know, they're growing, they're changing, they're into different things.
They're into different sizes, so reevaluating every few months. And a good thing to do is make yourself a reminder on your calendar. Whatever kind of calendar you use, whether it's on your phone, paper calendar. Hey, just check in on our systems. Maybe in three months, six months, your kids used to be really into, I was gonna say Beanie Babies.
You know, your kids were into cars, and now they hate cars. So we don't need to hold space for those special items anymore, because they're not special. So your systems have to grow and evolve with your family. But again, if you don't keep up with it and kind of touch base. Every now and then it'll go back to being a mess.
April: So you think, like, every couple of months, maybe at least twice a year?
Erika: Yes, yes. Again, I don't want this to be stressful like you're just trying to stay on top of it. So it shouldn't be a whole, you're not spending a week doing this. It's just, you know what, oh, I've noticed that this is really piling up over here. Okay, let's change that system. Those types of things that are probably giving you a headache already, it's evaluating those types of things.
April: Yeah, love that. I think about too, when helping clients, I talk about how we have to get the plan set up today, and then what we're doing is we're just really evaluating and adjusting it as we go. Sometimes use the analogy of we're on a sailboat. So we've already charted out the course.
We know exactly where we're going, and we're just making those small degree changes. It's not like we're turning the boat 180 degrees. We're not going to a different destination, we're going to the same place, and we don't have to now recreate a new system. We don't have to do all this stuff all the time. It's just kind of keeping up with it and tweaks and changes and what we can do to make it better along the way.
Erika: Yep, same thing.
April: Yeah. I love that. Yeah. I love that. Anything else you can think of about maintaining the house? I know we're gonna kind of get into more on, like financial documents, organizing that. That's a lot of questions I get from our clients. I know we're going to spend some time there. Anything else on maintaining or getting started for someone?
Erika: The only other thing I would say is, if you have kids, I would encourage them to help you with this process. Be a part of it. You don't necessarily need them to be a part of the decluttering and getting rid of things, the purging. But help them to maintain it. Help them to see what goes into it. I mean, my oldest is almost six. She puts her laundry away.
I may fold it for her, but she's going to put it in her drawers. And that helps her out. It helps her know what goes into these systems. And she likes having that kind of space. She likes having an organized space. I don't know anyone that really doesn't. So just kind of encouraging, whether it's your kids, your roommates, or your spouse, just to help with it. This is the big picture. Make sure everyone is on the same page.
April: Getting that buy-in, right? That we're all in this together, and doing it together. I just had the boys go through all of their books. I was like, hey, tell me which ones you want to read and don't want to read. Like, if there's something they're not going to read, whatever this book is anymore unless there's sentimental value, there's no reason for us to hold on to it. Now, I did tell them I have veto power. I was like, I have veto power. Like, Where the Wild Things Are. I was like, no, we can't get rid of this book. They're like, why? Because I read this to you when you were a baby.
Erika: It's sweet to me, okay.
April: But that's something I need to pull out and put up somewhere. I want to hold on to it. But maybe it doesn't need to be out on their bookshelf.
Erika: Yes, for everyday use, it does not need to be in there. So we put them in their keepsake and call it a day.
April: And I notice how even, I know my boys if you ask them, hey, would you like this? Or would you like that? Having conversations with them. Like the Legos. Hey, do you want us, when you have put them together, do we need a space, like a shelf or something, so that we can display that?
I think I told you, with my two boys, my older one, he wants to put the Legos together and then never touch them again. He's not touching it, and you better not touch it. Nobody else can touch it. And then my little one, he wants to play with them. And so it's just two totally different styles. So kind of working with both of those well.
Erika: And along those lines, you may have, even with your spouse, it's maybe not with your kids, but even with your spouse, you guys may have two different styles. And so it's finding that common ground and figuring out the systems that work as a family for both of you. But again, have those conversations. Get the buy-in, compromise where you need to.
April: Yeah. I love that. I love that. Well, Erika, let's switch over and start thinking about someone's financial documents, paperwork side. A lot of my clients tell me that they're overwhelmed, that they get a ton of mail, a ton of paperwork. Could be digital. Could be emails, could be actual hard copy paper on different, you know, their investments, their retirement accounts, their insurance policies, whatever it is.
