How quickly can you find it?

Make sure you know where important papers are hiding

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to figure out how quickly you can
find important information. If the answer is quite quickly, that

(00:25):
is a sign that your life is quite organized, even
if your cereal isn't decanted into clear containers in your pantry.
On the other hand, if you can't find important information,
that is one of the first things you should organize
and baby not worry about the clear canisters, cool as

(00:45):
they might look. Today's tip comes from some interesting research
by Lisa Woodruff, owner of the Organized three company. Lisa
helps people organize all the systems, paper, and stuff in
their lives. She asked people in a survey how often
they experienced various forms of organizational stress. Some thirty of

(01:09):
men and women said they always or often experience the
stress of being unable to find important papers. We are
talking things like birth certificates, insurance information, and medical records.
This is a problem because while we don't need these
things frequently, not being able to find them when needed

(01:32):
can be a huge time suck. You need kids medical
forms for camp or school. You need to apply for
a passport, but you can't find the right paperwork, you
wind up getting derailed in these projects, which is frustrating enough,
but most unfortunate is that sometimes we need these papers
when we are most stressed. I think trying to find

(01:57):
health records in the middle of a health crisis, or
finding your home insurance information when your kitchen is a
smoldering wreck. So today, if you are not in the
middle of a crisis, take a few minutes to think
this through. How quickly could you find various important papers

(02:17):
or information. Some documents to consider, birth certificates and Social
Security cards, your marriage certificate if you have one, home
insurance information, car ownership documentation, and health records, including vaccine records.
A lot of financial information is kept online these days,

(02:39):
but you might have paper tax documentation and the like.
Hopefully you know roughly where much of this stuff is,
but why not go double check when you are at
home today. If anything is not quickly findable, make a
note of what this is, carve out a slightly longer
time over the weekend to hunt for it. If it

(03:02):
is truly not findable, you may need to get a replacement.
This is often doable, but the best time to write
the county courthouse in the place where you were born.
To get a new copy of your birth certificate is
not when you urgently need it. Lisa Woodrift of Organized
three sixty five actually suggests collecting all these papers and

(03:24):
a few binders. You could have a binder for medical information,
a binder for financial information, a binder for household reference,
a binder for household operations, or maybe you might need
some different category. But the upside of a binder is that,
unlike a filing cabinet, it can move. If you've got

(03:45):
a family member with a complex medical condition, you could
just take that binder with you two appointments, and a
new provider could easily make a copy of what you've got.
Or if you need to leave your house quickly in
an emergency, say when a hurricane is barreling in, you
could just stuff those binders in your go bag and

(04:08):
not worry about finding them in your limited time. But
in any case, if you can find these documents quickly,
then I'd say you have passed one of the major
tests of organization. Instagram is full of photos of so
called organizations, say junk drawers with all the pencils facing
the same direction. That is all fine, but true organization

(04:33):
is having what you need easily accessible. I'd argue that
serial and pencils are not as important as the documents
and information of life. So take some time to get
your documents in order, or to confirm that you know
where they are. Then you can proudly call yourself an
organized person whatever state you're sereal happens to be in.

(04:59):
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

(05:20):
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.
That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast

(05:48):
is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts
from my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,
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The ye