**USEFUL** Organizing for the Unorganized

Because of a medical issue, I have great difficulty in organizing and keeping track of important information. I live alone and no longer have the same close-by support system to help me take care of paying bills and keeping track of medications. Now I also have to deal with keeping on top of different doctors, bills, and other life-is-messy stuff. 

I had to come up with a fairly simple system to keep the most important stuff organized. My best friend and I devised a little system a few years or so ago. Recently, she was suddenly very ill and in hospital for days and I'm sure that her family appreciated her having most of her important day-to-day stuff in some kind of order. Sadly, my friend passed away. In my grief, I'm taking time to post about how we set up our little "order out of chaos" system.

What I Use:

• Spiral notebooks. The cheaper, the better. I use one spiral for "general stuff" (I will explain that and another just for bills and regular payments that I call my Bill Pay sheet). You should arrange a system that works best for you.
• Pens and/or pencils (in at least 3 different colors. I use blue, black, and red. A permanent marker with a fine tip is also useful.
• Highlighters in at least 2 colors. You may want to add more.
• Sticky notes. They don't have to be the pricy name brand type but should not fall off easily. (I will tell you later how I have started making my own.)
• Colored tabs or something to "flag" pages and sections. I have cheap tabs that I can write on and reposition.
• A stapler and/or good paper clips.

What I do for my general information:

• If I talk to anyone about anything important - for example, medical insurance or my apartment lease, etc. - I try to immediately record the information in the spiral. At a minimum, I note the date and time and who I was speaking with, and why. If I don't have my spiral, I jot notes on any piece of paper that I can copy, clip or staple into my spiral later.
• I make a tab/flag for each situation. If I make a note about my apartment lease, I make a tab for "Apartment" or "Lease" and try to leave a few blank pages behind it in case I need to add more information later. This helps me find things at a glance when I need to.
• When I fill up a spiral, I start another. I try to keep all the old spirals bound together by type - General, Bills, Medical, etc. I always mark the year on the front.
• I will staple or clip the small relevant loose notes and receipts into the appropriate space in the spiral. If something is too bulky, I will put it into a baggie labeled so I know which spiral and section it belongs to. Cheap envelopes are also good for holding receipts and other flyway papers.

What I do for monthly/regular bill payments (Bill Pay sheet):

• I typed up a sheet listing my set monthly bills to be paid. You want to have at least a year's worth (12). I was able to print mine out but you can handwrite them or have copies made at the library or a store.
• For each month, I show a running tally similar to a basic checkbook with-
• the starting dollar amount or balance that I have to work with
• on each bill line, I show the amount that is due and the amount that I am paying. I subtract what I have minus what I paid, and show the balance left. I move the balance to the next line and repeat.
• I leave space on one side of the columns to make whatever notes I want. I usually note whether I am paying any extra on a bill or if it is an auto-pay, etc.
• I leave space at the bottom or I use the back to make any notes throughout the rest of the month about what I am doing with the remaining balance of my budget - food purchases, unexpected charges, etc.

Of course, I make small changes to my system as I need and you have to practice to see what works for you. I recently changed my "Bill Pay" sheet to add things like the account numbers I need to sign in to pay and the due dates so I don't have to hunt for the information every time.

I pay all my bills at the first of the month even if they are due mid-month. Even if you don't actually pay the bill at that time, you can tally it so you have an idea of your budget.

Last year, I started just stapling my Bill Pay sheet to a page in the spiral because that leaves me more room to jot the many notes I take all the rest of the month. 

It's not pretty but it works. 

You can see that I put a lot of wear and tear on my notebooks! That's because I have to refer back to them so often.

Another thing that I started about 2 years ago is keeping a spiral that is just for information from and for my doctors. I only see my specialist about every 3 months. By the time I get to appointments and he or she is asking, I will have forgotten any specific issues I had in the previous months. One of my doctors is great about printing out info for me to take home - future appointments, changes to make to my diet and exercise, etc. My other doctors tend to forget to do that so I have started taking detailed notes during or immediately afterward. Or my family will mention what they are observing about my health that I need to make a note of.

Keeping track of
important calls...

Even more recently since I changed to a better Medicare plan, I started keeping a whole other notebook for that. I keep track of benefits I'm using or paid OTC stuff I can order, etc.

The bottom line is when you have any kind of issue with your health or memory, etc. you have to be your own advocate and caretaker. I am fortunate to have the best family ever but I live alone. I can't afford to misremember something important like a bill, medication, or something else that impacts my life so seriously.

Maybe you don't even have a specific age- or health-related situation. Maybe you are just disorganized in general. Maybe you have a family member that you are helping. You could set this system up and use it to help them stay on track. At any rate, I hope it's truly useful. It's literally been a life-saver for me.

My mind is very scattered this week & I wanted to come back and add anything I may have missed...

You can make your own Sticky Notes (cheaper than the name Post *ts...) by getting some of this cheap glue. I use scratch paper of cheap newsprint that I cut into different size squares. If you apply the glue to the paper and wait 60 seconds before attaching it to another piece (and another, etc), you can easily re-attach those papers to your notebook. DIY stickies.

I use either pencils or erasable ink for writing in my notebooks. Don't use erasable ink though on anything important such as official documents - or if the paperwork will be exposed to high heat. My Rocketbook ink pens are made to wash away with water or disappear with high heat. I really prefer mechanical pencils for my notes because the lead lasts longer and is cheaper to replace.

I like to keep business-length envelopes around. You can staple them into your notebook to hold a batch of receipts (medical, bills, etc). That way you won't have bits of small papers flapping around in your notebooks.

Have one spot in your home where you can store the accumulation of notebooks. I store mine under a writing desk near my emergency contact stuff. I arrange them by month/year or just year. If we have a fire or other emergency, time allowing, I will grab the most recent stuff.

Make sure that someone in your family or circle of friends knows you have the notebooks. If something happens and they need to help you take care of business, they will at least have somewhere to start.

Setting this up is a lot less complicated than it sounds. Just make a system that works best for you. The main thing is to have some kind of order in the chaos of your life when it comes to important stuff like medical or finances. 

Peace

--Free