Dear Aunt Sue
My household bills and paperwork filing is a mess and I am so stressed with it. Can you please give me some tips on how to organise this part of my life more effectively?
Isabella, Box Hill
Dear Isabella
Thank you for writing in! I know this feeling of being stressed out because of bills and other paperwork all too well. Sometimes I would even put the bills in the freezer, just so I wouldn’t have to look at them!
Here are some basic and simple tips for organising paperwork.
1. Start small
Get a drawer or a box that you can divide into sections that are relevant to your type of paperwork. That could easily be a drawer in your desk that has little dividers with the name of the type of paperwork on top, e.g. “home loan”, “electricity”, “tax refund receipts”, “payslips”, etc. – make sure that they are not too specific, that is – if you’ve only been to Paris once in your life, you don’t need a whole section in the drawer for Paris related tax invoices – you can just file it under “travel”.
2. Visualise your due dates
This one is simple, it’s easier to remember when bills are due when you have to look at it every day. Perhaps, get a whiteboard and hang it near your front door, or in your kitchen, or even on your fridge – just put it anywhere that you know you will see at least once a day. Whenever you get a new bill, write the due date and due amount on the whiteboard and then tick it off once it has been paid. Knowing that you paid something on time and in full will motivate you to continue using the whiteboard.
3. Find time to file things
If you find that you are getting paperwork every couple of days and don’t have the time to file them away – get two boxes and label one “in” and the other as “out”. When you get a new bill, but have to run out the door, chuck it into the box labeled “in” and go over it once you get home, once you have noted it on your whiteboard, you can put it in the “out” box. After the bill, has been paid, you can then file it into your paperwork box/drawer.
Do you see how all of this is starting to connect and make sense?
Some people need more than just a basic cardboard box as a filing cabinet, so try and make it suit to your style. You can head down to your local shops and buy some cute crafting items and decorate your boxes and whiteboard so now you will want to look at them without crying and pulling your hair out. It’s even better if you have kids, as they can see you being organised while still being fun and then you can teach them all about being organized.
Just remember that taking the time to file your paperwork shouldn’t take too long – so grab that cup of wine, do your filing for ten minutes, and then go back for the whole bottle!
So until next time girls and boys, as always keep those questions coming in by visiting our Contact Us page.
And finally, “What the world needs now is more love and less paperwork”
Have fun and keep smiling! – Aunt Sue