And it tends to stack up, and then they don't really know what to do with it. So we think about what do I keep and what do I shred? How long do I need to keep things? When you think of helping someone get organized with financial documents, what are some ideas that you have there?
Erika: So I would say, first, understand how you like to store things. Sometimes people really love having paper copies, and sometimes people are really overwhelmed by it. So it's great now, because we live in such an era where most things are digital, so we can access them. If we needed to make a paper copy, we could. But we don't really have to hold on to a whole lot of actual paper copies.
But first is just knowing. Knowing what you have coming in, and then what you prefer to have. So you don't need a digital copy and a hard copy. So let's decide what we're going to go with, and then let's store them all in the same place so that we know this is where my financial documents are.
They may be in a folder on your computer, copied onto a thumb drive, anything like that. Or you may have a file cabinet, or you may have just binders, but we want them to be labeled. We want to know where we're going for what we need. If you're married and you have joint things with your spouse, let's put the joint things separate from your personal stuff.
So basically, it's just trying to know what you have and how you like to do things. Again, it's kind of leaning into those systems, leaning into how you want to do things, but making it makes sense for you.
April: So what I usually recommend that clients do, and this could be paper or digital, but it's having a folder for each account. If we're gonna have paper, then we've got a file folder with that account. What is it? Whose name is it in? What's the account number, you know, some sort of identifier.
So you can easily, honestly name it whatever you call it. If this is your emergency fund account, or this is your retirement account, or whatever you call it, make sure that you're naming everything this day. But keep separating them out by account. And then the same thing digitally. If we're going to have that folder with our documents, then let's have folders for each account where everything's not shoved into one place, because then it's really hard to find it.
Erika: Yes. And along those lines, make sure that other people in your home know about the systems that you're creating. If something were to happen to you, where can they find those documents. Right now, I've got an older couple that I'm working with, and they have kind of like a file to go kind of thing that if something were to happen to them, their kids know, this is where their paperwork for their homes are because they have multiple homes.
This is their funeral arrangements. This is their bank stuff. So it's in this kind of to-go thing. It's like a go bag or whatever you call it. And that way the kids know where to find it. They don't have a lot of digital stuff, so that's easy for them. It's really just all these hard copies, but communicating with your loved ones where they can expect to see these things.
April: And I think too, let's talk about thinking about what sort of paperwork should be easy, what sort of documents should we kind of be keeping all in one place. Now, obviously, I just mentioned any type of account statement, bank statements, investment statements, retirement accounts, insurance policies. So think about life insurance or your homeowner’s policy, your car insurance.
Especially if you want to have things all in an area where you can grab and go if you need it. When we had that hurricane come through last September, well, you can't bring the whole filing cabin with you know. So you need to have a place where you can easily grab those top documents. I'd also add legal documents in there as well. Any of your estate planning documents.
Erika: Absolutely. And have these open conversations. You know, I think a lot of people don't want to talk about some of those documents. They either don't want to talk about their finances, which we know, or they don't want to talk about their living wills or passing away. But this is life, and this is reality. Not only will you be helping yourself to get organized and the people in your household, but whoever you're leaving your things to, you will be helping them.
I cannot tell you the number of people that I've had say I wish my mom would have done. Or I wish so and so would have done, or I'm not going to do what so and so did to me. And they want to get their things organized. They want to get their things in the right place because it's a headache. And you may think that it's such a headache now. And if you don't do anything, then, oh well.
But if you don't do something with your estate, especially your finances, you know this, it's going to go to court. And then it's really a headache. So again, you're helping yourself, but then you're also helping that next generation understand what you have and what they need to do about it. It's already hard enough. Losing a loved one. Don't add any stress to it. Make it as easy as possible. And you're never too young to start these things.
April: And when I talk to clients about this, is like, whoever you have designated as that executor, as that trustee, like whoever that person's gonna be one, make sure that they know that they're the person.
Erika: Yes, yes, yes.
