21:02 – Document KEEP overview!

It’s day two of our 21 day challenge.

Yesterday we talked a bit about what kind of documents we need to keep, should keep and want to keep. I promised I would make you a printable picture of the KEEP overview.

It’s not all fancy but it should work for your needs.

Click here to get a printable version

What have I been up!

Enough of this talking about what to keep… have you gotten any decluttering done? Is there any progress on your pile?

Well, yes 🙂 There are some progress, but that will have to wait for tomorrow. I can’t let you inn on everything right away you know 😉 Right now I’d rather tell you about, who all is joining in on this endeavor.

JOINING IN

There is a saying “The more the merrier”, and so far there are a few of us who will be attacking the paper piles. And I for one, can’t wait to see what stacks we all will shed!

– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, is joining with about 15 minutes a day
– Viv, at GriefHappens, said she needed to be on this “like an over-sugared kid in a bouncy house”, and are joining with 30 minutes a day 🙂
– Jena, at All Round Better me, is in for 60 minutes a week
– Amy, at More time than money, also joining with 60 minutes a week
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, just told me she is joining, woohoo

Sitting on the fence
– Gilly, at Anything Except Housework is waiting to see if we survive it all 😉
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, is hard at work on her front porch, and haven’t quuuuite decided yet 😉

I hope I didn’t miss anyone.. if I did, or if you just decided you want to join. Let me know, and I’ll add you in on the list.

Guess that’s it for today,

see you all around. tomorrow

21:01 – Sorting time!

It’s day one of our 21 day challenge, and the first thing we have to do is gather every scrap of paper that is using real estate in the house. I hunted high and low, and my pile can be found in yesterdays post.

You’re not ready with your pile yet? Right! Everyone, you’ve got 15 minutes to gather it all into a huge pile.

Now! Run…

Ready? No.. not yet? You need a little more time? No problem…. (minutes are passing)

OK guys. Everyone have their piles? Yep? Great.

Seems like we are all ready to get down to business 🙂

It’s time to start SORTING the stack!

One, two, three.. ready… NO,no… hang on a minute! I just thought about something. There is something we need to talk about first!

You might be really tempted to chuck it all right smack in the middle of sorting through your papers (I know I would love that), but you should not do this.

You see! There are some personal files we need to keep, and some we should keep, in addition to the ones you want to keep.

Let’s talk about the these real quick.
My lists below are a compilation of what I have found on the web. Not everything will be applicable for everyone, I might also have missed some documents. Anyways, the lists should work as a general guideline for what we need and should keep. Now, you might not want to hang on to all, I’ll leave that up to your discretion 😉

Disclaimer! If you own a business, there are specific rules for what you need to keep. My lists are for personal documents only.

NEED TO KEEP (physical copies and data files if possible)

Will, Power of attorney and living will
Birth and death certificates
Marriage license, prenups and divorce papers
Social security information (US) or other equivalent type of documents (rest of the world)
Proof of citizenship
Adoption papers
Alimony arrangements
Child custody agreements
Military records
IRA information/contributions
Retirement/Pension plan documents
ID cards and passports
Insurance policies (might be OK to have as physical paper in addition to any digital copy’s)
Vehicle titles and loan documents
House deeds and mortgage documents
Any other loan/mortgage documents, this also includes personal loans
Business license

In short, you’ll want to keep physical copies of things related to state/federal matters, including certifications, licenses, or deeds. Why?
1. You, might want to have easy access to these, just in case you need them.
2. If you need a physical copy and don’t have one, it’s a pain to have them replaced, since you have to make a direct request to a government agency, and we all know how “fast” they work 😉

SHOULD KEEP (data files and/or as physical copies)

These are documents you should hold on too, for a while. You don’t need to keep them as physical documents, unless you really want to. Scanned files are fine.

