uccess With Money
uccess With Money
Your Personal Guide to Achieving Success With Your Money and Your Life
Where are you keeping your financial records? Do you know where all of them are right now? Can you find them easily when you want them? Is there a work surface and calculator available for such activities as balancing your checkbook?
Everyone needs to have their own “office.” It may be a regular desk or it may be no more than a drawer somewhere. Any way you choose to do it, if you haven’t done it already, now is the time to get organized.
At one point in my life I worked with a man, in fact shared a secretary with him, whose organizational habits were quite different than mine. While my office at least looked well organized, his looked anything but. There were books and papers stacked a foot high all over.
But in truth, as long as our secretary didn't try to “straighten” things out for him, he could find what he needed when he needed it. He would walk right over to a stack of papers, reach down and pull whatever was needed right out of the stack.
The important thing is not how you do it. The important thing is to just do it.
With that in mind, I will not try to suggest the method of organization you should use for your financial records. However, I don't think I would recommend my friend's method to you. If your “office” looks messy it is probably just messy and you won’t be able to find anything.
Think about what would work best for you in your circumstances and in view of your needs. If you do a lot of your work on your computer, keep your other work close by. In most cases you will want to use file folders or something of the sort to keep records like bank statements in order.
There are only a few essentials. You need some way to arrange and store your basic records. You need a flat surface to work on. If not a desk, a table. If not a table, a lap board. But you need to be able to write checks, balance your check book, etc., in a reasonable way.
The primary reason for poor organization is negative thinking about organization. Don’t say you do not have time for organization. Proper organization saves time. It is simple and effective.
Certainly never say you are not good at organization. It is a matter of choice, a decision, not a difficult thing to learn.
Ask yourself questions that are constructive, aimed at finding the easiest way to keep track of your information and keeping it accessible.
It is not significantly more difficult to put papers into separate file folders in their order than it is to throw them unsorted into a drawer.
Think about your personal situation and take whatever steps you need to take now to get all in order. This isn't hard, but unless you make it easy to access your records it is hard to get around to doing the necessary maintenance to keep on top of your money.
Don’t set things up once and forget about them forever, either. Occaionally take stock of your organizational practices to see if some improvements might be in order. As you move from stage to stage in your financial life, needs change.
