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All Papers are NOT Created Equal

As any accountant will tell you…it’s Tax Season…
Time to deal with piles, receipts, and filing — pun intended!

Kelly's taxes at the Post Office ready to be mailed

While paper comes in different shapes and sizes, 3 things are universal:

1. You can have less paper but you’re not likely to go paperless
2. Papers need a place to live

3. They are either active or reference


1. If you dream of going paperless, start with one category of paper that enters your life:
• Input contacts into electronic format to eliminate lots of little scraps
and torn envelope corners or post-its with phone numbers.
• Scan recipes from magazines and newspaper clippings
to electronically store ideas for meal time.

2. Give papers a place to live where you’re likely to use them:
• Store bills near your checkbook.
• Keep recipe clippings close to your cookbooks.
• Put sports schedules near your computer til you input them electronically or on the bulletin board where your family can see them.

3. Think “active vs. reference” as requires action now versus
you’ll need this later
:

Active papers relate to your to-do’s and sometimes need to be out and visible to be acted upon.
• Reference pages are anything from contact info to tax documents and computer short-cut tips.
• The idea behind both categories is to figure out WHERE you need access and HOW frequently. A guide that you reference once a week will need greater access than something you only check annually.

 

Remember, no management system functions without a system to maintain order; schedule time to take action, deal with filing and make decisions about whether you still need a particular paper or category of papers.

When it comes to electronic files, the same rules apply to documents as to papers. 

Do you have a tax filing success story to share? Let us know.

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