Papers, papers, papers...

One of the things about getting older and having chronic illnesses is that the housework tasks that used to be routine can become daunting. However, it's important to find new strategies to keep up without exhausting yourself too much. When I was having breathing problems and was sick with pernicious exhaustion last summer and fall, I was basically working and sleeping, period, for six months. I let a lot of paper-work stack up. Now that I'm feeling better and not working, I'm having a lot of fun getting caught up! Yay!

I bought a pre-printed filing system (there are several advertised on-line or in office supplies stores -- the one I bought is called Freedom Filer) and I've chosen my file labels and set up my hanging files in a couple of portable file boxes. I've been sorting like crazy into various groups:

1) To Pay (As of today, this one is now empty again. Whew.)
2) To File
3) To Call/Write
4) Errands
5) To Do On-Line
6) To Read

Plus the largest piles: To Recycle and To Shred.

As I go through the papers I'm finding all kinds of diabetes-related and health-related stuff I put off: articles I meant to read, low-carb recipes I meant to try, a Dexacom brochure and an Omnipod brochure I got in the mail months ago, a list of some follow-up tests I need to schedule. Then there are all the clever ideas I want to study and think more about: Should I start bolusing for part of my protein? Are there supplements I should be taking? Dental issues can cause systemic inflammation and that can increase insulin resistance. Plus there's that one mercury filling left in my mouth. Do I want to schedule an appointment with the "natural" dentist my friend recommended? How much will it cost? And when was my last dental checkup, anyway?!?

I find that getting all this diabetes-related paperwork unearthed and organized is making me very happy -- and relieving a lot of stress and low-grade, back-of-the-mind anxiety that has been weighing on me for months.

By putting a system in place, I hope that when I'm working full-time again I won't neglect myself so much. The secret seems to be setting a timer (e.g. for twenty minutes at a time) and plowing through it. The hardest thing after getting started is STOPPING and not turning it into an ordeal. I seem to do best if I just work at it until the timer goes off and then give my brain a break -- organizing paperwork involves a lot of decisions and that can be mentally exhausting. By limiting myself and going on to do something else (e.g. washing dishes or going for a walk) I get a lot done over a period of days with no fear of going back to it for the next round.

Tags: organization, paperwork, records

0 members like this

Comment by Scott E on February 9, 2012 at 9:12am: Getting organized is hard to do because it doesn't immediately accomplish any of the things you really need to do (pay bills, order supplies, etc). But it does help you to get those things done faster when you need to. Good job!

By the way, do your prescription receipts go in the "Shred", the "Recycle" or the "Trash" pile? (you don't really have a trash pile, I hope!). I'm always feel like there might be personally identifiable information on those slips - as if someone else might benefit in knowing that I take Novolog - so I tear it up into tiny pieces and throw it in the trash. Since my town recycles all paper (including that), I wonder if it should go in that pile.

Comment by LaGuitariste on February 9, 2012 at 1:05pm: The new system I bought addresses the issue of receipts in a very sensible way. You rotate through an "odd year" set of "monthlies" and an "even year" set of "monthlies". This is where you drop current receipts, paid bills, statements, etc. as you pay things. That way you keep them no longer than two years, know exactly where they are at tax time or if a question arises (I thought I paid that? When did I pay that?), and you can shred/recycle them in a timely way (no need to be buried in stacks of receipts from a zillion years ago, eh?)

What I like about this is that although I don't itemize medical expenditures NOW, if something were to happen (God forbid) mid-way through the year that caused my medical expenses to go over the IRS threshold for deductibility, I'd know right were to find all those medical receipts (in my monthly folders.)

So as I'm setting this up, my taxes are long done for 2010 and I only have to worry about filing stuff from January '11 (odd year monthlies) through February '12 (even year monthlies) -- the rest can be shredded/recycled -- but at the end I'll have all my medical receipts and supporting documents for 2011 in one, organized place. If I were to become seriously ill, I could just hand my file box to a CPA and they could easily figure it out.

This system also has a ten-year rotation of IRS files (Year 0 to Year 9) where I'd move medical receipts and supporting documents if I did decide to deduct them from my taxes. Right now I'll just file my IRS documents from 2002 to 2011 -- the rest will be shredded/recycled, when I find it. ;0)

Re. shredding/recycling: I recycle all paper, but if a piece of paper has my name, account number or anything super personal on it, I tear off the personal part and shred that, recycle the reminder of the paper, and bag and recycle the remains from my cross-cut shredder. No sense in making it easy for the identity thieves, eh? The only thing that goes in my trash pile are things that can't be recycled (this list gets shorter every year in Seattle -- we even have a food-waste recycling program now.)

This system I bought also has a place to cycle through things like insurance policies (these are set up so you pull out the old policy and replace it with the new policy), warranties for medical devices (remove the old warranty when you sell or replace to item) and a place for permanent records, things like birth certificates, family history records, or, for example, my original sleep apnea test results, which new doctors always want to see. I had a hospital LOSE my second sleep apnea test results -- my entire file disappeared when they moved to a new facility -- so now I'm kind of careful about keeping my own medical records in case they're needed. There is no way I want to go through two overnight ten-hour medical tests again if I can avoid it!!!

Comment by Closet-betic on February 9, 2012 at 5:30pm: wow, I'm not that organizes at all,most of my important stuff I keep on a jump drive aka flash drive or my iphone. For example all my meds with dosage, insulin type and units, doctors name and phone numbers (along with the wifes name and number) and now my pump settings... I also have medic alert which also has that same information too. As far as paper stuff goes that is important I usually put that in a separate paper bag and when it full I burn it.

Congrats to you on getting organize...