Many of us “sort” our photographs by dumping them into shoeboxes or shopping bags anticipating the lazy, rainy afternoon we’ll spend leisurely catching up on our photo albums. The fact is, it would take a rain of biblical proportions—forty days and forty nights—to make the time for this project and the longer you await the perfect day, the more jumbled those boxes and bags become. Stop waiting: get those photos organized now and then go out and take some more—rain or shine!

1. Weed ruthlessly. Wouldn’t it be nice if all your pictures turned out perfectly every time? You save yourself a lot of storage space by pretending they did, and getting rid of pictures you don’t like. If Uncle Charlie’s elbow covered the baby’s face, toss the picture! If the photo is nearly perfect, except that it’s overexposed, throw it away! If you hate that picture snapped while you were chewing steak, out it goes!

2. Don’t save duplicates. If you order duplicates so you can send photos to grandparents, or to pass along to friends who are in the shot, by all means, share them. Then throw the rest away.
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The axiom that work expands to fill the time available can be applied equally well to storage: papers, files, and miscellaneous clutter expand to fill all available space. A messy desk and chaotic filing system waste time and siphon productivity—and sanity. Once you’ve worked your way through this checklist, you’ll have an organized workspace that makes you look forward to getting down to business every day, whether in your study at home or at the office.

1. Take a deep breath. If you’re starting out with an intimidating pile of “stuff” on and around your desk, don’t despair. Take a deep breath and devote a small amount of time—half an hour—daily to sifting through it. If you do a little organizing each day, you will reach the bottom of the stack!

2. Ask questions. As you go through your stacks of paper, piles of files, mountains of magazines, etc., ask yourself: Do I need this? Why? What happens to it next? Where will I look for it when I want it? Don’t ask “where should I put it?” Your organizing system is only as good as your ability to remember where you put things!
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Almost everybody hates to do filing. It’s not the sheer boredom of the task that makes it so awful, it’s the agony of facing all those pieces of paper that require your Solomon-like wisdom: Keep this or throw it away? If I keep it, where should I file it? If I file it, how will I know how to find it again?

Creating a well-organized place for your files will make the job more bearable, and may help establish a regular filing session before paperwork builds up to an overwhelming pile.

1. Purchase a filing cabinet. Tucking bills, receipts, insurance policies, and other vital paperwork into a drawer here and a shoebox there leads from disorganization to chaos. Bite the bullet and buy a good-quality suspension file cabinet that allows drawers to be pulled out to their full length. This way you can see and reach every folder comfortably—no small thing when you’re trying to work quickly and efficiently.  (more…)

Here is the acid test for what you should store in your safe deposit box according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): Would you be in deep trouble without this item? If the answer is yes, it goes in the box.

Staying out of “deep trouble” by storing your valuables at a bank is relatively affordable. Depending on the size of the safe deposit box, and on your bank, a year’s rental will cost from $25 to $90.

Put original documents in the box and keep photocopies at home so you’ll be able to get to them quickly if necessary.

1. Estate planning documents: wills, trusts, powers of attorney. Talk to an attorney about whether the original or a copy of these documents should be kept in your safe deposit box. The answer will depend on what your state law says about who (if anyone) will have immediate access to your safe deposit box after your death.

2. Deed to your house and any other property, including burial plot at cemetery.

3. Vehicle titles.
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The items on this checklist should be kept where they are easy for you—or anyone in your family—to locate without too much detective work.

1. Will (original or a copy depending on your lawyer’s advice) and estate planning documents.

2. Cemetery deeds and burial instructions (copies).

3. Safe deposit box contents. Keep a list of the contents of your safe deposit box as well as copies of the original documents kept there on file: birth and death certificates, deeds to property, vehicle ownership titles, military records, citizenship papers, adoption, custody, divorce decrees, etc.
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