Tax records and receipts, including the yearly statements you need for the tax return (Norway – IRS can go back 10 years = keep 10 years, US = 7 years – check out Forbes info on this, UK – 22 months )
Pay stubs (keep for a year, until you can check it against your yearly statement)
Bank statements
Social security statements
Annual insurance policy statements
Retirement plan statements (401(k), 529, IRA, etc)
Home purchase, sale, or improvement documents (keep as long as you own the house + at least six/seven years after you sell (for tax purposes))
Medical records (should keep as long as they are relevant for your situation)
Medical bills (keep at least a year after payment in case of disputes)
Warranty documents and receipts (keep as long as you own them)
Pictures of expensive items you own, in case you need them for an insurance claim

There are also some documents you probably should keep the most recent version of, for your own piece of mind:

Canceled checks and bank deposit slips (until you receive your monthly bank statement)
Bills (until you have proof that the payment was received)

I’m sure there are more I have missed, but in general A GOOD RULE OF THUMB can be to think (when deciding what to keep)

“How hard is this document to replace? Will I need to hang around a government office, hospital, bank or on a phone for hours to get hold of a copy?” Is the answer a resounding YES, then it’s probably best to hold onto it 🙂 Anything else, can probably be scanned or found as online documents.

WANT TO KEEP

Then we get to the documents/scraps of paper we want to keep. maybe they are ideas, a great article, drawing or sentimental items like old letters. You are the only one who can decide on these items. But to keep that particular pile under control, make sure the paper/document is important to you, inspires you or gives you tremendous joy (like drawing from a kid, letter from a dear one and so on).

NOTE!

As I mentioned before, I shred all documents before they leave the house. You should too! If not, you might risk people rummaging through your trash finding personal information about you, that they can use to empty your bank accounts, buy things on credit cards or even completely steal your identity. If you don’t own a shredder, make sure you at least tear the important stuff.

OTHER

This turned out to be a long list of things to keep in mind when sorting through your papers.

To make it easier for you, I will add a printable picture/file on this tomorrow, in case you would like the overview on hand as you sort through your papers – I know I could need this 😉 Why not add it right away.. well, I haven’t made it yet.. and as it’s 11PM here, I can’t get to bed soon enough 😉

Until tomorrow everyone, until tomorrow 🙂

Nighty nite…

21 Day Paper Challenge!

I mentioned a couple of days ago that it is time for a new 21 day challenge. A paper challenge this time.

I figured that since it’s a challenge, I will need a few rules/goals. How else would you guys know if I’m keeping up my end of this 😉

Rules/goals:

I will dedicate at least 60 minutes a day (yes, every day) to sorting out my paper monster.
I will update you all on a regular basis, on what I’m up to, and on how much has gone “out-the-door” (read: trash pile) 😉
Out-the-door – I’m hoping that about 90% of all my papers will be shredded at the end of it all. Why not a hundred? Since there are some papers that we need to keep physical versions of, I guess I’ll be keeping those. Since I don’t know how many there are of these, I’m going with the “hopefully 90% out-the-door” 😉 As you can see from the piles below.. it’s not easy to say exactly how much will be going out-the-door!

When do we start?

Tomorrow is a god a day as any to start, so I’ll see you then?

Melinda, you ready?

Paper and paper clutter!

Now that the great cooktop debacle is over, I want to talk to you about paper.

I’m not talking about things like wrapping paper or nice little pristine notebooks waiting to be filled.

No, I’m talking about all the paper we tend to hold on to. The paper “clutter” that seems to be everywhere.

Stuff like old tax returns, pay slips, bills, manuals, scraps of paper with notes on, receiptsm magazine and newspaper tear outs, insurance papers, financial statements, health info and notebooks filled with random notes.

Off course, some paper we need to keep, but those tend to easily get lost in the pile of paper we really don’t need to hold on to.

Just about everyone I know, have way to much paper floating around. And I for one, want that to be over, once and for all.

It’s time to tackle the paper monster, hanging around in the house.

You might remember I tried this back in May. My intention was to scan all the important ones, and then get rid of it all.

Now as you probably gathered from lack of posts about that particular task, I never succeeded.

I sorted some, and even scanned some, and then I had to tuck it all away because of visitors. And you know how that goes. Out of sight out of mind! Yeah, that particular project never made it out of the cabinets again… until now!

I really do want this stuff gone! So I’m giving it another try, but this time I’m doing it in a way that might help me actually get there.

You might remember my 21 day declutter challenge in September! Which turned out to be a pretty successful project, mostly because of you guys.

