Clutter Busting: Home Office Overhaul – Step #3

This month we have been working in the area I refer to as the home office. This area is wherever you store your paperwork; whether it is an actual office in your home, a desk in your family room, or simply a cabinet in your kitchen. I realize what an overwhelming task this can be, but need to stress how very important this is to your family. If you have questions, please contact your tax professional or attorney.

Last week we worked on the large filing drawer to keep important papers. These papers, although quite important, are not as imperative as the items I am going to ask you to keep in your smaller folio. Once completed this smaller folio will contain everything you need in case of an emergency. In addition, it is extremely important to instruct your family members as to where this folio is in case you are unable to get it. I suggest purchasing a fire box to store these items.

• Titles of owned property (real estate, cars, recreation vehicles, etc)
• Other property records
• Certificates of Deposits and Stocks that have not been cashed in
• Insurance Policies (auto, home, health, others)
• Open Loan Agreements
• Child Support Orders
• Retirement plan papers
• Birth Certificates for all family members
• Citizenship papers
• Marriage Certificate or domestic partner registration paper
• Divorce paper
• Death Certificate of family member
• Social Security Card
• Records of paid mortgages
• Will and Trust
• Power of Attorney
• Copies of all current credit cards front and back (in case they got lost or stolen)
• Past 3-7 years taxes (ask your tax professional)

In the event you are missing any of the above documents, now is the time to take care of this. You can get your banking information from your financial institutions. Personal legal documents (birth, death, marriage) can be requested from your state’s website. If it is your Will, Trust, Power of Attorney, etc. documents that are missing, I implore you to contact your attorney immediately. If it is not financially possible to hire an attorney for this there are ways that you can do the paperwork yourself. Suze Orman has a protection portfolio that is just amazing and walks you through the process step-by-step. All you need is to get the paperwork notarized. I know how difficult it is to handle these types of documents because you are forced to consider the worst case scenario. This said; simply ask yourself if you would ever consider dropping your children off at a new babysitter without any instructions. Of course not! These important legal documents are just that written instructions of your wishes when you are not around to state them, just like a note to the babysitter.

Spend this week working on this folio and completing your drawer files. Don’t forget to shred any papers prior to throwing into the garbage if there is any important information on them. Next week we are going to work on other paper clutter issues and creating a system that works for your home.
Betsy