Conquer your mountains of paperwork, regain your calm and your space.
Tax time comes around every year and often brings with it stress and frustration. Lost documents and piles of receipts can rattle even the calmest person. Do you have systems in place that help or complicate the process? Tax time can be used as a great opportunity to re-evaluate what papers to keep or toss, and what methods to use for storage. Are you saving what you need or are you saving everything? The tendency for many is to over-save out of fear a document may be needed later. It is helpful to meet with your accountant at the beginning of every year to review what you need to keep, personally and professionally, and to continually develop and modify your systems for each. Paper that is determined to be unnecessary can easily be recycled or shredded, giving you the space to keep documents which are important. Keeping less paper also makes it much easier to find what you need, when you need it!

Conquering Paperwork Tips:
* Know what is necessary to keep. Examples: Death certificates, marriage certificates, divorce certificates, mortgage paperwork, titles (home, car, boat, motorcycle), etc. If you are uncertain ask your accountant or lawyer depending on the document.
* Get rid of documents you can obtain online. Examples: Owners manuals, articles, recipes, instructions, etc.
* Purge papers on a routine basis, either daily or weekly. Examples: Bill envelopes, advertising, sale papers, duplicates, etc.
* Dispose of sensitive documents by attending a Free Shredding Event. Most towns have these in the spring and you can quickly and safely dispose of 2 to 3 boxes of paperwork at a time.

If you follow these tips and work to keep your paperwork under control next year at tax time you will feel the difference and sail through without issue! Doesn’t that sound great?

Happy shredding from Open Space Organizing!