April: That's step one. Make sure they know it's them and they're okay with it. Preferably, we have this conversation before we have to visit the document. I like to provide them with a copy of it, if you're comfortable doing so hopefully you are. Make sure that they have read it and that they understand what their responsibilities are going to be, and then where are those documents located.
Because that's going to be the most important thing. I know we're going to kind of get into this a little bit later. But with the planning software that we use for clients, we have a digital vault, so clients have online access. They have an app they can use. And so we can upload copies of those legal documents. And so that at least we have some sort of record of it. I get that question a couple of times a year of hey, did so and so have a will? We can't find it.
Erika: Oh, yeah.
April: And that's the most frustrating part.
Erika: Oh, yeah, of course, of course. I mean, because how many times have you walked into a loved one, I mean, I think most people have had a loved one pass away at this point, and you've walked into their home and you're like, I don't know where to sign anything. I don't know what they had.
And so I would suggest, the more you can digitalize stuff, I think the better. Again, if you were just so gung ho about your paper, that is okay, but make sure you have backups and make sure people know where they are, right? Because they do just get, they get lost if we don't have them organized.
April: Absolutely. So along the same vein, a question I get from clients a lot is how long should I keep things for? So I'll talk a little bit about what I recommend on those. Think of the financial instruments. Again, thinking like savings, investments, retirement accounts, and insurance policies.
I always say, just keep your most recent statement. If that's quarterly, annual, like, whatever that most recent statement is. We don't need to keep 12 year's worth. And you just want to keep the most recent copy of that annual statement or quarterly statement. However, you get those things. That is my recommendation.
Erika: Yes. I love that. I would also suggest that. And I would say with anything that we say, double check with your financial advisor, with your lawyer, with your bank, with any of this to make sure that that's fine. But unless you can get those documents if you need them, you know, think about your bank statements. I had a client recently who she didn't want to cancel her paper.
She didn't want to enroll for online banking because it was going, she thought it would cancel her paper statements. And I had to tell her, I'm like, you can still have both. Usually, if someone has an online banking, they kind of opt out of their paper statements, but you don't have to. So it's kind of debunking those myths too. So that's why it's good to talk to your specific bank. If you need something that's passed that previous statement, you can usually find it.
April: Yes. So in full disclosure, I don't keep a lot of those types of statements, because I can pull everything online, and so the less that I can have, the better. Now we'll get into later on some other things. I'll talk about that planning guide that we recommend that people have as some way to have a record of what you do have that helps your loved ones when you've passed away. So I know we'll kind of get into that. And that's what I do, and then I'm using our software system to really keep track and keep everything organized.
Erika: Yes.
April: So I think we'll get into that for sure. What about if someone's got some old documents that they don't need anymore?
Erika: I would just suggest taking them somewhere to be shredded. So this is another thing I see all the time. People have boxes of things that they don't necessarily want to keep, but they haven't shredded, because we're using this home shredder. It can only take about 10 pages at a time. Just take it somewhere. It usually does not cost that much, and it is such a relief just to get it out of your home. So shredding it and sometimes you may check with your city, they have events like shred events. So you can drop your stuff off for free. And it's just great.
April: I was just thinking that there are a lot of banks that do it too, where they'll have an annual shredding event. So you can bring in all those old documents and shred them.
Erika: There's something therapeutic though about getting rid of some of that stuff. You don't realize, though, and this is with any clutter or excess in your home, you don't realize the space that it's taking up in your brain. And once you get rid of it, you're like, oh, I can breathe a little bit easier. I have more space, physically and emotionally.
April: One of the questions I get from clients on this is we had a Roth IRA in this one account, and then we transferred it to a new account. Do I need to keep the old paperwork? I usually recommend they don't need to keep it because they don't really need to. It's been transferred to the new institution. Maybe they keep it for a little while, while things are getting transferred over. But once you've passed that tax year, you don't really need to keep those things, because you're going to get all your your tax documents anyway, and you can always go back and get them.
Erika: Yes.
April: But if someone did want to keep that old paperwork. I say keep very minimal, and then make sure that you have it documented somewhere so that people know that it's transferred. So that you know that it's transferred. Or that someone else coming behind you knows that it's been transferred.
