2. Give gift receipts with your gifts and toss the original receipts.

3. Reduce junk mail by registering with DMAChoice.org.

4. Throw away those small-dollar-amount cash receipts before you even get home.

5. Call the charities you no longer support and request to be removed from their mailing list.

6. Put your magazine subscriptions on a diet.

7. Scan your recipes and get rid of the sheets of paper and recipe cards.

8. Shred your medical explanation of benefit statements after you review them.

9. Throw away those investment prospectus reports if you’ve never read them then request online copies only.

10. Eliminate the other language portions of your product manuals.

For this week’s Tool Tuesday I thought I would showcase an awesome gift for your Valentine.  It’s the perfect trio-of-organization for that special someone’s vehicle!

Neat Seat Organizer ($17) - Features 5 roomy pockets, hangs from passenger seat head rest and swings from front to back of the car

No-Leak Litter Bag ($17) - Also attaches to headrest. Has a leakproof base.

Car Pocket ($9) - This handy pocket attaches to the car’s air vent and is perfect to store your phone, glasses, etc.

The entire trio is available in pink or brown.

Pair them with car wash gift certificates or an oil change and give your Valentine a practical gift! To see these products up close and to order online, visit www.CleverContainer.com/natalie.

A “sweet” Valentine gift for someone you love!  … Or … maybe for you!?

Receipts seem to really confuse some people.  I have seen clients hold onto YEARS of receipts.  They are in ziplock™ bags, crammed into junk drawers, stacked and sliding off counter tops, and forced into bulging file folders.  They come into the home every day but never leave!

There are really only 3 kinds of receipts:

• Weekly
• Big Ticket Items
• Gifts

Weekly receipts come from the grocery store, doctor visits, medication, clothing purchases, and other such purchases made needed for your home and car maintenance.  Big ticket receipts are for large purchases like a washer and dryer, new roof, computers, TV’s… you get the idea. And gift receipts are for – you guessed it – gifts purchased.

Do you need to hang on to each and every receipt?  The short answer is “no”.  The long answer is “it depends”. And that’s where folks get stuck – it depends.  Once they are stuck, no decision is made and hence years’ worth of receipts clutter their life.

At my Declutter Your Life groups (in Sacramento and Chico, CA), this was a hot topic so I created this flow chart to help with the decision making.

The bottom line here is that receipts will hang around forever until you make a decision. The chart reflects what to do with a receipt if you are at home or out and about. The basic premise is this:

1. Set up an in-box to collect receipts.
2. Have a folder or envelope to save questionable receipts for 6 months; purging on at the beginning of each new month.
3. And for the large purchases, keep the receipts with the product manuals.

So take control and start making decisions about those receipts!

I want less paper to deal with in my life and I have a scanner. So where should I start?

I decided to start with my collection of recipes.

So where do I store the recipes electronically? Whatever I store them on has to be able to be taken into the kitchen to use while cooking.

I decided to use my iPad. (A laptop or a smartphone would work too)

What program should I use to capture my recipes? It needed to be easily accessible and easy to use.

I decided on Evernote.

Here’s what I did:

1. Created a Notebook in Evernote called “Recipes”
2. I started by transferring my recipe box and loose paper recipes using my scanner.

Read this post if you want to know what kind of scanner I use.

Here’s an example of a scanned recipe card:

 I went to my mother-in-laws during Christmas and wanted her yummy cookie recipe, so I took a picture of it.

Here’s what it looks like:

Then I was out at the store and forgot to add ingredients to my shopping list so I looked the recipe on the internet using my smartphone. Then saved it to Evernote on my phone. (Evernote syncs with ALL your gadgets)

Here’s the recipe that was found on the internet:

I also just opened up Evernote and typed in a recipe that was very hard to read when scanned.

Here’s the recipe I typed and saved:

Evernote also allows you to use “Tags”; think of them as keywords. So I added tags to every recipe. That way when I want to make something with the ingredients I have on hand, I just type in the ingredient and all recipes with that ingredient comes up.

Aside from using the Tags feature, Evernote also has a search function, references the URL from things captured on the internet and allows me to make notes directly to my recipes, regardless of how they were entered in.  I can notate for example, that I use canned tomatoes instead of fresh and did not use salt. If someone asks me for a recipe, that’s simple too. I just click on “Share” and I can send it via email, facebook, twitter or using a link! Awesome!

I have over 150 recipes in my Evernote cookbook.  I still need to cull through the other cookbooks I have (I only use them for 3-4 recipes) and get those into my Evernote. Then I will pass those cookbooks onto my apartment dwelling, bachelor sons or donate them!

Are you going online and finding recipes, then printing them out to make? If so, you may want to check out Evernote and say goodbye to the paper and save your printer ink!