I’m thinking maybe a new challenge is the way to go, to get my pile under control, a 21 day paper challenge.

I might try to tackle the project by topic, but topic or not. There are a few steps that will be the same, regardless of what pile I’m attacking.

SORT
I will sort papers into what I need to keep, should keep, and want to keep. The rest? Goes into the toss pile.

SCAN
All papers in the keep pile will be scanned.
When a piece of paper has been scanned, and checked that it looks OK, a new evaluation is needed.
Do I need to keep this as a physical copy or can it be tossed now that it’s scanned?

FILE
As I scan along, I will end up with a few documents I will need to keep physical copies off, like for example birth-certificates, ID cards, passports, vehicle title, active mortgage documents and so on. There are more, of course, but we will get to that.

The physical keepers, I will categorize and file into binders.

SHRED
As I sort, scan and file my paper, I will end up with quite a lot of paper in the toss pile. All this will be shredded, then tossed.

I’m super careful with anything that might have my name, bank details, credit card details, health information or anything else on, that might say things about me. I do not want to set myself up for identity theft, therefore I shred all personal papers leaving the house.

21 DAYS
21 day, sound like a long time.. will it take you that long?

I have no idea. My experience from earlier tells me that the scanning part will be what takes the longest. And from a health point of view, I want to spend as little time in front of the computer as I can.

Right now, there are piles and piles of paper to go through. Sadly as most of it has been sorted several times before, and I believe most of the papers I have.. are the scan-able ones… ouch 😦

Will I get it done, in 21 days?

I’m certain I will get it done (cocky I know).. but if I don’t… at least I’m going to be a heck of a lot closer, than I am today 😉

Do you have a pile pile from hell, that needs some work? Why not join me and we can tackle the paper monster together.

Not everyone will be scanning, I’m sure, but there might still be work to be done, with sorting, filing and shredding.

I would love the company 🙂

Medication – a shed!

Seems like I still can’t get out of the habit of posting every day…I’m sure I’ll get there eventually, but obviously not today. For right now it feels like I’m still working on my declutter challenge.. even though I am on day 23 😉

Today I want to talk about expired medication!

I have this drawer full of medication, and it’s been a year since I looked through this drawer hunting for any medication that might have expired. September 2015 I wrote about the importance of doing a regular medicine “cabinet” shed.

In that post I talk about why paying attention to medications expiration date, is important.
I touch on the topic of potency, storing and how to dispose of old medication…

Here is an excerpt from my post:

I tend to do a yearly shed… just to make sure that I have control over what’s in my medicine “cabinet/drawer”. Expiration dates, what I need refills on and what, if any, I need to take down to the chemist for them to dispose of, safely!

As I have tried all sorts of medication to try to cure my shoulder/neck/headache problem, you might say my drawer looks like it belongs in a chemists office, rather than in a regular household. Some of it belongs in the “been there, tried that, didn’t work” category, and it is time to let that stuff go.

And here we are… out-the-door.. they go!

Most of them expired, but also some no longer used (as they didn’t work), ergo no reason to keep them.

20 items
just can’t help but still do the counting 🙂

SO! What about you? Have YOU looked through your medicine cabinet lately?

As some of my fellow bloggers are still into their 21 day declutter challenge – I will continue to post about their progress:

Still in this challenge is:
– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, is on her day 10
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, is making some hairy goals for the month of October
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, is almost there, day 20, one more day to go!
– Gilly over at Anything but housework, have gotten rid of 11++ trash bags from her closet, and are still hard at work on it…

and already done just like me, are:
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, 14 days. Total count: 146.
– Liliia at Bring your baby abroad , decluttered her old room, while visiting her mum.

21 day challenge – A follow up!

Even though I’m done with my 21 day declutter challenge, it seems like I’ve gotten used to doing a daily post.

I was originally planning on taking a few days off, but it seems like I just can’t help myself… I feel compelled to sit down and write a few words 😉

During these 21 days, I have to admit, I have surprised myself. I thought I would struggle with my goal of 231 items out-the-door. But no! It turned out to be much easier to “loose” the items, even so.. never in my wildest dreams did I think I would end up with around 400 items leaving the house.

