Tackle It Tuesday.....

Today, I am tackling the homeschool room/ computer area. I am buried in paper! Schoolwork, newspapers, flyers, note cards, letters, bills, books, junk mail.... it's everywhere! And the coupons....I'm being over run! You wouldn't think so with the measly batch we got in the paper this week, but I am! I even gave a ton away that I knew I wouldn't be using...and I still have a pile that is huge. So my goal today is to sort through the coupons, file all the kid's schoolwork, set up new business files for 2008 and generally declutter this whole room....Sounds like fun huh? Thrilling.

Speaking of that filing I'm going to do... I have to share a tip I learned years ago. When I was first married, I had no idea how to manage our finances. I was lucky if I could keep my checkbook balanced. (This from a business major). Duplicate checks were the answer to that problem, as there was never a check I missed in the ledger. Anyway, I was very new to the world of personal finances, and a good friend told me about a simple filing system she used for all her bills. She has a 5 drawer filing cabinet and she puts one year in each drawer. So, you purge the earliest year and file the just finished year in the empty cabinet drawer. So this year I will purge 2002, and file 2007 in it's place. I'll have 2003-2008 on hand. I still dread doing this, as I have to make new files for all my 2008 bills in my computer desk....always time consuming, but a great feeling when it is done. If you'd like to check out what records you need to keep and how long to keep them click on this Bankrate link for a record keeping chart. (Print it out and keep it in on hand to refer to from year to year).

So, anyway......that's what I'm tackling today. I hope to dig my way to the surface soon!