Organizing Tax Archives
March 22, 2011
This time of year, many of us are busy gathering required documents to prepare our tax returns. Once completed, the return and its supporting documentation need to be kept for seven years. Seven years’ worth of tax returns and documentation can take up a lot of space in your home office. Here are some tips on the most effective ways to organize and store your tax archives:
Use Hanging Files – I always prefer hanging files over manila folders, because they stay upright and protect your files, slide effortlessly for quick access, and are easy to label. Manila folders can be a great addition to your hanging files if you need to sub-divide the contents.
Create One File Per Year – The average household shouldn’t need more than one folder for each archived tax year. If you have your tax categories (donations, wages, etc.) already broken out into separate folders during the tax year, you can transfer them to manila folders to preserve the categories. If your file is getting too crammed, you can purchase box-bottom files, which are shaped more like a “U” than a “V”. You can get them in different widths including 1”, 2”, 3” and 4”. By keeping everything for a given tax year together in one folder, it makes it easy to find what you need. Often times, people only go back to their tax archives in the event of an audit. If you are audited, it is much less stressful when everything you need is all in one place.
Store Out of the Way – Don’t store your tax archives in your “prime real estate”. What I mean by that is store these files out of the way somewhere. It could be in the least accessible file drawer in your office, or maybe even outside of your office. I keep mine in a portable file box on a shelf in the basement. This way I am not using my valuable space for files I access infrequently.
Follow these tips to make tax time more organized and less stressful.
-Donna Lindley, Certified Professional Organizer and owner of Rochester Hills, MI-based Organize Your World, Inc.
What do you do during tax season to help you stay organized?
To check out more tax organizing ideas, visit Organize-It!
Organizing Magazine Subscriptions
March 8, 2011
Whether at work or at home, many of our clients struggle with magazine clutter. Magazines seem to pile up faster than any other kind of paper, and people save them under the assumption that they will get to reading them “someday”. So often, these publications just pile up and collect dust. Here are some strategies that you can use to minimize magazine clutter in your world:
- Cancel Subscriptions – If you are always behind or it becomes a chore to keep up with a particular magazine, then consider canceling the subscription. If you subscribe to many publications, pick your top favorites and cancel the rest. You can always pick up an occasional issue if you are going on vacation. Like many of you, I love my magazines, but after struggling to keep up with them, I canceled two of my subscriptions (one personal and one business related). I was surprised at how relieved I felt to not have the “pressure” of keeping up with them.
- Subscribe Online – Many publications now offer online subscriptions. This is a great option if you use your publication primarily for reference. If you need to look something up, you can go online and search the current and back issues for your desired topic, without the clutter.
- Tear out Articles – Keep only those articles that interest you and recycle the rest. The FIRST time you go through the magazine, tear out the articles that interest you. You can either read and toss them when you are done, scan them and store them on your computer, or store them in a 3-ring binder using divider tabs to sort the articles by topic.
- Label – Some publications have wonderful information in them and are worth keeping. If that is the case, label and store them so that you can find them again quickly. Magazine file organizers work well. They stand the magazines up and you can store them on a shelf. They are easy to label as well.
Whether you find yourself buried in publications at home, at work, or both, try implementing some of these strategies and watch your piles of magazines disappear.
–Donna Lindley, Certified Professional Organizer and owner of Rochester Hills, MI-based Organize Your World, Inc.
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To find more magazine organizers, visit Organizeit.com
Always wanted that one product?
March 2, 2011
Is there a product you wish you had but could not seem to find anywhere?
Our buyers are attending the International Housewares Association Show to find fresh & new products so that they’re available to you! Have any suggestions for us?
Let us know by:
- Commenting on this blog post
- Telling us on our Facebook wall
- Or tweeting your ideas to @Organize_It
Thanks for all your feedback!
Let’s take a look at what our fans suggested and the solutions:
(p.s. click on the image for more info on the product!)
| Michele Gohlke: how about an under the cabinet fold up banana hook? | Sorry Michele, we looked and looked and we could not find one. We will keep our eyes open though! | |
| Alyssa Parkinson: inexpensive juice box holders! |  |
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| Alyssa Parkinson: Kids art supply storage |  |
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| Alice Benjamin: I am looking for an expandable dryer — the kind that gets attached to the wall and extends out when needed (looks like a small version of the wood ones that stand up). |  |
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| Immaculate Professional Organizers: We’re looking for a spice rack to organize a large collection of spices for a client, who lives in a small Southern California condo. |  |
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| Alyssa Parkinson: I’m looking for a clothes dryer that is not made of flimsy wood, that I do not have to zip tie together after 3 days of use…free standing and foldable but quality construction! |  |
Make Life Easy, Organize-It!
-Missy