Five Minute Friday: Eliminate the Credit Offers

I thought I'd start up a little series where every other Friday I'll offer up a suggestion of something simple you can do in five minutes to help de-clutter your life.  Hence the name: Five-Minute Fridays!

Today's suggestion comes courtesy of my local Better Business Bureau.  If you recall, I took advantage of their Free Shred Day in April as part of my filing cabinet project.  Before I dropped off my papers, they handed me a "goody bag" that had some various information.  I flipped through it when I got home, and found a handy list of some useful websites.

Files: To Keep, or Not To Keep?

Although reorganizing my filing cabinet was fairly easy, I did have to spend some time researching how long I should be keeping everything.  I found that not every source had comprehensive information, so I had to compile from several sources, and then I also modified or created my own rules in some cases to tailor to my lifestyle.

Below are the guidelines that I used when de-cluttering my files.  Keep in mind that I'm not a tax or legal professional, so this is the intersection of common timeframes and what worked for me.  You may want to check with your accountant or lawyer if you are concerned about keeping or tossing certain documents in your files.

Master Plan - April Project: The Filing Cabinet

Although I'm a bit late in posting, I did finish the April project in April!  This project was the easiest so far and was a nice way to catch up on my schedule.

Taxes Are Done...Time to Get Ready for Next Year!

I can almost hear the groans...

"But Jenna, I just got done filing my taxes...and now you want to talk about next year?"

Just like thinking about having another drink might intensify that hangover headache you feel the morning after a wild party, the last thing you probably want to think about during your "tax hangover" (as LearnVest calls it) is taxes.

Master Plan - March Project: The Office Closet

I realize it's April...but it was intended as the March project, and I started it in March.  Either way, it's done!  This project was actually pretty simple and really just took so long since I was out of town one weekend and spent some time finding some decently cheap organizing materials to get the job done.

Free Nationwide Shred Day - Saturday April 16

Apparently this Free Shred Day is a nationwide event sponsored by the Better Business Bureau as their "Secure Your ID" Day.  It is tomorrow, Saturday, April 16th.

If you're like me and have a pile of old documents you need to shred, check out their website to see if there's a participating location in your area!

Secure Your ID Participants

A little bit of late notice to all of you, but I can't think of a better way to spend your Friday evening than going through your filing cabinet!  (Right??)

My House May Be Small...

...but it's not 90-square feet!

Yes, 90, I'm not missing a zero in there.

Check out this video of a woman who rents a 90-square foot apartment in New York City.  She is (not surprisingly) a professional organizer.  On one hand, it makes me appreciate that I'm not trying to cram my life into 90 square feet.  On the other hand, I'm jealous of the liberation that freedom from material possessions can give you.  I think this video is a good reminder throughout this organizing process that no, we don't really need everything that we think we need.


Simple life Manhattan: a 90-square-foot microstudio

A quick update on where I'm at with my current projects (the Office Closet and the Filing Cabinet)...  I set up some shelving in the closet and have been pricing out some plastic bins, so that has been on hold.  In the meantime, there is a local company hosting a free "Shred Day" this weekend, so I'm hoping to go through my filing cabinet this week and make a big pile of papers to take to that.  (I'm sure it would take me forever to feed them, 5 sheets at a time, through my home shredder!  And I might break it in the process.)  I think I'm still on track to get both projects done by the end of the month, so stay tuned!