The current situation in the world with COVID-19 is one that no-one likes, but let’s remember that this, too, will pass. In the meantime, what can we do? In addition to doing what health experts are recommending, it may be that the only other thing to do is to plan and prepare for the future. And the future will, as we know it, include our financial well-being.
While you shelter down in place, and after the novelty of the “Airbnb” home vacation wears off, you may contemplate activities and/or tasks that you have been postponing for years. If that’s the case, we propose that you undertake de-cluttering and organizing your financial documents/mail in three steps. We define financial documents as bills, bank and credit card statements, receipts, large purchase documents for your home, auto, appliances, and basically most of your mail.
Step1: In a box, collect all mail/financial documents that may be currently stored in various parts of your home. These financial documents may span over several years and must now be compiled one area of your home for sorting.
Step 2: Sort all the documents by creating piles for each year as follows; 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015. Create one pile for “Very Important Docs.”
Step 3: Sort each pile by discarding anything you no longer need or is no longer pertinent.
In our next post, we will provide you guidelines on documents that must be stored and for how long they must be saved. If you are done with these steps and would like to proceed to the next challenge, you may email us at: oliviag@fff.education (no attachments please).
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