It’s been quite a while (last year) since my focus was on decluttering, so you might say I’ve had a bit of a break from it all. And during this year I’ve been “beating myself up” a little, over the fact I couldn’t ever seem to get back into the groove of it.

Now on the other hand, I think the break has been a good thing.

I have noticed during this challenge, that it’s been easier to shed items that have survived several culling’s before. The items themselves have less “power” over me. I’m firmer in my decisions and I have a clearer vision of how I want things to be.

Decluttering can at times be emotional draining, memories and feelings come popping out of the woodwork, and sometimes a person need a break, a time-out! It’s good to take the time to process… sort of let your heart catch up with your brain.

This is what my break have given me. Time to “heal” so to speak. And now I’m more focused than ever to get the stuff out of the house.

So if you find yourself at a standstill… it might be time for a break, to let all the impressions sink in and give yourself time to recoup and gather new energy.

My decluttering isn’t going to end with this 21 day challenge… no, I’ve already got plans for more challenges, as they seem to make me more “accountable” 😉

It hasn’t hurt that I have had some great bloggers join me or cheered me on. I have to give credit where credit is due. Without you, my wonderful blogger friends, I’m not sure I could have done this.

THANK YOU ALL!

Still in this challenge is:
– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, is still working hard at her place
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, is making some hairy goals for the month of October
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, still going strong on her day 19, Total so far: 698.

and already done are:
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, 14 days. Total count: 146.
– Gilly over at Anything but housework, got rid of 11 trash bags from her closet!
– Liliia at Bring your baby abroad , decluttered her old room, while visiting her mum.

21.22 – The last bits and pieces!

It seems like I’m supposed to be done with my 21 day declutter challenge, as yesterday was my “last” day.

Having said that, there are a couple of items I still would like to count up into my total of items out-the-door for this year.

Earlier this summer, even though I haven’t written about it, I did shed a few items, as a friend and a family member left my house with a couple of extra items in their luggage 😉

In addition to these earlier decluttered items, there are a couple of item that made it out of this house during the 21 day challenge, that I had completely forgotten to add into my former total.

So here we are.. the day after the end of my 21 day declutter challenge, still writing about things that have left or are leaving the house as a result of the challenge.

DAY 22…

37 items out-the-door!

Stuff my sister took
Grandmothers jewelry box
1 of grandmothers necklaces
2 of grandfathers shooting prizes (goblets)
10 pieces of clothing
14

Stuff my friend took
1 leather jacket
6 makeup/facial items
4 pairs of jeans
25
Stuff I forgott to count earlier
1 top
1 black jacket
8 software CD/DVD’s
2 printer manuals
=
37 items

My final count:
– 392 items part of my 21 day challenge
– 417 items out-the-door so far this year

Told you I wasn’t done yet 😉

OK! But now you are done.. right?

Uh huh.. sorry.. I just remembered about the pile of discarded medication that is ready to go… oh.. and the artwork I’ve got in a pile ready for me to take some pictures…

Guess this means I wasn’t quite as done as I though…

I’ve been joined in this challenge by:
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, 14 days. Total count: 146.
– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, was we heard from her, she had fallen into her filing cabinet…
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, has gotten rid of 12-13 bag/boxes of stuff!
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, have shed amazingly 671 items so far.

and
– Gilly over at Anything but housework, got rid of 11 trash bags from her closet!
– Liliia at Bring your baby abroad , decluttered her old room, while visiting her mum.

21.21 – The final cull!

We’re at the final day of my 21 day declutter challenge.

I’m floored with how fast time have flown. It feels like the beginning of September was just a few days ago, and here we are on Sept 25th and at the end off this particular journey.

I set out on my 21 day challenge to try to get back into the decluttering mindset, little did I know that I would end up running amok in my own house. Not only have I passed my 21 days with flying color (I have surpassed the goal of 231 items, and I have decluttered every day) but I still have quite a few items just waiting to leave the house.

I thought it would be hard to find the 231 items, as I have decluttered quite a bit the last few years. But this time around my mind have been more determined than ever, and there are items that have survived all my other culling’s, that have left or will be leaving the house, this time around.