Erika: And you may just have a folder that says old accounts, but again, then you kind of, the more you dig into it, you're like, why do I really need to? And you probably don't need to keep it. Again, keep it for that waiting period. I'm okay even if you want to keep it for a year. But the problem is, sometimes we don't have those reminders to ourselves to go back and then discard it. So set that reminder in your calendar or something that okay, at the end of the year, this folder needs to be gone through, and I can throw away anything that no longer serves me.
April: Oh, yeah, that's a great idea. I love that. So that's a great question. So let's say someone has kind of organized their financial life, right? Whether that's paper or digital, what are some things that they can do to kind of help manage, ongoing. So I set it all up today, thinking back to organizing your house, but it's stuff that we're going to continue to receive. So how do we manage that?
Erika: I think it goes back to what we were saying about at the source. So when, if you are getting the mail from your mailbox, you're deciding then and there what needs to happen with those papers. It's the same thing with the emails that come in. Now, if you're like me, if you're like most of us, we get a ton of emails a day.
So maybe you block out at the end of the day or the beginning of the day, 20 minutes to go through your emails, but dealing with those things as soon as you can, and not postponing it because otherwise, it does just pile up. But then you're discarding the things you no longer need, and you're filing, either physically or digitally, the stuff that you do want to keep. Yeah, and then it's done.
April: Love that. Love that. Well, what advice can you give someone who feels overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork they have? You know, a lot of my clients feel that way. They've had accounts for decades sometimes, and we just, we accumulate so much paperwork. So, what are some things we could do to start working on that?
Erika: Again, I think just start small. If you have boxes of paperwork, start with one box. Start with half a box. Start small, and really be honest with yourself. Do I need to keep this and what for? What purpose is it serving me? You know, if it's because you can no longer have access to that account, you know, I don't know what the reason is, but really have a hard discussion with yourself. Do I need it or do I not?
April: Absolutely.
Erika: Because odds are you don't, like we've mentioned multiple times. Odds are you probably don't need most of the paperwork you have in your home now. Truly you don't, and the more paperwork you hold on to, it gets overwhelming. Even if you have it organized, it just becomes a lot.
April: And one of the caveats I will mention would be around taxes.
Erika: Yes.
April: And you mentioned earlier about talking with those professionals. You definitely want to talk with a tax professional about what documents you need to keep for how long. Especially if someone is filing for capital losses. There are different situations where we want to keep tax returns for all of that. So obviously there's other situations where we've got to keep it.
Erika: Yes.
April: But by and large, for most things, it's probably going to be okay.
Erika: And the kicker too is so paperwork, receipts fall into this too. I have lots of clients who struggle with receipts. Yeah, I have very few receipts, and I very rarely needed them. So unless you're writing things off for your business, of course, you want to keep those. You want to do your taxes with them. You want to do all of that, but then you can let them go after that.
You get that digital copy. And especially now, if you hire someone to help with your taxes, they're going to give you, most of them these days, they're going to give you a thumb drive or a CD or just a booklet of your stuff. You're good to go. That's all you need to keep.
So I would just really encourage people, the less they could hold on to paper wise kind of the better. And I know that is an uncomfortable shift for many, many people. It makes you feel a little anxious, right? But again, just sit down and really have those honest conversations with yourself, of like, what am I going to do with these?
April: And I think about making it easier for yourself as time goes on. Making it easier for your loved ones as time goes on. I can't tell you how many times I've had someone come in where someone's passed away, and there's a lot of confusion about what did this person have or not have in their financial world. Because they've got paperwork for years now we just don't know. And unfortunately, when someone's died, you can't call them and ask, hey, do you still have this bank account?
Hey, do you still have this IRA? And if you've got all this paperwork that's just kind of floating around, it's hard sometimes to make heads or tails of that. So what advice would you give for people to help family members in that situation? Family members, beneficiaries, like someone's passed away. What are things that we can do now to be prepared for that?
Erika: Well, that's exactly what I was just gonna say. Help them now versus waiting until something happens. So you're never too young, like we mentioned to start doing these things. Get your life in order, get your estate in order, your finances in order, your home in order and organized. And then communicate with your loved ones.