I know… most of us hate to file. That’s one reason so many of us are battling with paper in our homes and offices. Most file cabinets are relegated to the back of closets, under the stairs or out in the garage. Some file cabinets are so full they can’t be opened, while others date back to the time of the dinosaurs and need excavation! You might even experience a genuine filing phobia every time you open a file drawer.  It’s difficult to find things when you need them and then you have no idea where to put new papers to be filed.

The first step to overcome your phobia is to re-work your filing system by understanding the types of files and how they are used.  Here’s a chart of the 3 types of files for any home or office.

Now that you have read about these 3 file type, it’s time to take the steps needed to get your file cabinet organized. What I’m about to say is not rocket science or some new age technique…

Use the K.I.S.S. method – Keep it Super Simple!

K eep the 3 types of files separate

I s it worth keeping?  Ask yourself the trigger questions and purge, purge, purge as much as possible  

S implified your categories   Re-think how you have your files labeled; using broad categories will make things easier to find and put away!

S chedule regular maintenance   This is imperative. If you’re not willing to do this step, then all the other steps won’t work! Set up yearly dates to purge files, toss papers, move files from reference to archive, and to re-evaluate your current systems.

Here are a few trigger questions to ask yourself as you sort through and purge your file cabinet.

• Is this information useful?
• Can I get this information again?
• Is this information on the internet?
• Is this information needed for tax or legal reasons?
• What’s the worst thing that would happen if I threw this away?

Let me give it to you straight-

If you haven’t read it by now, you are probably never going to read it. So let it go!

It’s time to start fresh and have a plan for all the reading you intend to do this year.

First, set some boundaries. How many articles, books, magazines will you let pile up to read before you actually get to reading them? Determine what is manageable. I have no more than 2 books in line to be read after I finish the book I’m currently reading. There are certainly lots more I want to read but I just keep a book list instead of buying more books and magazines to have stacked by my reading chair. (I am even moving to more ebooks now that I have my iPad.) Boundaries can also be set for the number of magazines you subscribe to. Take a look at the number of subscriptions you have now and if many of those have gone unread last year then cut back your subscriptions by 50% as a starting point.

Decide how you will contain your reading materials. Some ways to do this are with magazine holders, baskets, or dedicating a shelf on a bookcase or side table for things you plan to read next. Having a specific place that contains your reading materials is also another way to set a boundary. If the reading materials start to exceed the designated space, then some need to be purged. No guilt, just follow your own boundaries…

Avoid printing out articles or emails you find on the Internet; it’s a waste of our resources. Bookmark it and come back to it when you do have time to read it. For newsletters and random sheets of paper you have accumulated to read, create a portable ”To Read” folder.  Take it with you and sneak in some reading while waiting at the doctor’s office, while parked and waiting for kids to get out of school, while getting a pedicure or, my favorite, while sitting in the airport waiting for a flight.

If you really want to get some reading done, plan for it. Set aside time daily or weekly to read. If you are not doing this already, you may need to schedule actual time in your calendar until it becomes a habit. It’s perfectly fine to have an appointment with yourself, you know! Speaking of habits, it’s also a good idea to go through and purge your reading piles quarterly. Things that seemed like a “must read” look a whole lot different after 3 months has gone by! Re-evaluate and purge the reading materials regularly, you’ll feel so much better!

The benefits of Planner Pad:

• Monthly view
• 2 pages weekly view
• Different sizes calendars to choose from
• Space for roles, tasks, and appointments
• Room on the weekly pages to capture bits of information
• Designed to make all aspects of your life funnel into each week, in one place

Click here to See the Planner Pad video

I was interviewed by the House Whisperer at KHSL and this segment aired today! It’s all about being organized and staying organized.  

Check out the video where I talk about computer (laptop) organization as well as how to organize your coupons.  Plus lots more!

These are just some of the cool products I carry with Clever Container.  On January 1st, more than 20 new products will be released so check that website again soon!

5 Tips for a More Organized Year:

• Create a written plan for each area you want to organize

• Use ONE calendar

• Make a weekly appointment with yourself to plan the upcoming weeks

• Spend 15 minutes a day putting things away around the house/office

• Review tomorrow the night before

“So many things to do, places to go, people to see…

How do I even have time to stay organized?!”

You’re busy, you wear many hats, I get that.  Even though I LOVE to organize, you probably don’t.  Being and staying organized is truly a balancing act. After all, it can’t all be about organization; there are other things to enjoy about your life and family. That’s why I coach many clients to help them find the balance between living life and keeping up the organization systems they/we have put into place.  Having an organized life is possible if you remember these 3 points. READ MORE

Here’s a video of how I use my vintage luggage to store and organize my things. Enjoy!

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