It seems like every time I do another round, I’m harder on my stuff, they have to have more qualities to survive my culling’s. And I’m noticing a trend of wanting less and less, left in my house.

It’s a good trend, as long as I just don’t get to the stage where I “throw the baby out with the bath water”, so to speak. Now.. I believe I can easily do another challenge or two, before I get to that particular stage 😉

So how have I done, on this last day of challenge?

Here we go….

?? items going out-the-door!

1 large floor vase
1 bench (to sit on or use as a table)
21 pieces of jewelry
3 watches
1 jewelry pouch
27

1 small ironing board
17 Eagle creek and other brands packing cubes/bags
14 pieces of random stuff
59
1 basket
1 pair of boots
2 kitchen towels
=
63

That’s 21 x 3, baby!!!!

Not bad for the challenges final day, if I may say so myself 😉

How have I done throughout this challenge?

My final count = 380 items out-the-door!

And you know what? I’m not even done yet 😉

I’ve been joined in this challenge by:
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, 14 days. Total count: 146.
– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, is still deep into her filing cabinet…
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, has gotten rid of 12-13 bag/boxes of stuff!
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, is taking a day off, she have shed amazingly 671 items so far.

and
– Gilly over at Anything but housework, just got rid of 11 trash bags from her closet!
– Liliia at Bring your baby abroad have been visiting her mum and decluttered her old room.

21.20 – A random bunch of stuff!

We’re at day 20 of my 21 day declutter challenge.

I can’t believe I’m almost at the end of my 21 day declutter challenge! It’s gone by pretty fast.

Has it been hard?

No not really, I thought I would struggle more to come up with things to get rid off, but I’m finding I actually have more than enough to cover today’s and tomorrows “quota”…

So much so that I almost want to continue on to see how far I can go. Now mind you I did say, almost. Which means, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you, on me actually following through on that particular thought 😉

So where are we today? Well, I’ve been searching “high and low”… and this is what I’ve found:

20 items going out-the-door!

1 large wooden platter
1 par of gloves
1 ear-warmer
3 jewelry travel “pouches”
2 caps
1 wine bottle cover (it’s really nice and furry and sooooo soft, dang it..)
1 watering can

1 glass vase
1 ipad cover
1 bowl
1 scanner w/charger
1 floor runner that can be used outdoors
4 table cloth runners
1 pancake “spatula”
=
20 items

Bigger things today Jen, bigger things today 😉

At the home stretch now.. only one more day.. woohoo!

I’m being joined in this challenge by:
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, joined for 14 days. Total count: 146 🙂
– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, is deep into her filing cabinet…
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, is hating her laundry so much she is tucking away a box of clothing wondering if it counts, declutter wise 😉
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, is on day 18, I’m sure she is hard at work on day 19.

and
– Gilly over at Anything but housework, just got rid of 11 trash bags from her closet. I’m super impressed!
– Liliia at Bring your baby abroad is visiting her mum and is decluttering her old room.

21.19 – Itsy-bitsy items!

We’re at day 19 of my 21 day declutter challenge.

I’ve been a bit under the weather today, so this is going to be extremely short and sweet.

Gotta keep up with my daily post you know 😉

28 Itsy-bitsy pieces going out-the-door!

1 box of birdseed
1 bottle of orchids fertilizer
6 bookmarks
2 small boxes
3 plastic pouches
1 sports bottle
1 fridge magnet
1 metal box
1 pocket mesuring band
and
11 other random items
=
28 items

I’m being joined in this challenge by:
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, joined for 14 days. Her total count? 146 (so far) 🙂
– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, is deep into her filing cabinet… which reminds me.. I should get back to my paper scanning and decluttering project… maybe I can make that my next 21 day challenge?
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, just “emptied” her garage, and are now at 12 bags total… awesome!!
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, is on day 18, she has pasted the 650 item mark and working on 700…

in addition:
– Gilly over at Anything but housework, just gotten rid of 11 trash bags from her closet.. how cool is that!
– Liliia at Bring your baby abroad is visiting her mum and have been going wild in her old room, decluttering!

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THANK YOU ALL!

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