Setting those things that I think sometimes, and you probably come and you probably see people that say this too, it's like, I don't have a lot. So do I really need a trust or a living will, or this, that and the other and I, and I'm sure you say, yes.
April: I do! If you have to have anything, you need those things. So this is not something that is reserved for millionaires, for billionaires. I have people say, well, we don't have any children. Well more important that we figure this out and have a plan, and we have a place to do all of these things.
Because we do have a certain court order that falls into place if someone doesn't have those documents. And when we if we're not married, if we don't have children, it becomes a little bit more gray, so important for us to do some of that planning. I always recommend that we again, we talked about this earlier, but having one place where we can kind of quickly, easily see everything.
Erika: Absolutely.
April: So I know the software system that we use with clients is a great tool. Really helps people get organized. In the beginning, when we first start working with someone, but then helps them stay organized. Because as we're meeting with clients, doing annual reviews, we're updating everything. Oh, I met with a client last week. They changed banks. Great, let's make sure that we have all your correct information here now. Which banks do we not have anymore? Where's the new bank? So we can have that information.
Erika: And if you're not working with a financial planner like yourself or an organizer like me, you just want to make notes. Again, schedule something in your calendar to review these things. So until it becomes kind of natural and routine to update whatever spreadsheet you're working with, or anything like that, just make notes for yourself. Oh, hey, here's a reminder. I need to update my paperwork. I need to go through this paperwork. I need to make sure that I get that account off the account list because we don't have it. So it's just setting those reminders if you don't have someone else reminding you.
April: Absolutely. And we also even have a paper version, called this personal planning guide that we created years ago for people to start collecting that information for people. They could use it digitally as a PDF, or print it out and have hard copies of it, but that's something we'll put a link to that too in the show notes if someone wants that. But I think that's also like a helpful starting point, just at least start getting the information together but then making sure that we're updating that as things change.
Erika: Yes. And I think this is on that worksheet as well. But you know, we keep talking about all these digital accounts. Having those passwords written down somewhere for you know, again, you're not leaving this on your desk so that someone can, you know, peek into your windows and see all your passwords. But this is so that your husband, your partner can know, oh, well, I've never paid the cable bill, and now my loved one has passed.
I need to know how to get into this account. You know, simple things like that. Or for yourself. I have so many clients that are like, I don't remember the passwords. And then, of course, they've written it down somewhere and we can't find the paper. So having it all in one place is very helpful.
April: Absolutely, absolutely, I would 100% agree with that. Love it. Great. So are there any comments, we're going to wrap up here, any other last-minute tips or advice that you have for people as they’re starting to think about just organization in general?
Erika: I think it's never too early to get started with any of this stuff. Whether it's financial organizing, home organizing, get started. And it may seem like you are climbing a mountain to begin with, and it may be very difficult, it may be emotional. There are reasons why we hold on to things. Sentimental value or just different things that you know, maybe we don't want to make those choices. It may be difficult, but it is so worth it in the end.
The freedom you will feel knowing what you have. You know, that's the biggest thing. I never come in and say, we have to get rid of all your things. Just like you. It's not like someone's gonna come in and you're like, oh well, you're not rich enough. We can't work together. You know, it's like all these misconceptions, right? It's just about knowing what you have and having a calm peace in your life and understanding it. So it may be difficult in the beginning, but it's very, very, very worth it.
April: Yeah, I love that great advice. And then, where can people find you? So if our listeners want to connect with you in some way, like, how can they find you?
Erika: Yeah, so I have a website, which I'm sure we can link in the show notes, and that will have everything. I've got a YouTube channel, and it's got all sorts of steps I use for every organizing project. I've got stuff about tidying. I've got all sorts of stuff. So you can find that on my website. You can find just different rates if you want to hire me in person. I also have virtual consulting. So if your listeners aren't local to the Tallahassee area, they can work with me on a virtual basis as well. So it can be found at organizewithe.com and again, that will be in the show notes.
April: Yeah, we'll make sure we add that there. Erika, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Erika: Oh, absolutely.
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