This Article Goes in the ‘To Do’ File

Gary Evans has a woefully typical filing system for tax season. Every time he comes across a necessary receipt or other record, Evans tosses it into a battered cardboard box in a corner of his home office.

With the April 15 filing deadline looming larger by the day, that box is getting more and more crowded.

“I have no skills when it comes to organization,� Evans, 36, lamented recently while shopping for supplies in a Costa Mesa store. “Because of that, preparing my [tax] forms is even more of a pain than it has to be. I spend a lot of time sifting through everything. I guess I’m not alone in that.�

He isn’t. Like Evans, who lives in Santa Ana, many of us fail to make life easier by sorting and prioritizing the paper trail on a daily basis. Instead, we wait too long, leaving an unruly mess of clutter begging for discipline.

With that in mind, Barbara Hemphill has written “Taming the Paper Tiger at Home� ($15, Kiplinger Books, 1998), a step-by-step guide on how to best handle financial records and any other paper disaster that may be occurring around the home or office.

Hemphill said paper overload is just the nature of these more complicated modern times, when most folks are inundated with junk mail, more comprehensive financial records and other paper minutiae.

“I’ve spent thousands of hours working with people and their paper, from parents struggling with piles of papers their kids bring home from school to corporation executives responsible for thousands of files,� Hemphill writes. “One fact is obviously clear: paper-management skills are essential to survive the information explosion in our society.�

On the tax front, Hemphill all but pleads for us to get organized every day instead of waiting. Clearly, that would make accessing and referencing records simpler during tax preparation and, possibly, result in an unexpected deduction or two.

Tax Record Tips

Here are a few common-sense suggestions:

* Record all expenses on a calendar or ledger used specifically for taxes. Make a daily appointment with yourself so this becomes routine.

* Keep accurate records of all income--your regular job, freelance work, dividends, capital gains and interest payments--divided into categories and kept in separately marked envelopes.

* File records of deductible items--such as medical bills, charitable donations or casualty losses--as soon as you get them.

* When collecting records, throw out duplicates. For instance, keep either the customer copy of a credit card payment or the copy sent with your monthly statement.

The Paper Trail

When considering other clutter, Hemphill offers a few colorful (and sobering) factoids. She points out that Kinkos makes 12 billion copies every year, enough for 2 copies for every person in the world.

Across the United States, an average of 1.3 trillion documents are made each year, enough to wallpaper the Grand Canyon 107 times.

Impressive, but not that surprising to Shavonne Henry of Irvine. Just keeping up with the junk mail is enough to make her cry for relief.

“Usually I just throw most of it away, sometimes without even looking that closely,� said Henry, 33. “I worry that I’ve thrown out something important, but I get so impatient with how much there is.�

To bring some order to the home, Hemphill recommends a strategy that starts with a “to sort� tray. Put all incoming paper into a pile and--each and every day--determine what can be tossed and what needs to be filed. Keep a wastebasket nearby. For privacy, you may want a shredder.

The next step is to dump to-do reminder notes. Transfer the information to a master calendar of appointments and then toss the paper. Throw away jotted notes with phone numbers and addresses after entering them in personal phone books and rotary files.

“As a result, you can eliminate a considerable amount of paper from your desks, dresser tops, mirrors, purses and wallets,� Hemphill writes.

Home Filing

Once you’ve determined which documents must be kept, divide them into two categories, action files and reference files. Action files are for papers that need your attention immediately or in the near future; reference files are for information that you know you will, or think you might, need down the road.

Hemphill points out that labeling individual files is important. For instance, two useful action files are “call� (reminding you to return important phone calls) and “discuss� (perhaps you need to go over a bill discrepancy with a spouse).

Reference files could have categories such as car maintenance, insurance, stocks, holidays and subscriptions/memberships.

More Help

If you’re truly awash in documents and need more than Hemphill’s pointers, there are groups that may be able to help through seminars and hands-on advice. The Organizers Network of Orange County and Clutterers Anonymous can relate to your paper pain; both can be reached at (949) 726-5095.

Evans, for one, doesn’t think he’ll have to go that far. A bit more discipline should do it.

“I’m not drowning out there, just a little submerged,� he said, grinning. “All I need is some focus. Just too lazy, I guess, but I’ll work on it. Next year, for sure.