1
00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,680
Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:15,000
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

3
00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,280
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to figure out how quickly you can

4
00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:25,279
Speaker 1: find important information. If the answer is quite quickly, that

5
00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:29,080
Speaker 1: is a sign that your life is quite organized, even

6
00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,960
Speaker 1: if your cereal isn't decanted into clear containers in your pantry.

7
00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:37,280
Speaker 1: On the other hand, if you can't find important information,

8
00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:40,879
Speaker 1: that is one of the first things you should organize

9
00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:45,600
Speaker 1: and baby not worry about the clear canisters, cool as

10
00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:50,599
Speaker 1: they might look. Today's tip comes from some interesting research

11
00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:56,080
Speaker 1: by Lisa Woodruff, owner of the Organized three company. Lisa

12
00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:00,080
Speaker 1: helps people organize all the systems, paper, and stuff in

13
00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:04,160
Speaker 1: their lives. She asked people in a survey how often

14
00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:09,600
Speaker 1: they experienced various forms of organizational stress. Some thirty of

15
00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:14,959
Speaker 1: men and women said they always or often experience the

16
00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:19,480
Speaker 1: stress of being unable to find important papers. We are

17
00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:24,920
Speaker 1: talking things like birth certificates, insurance information, and medical records.

18
00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:28,679
Speaker 1: This is a problem because while we don't need these

19
00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,640
Speaker 1: things frequently, not being able to find them when needed

20
00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:36,360
Speaker 1: can be a huge time suck. You need kids medical

21
00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:39,959
Speaker 1: forms for camp or school. You need to apply for

22
00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,400
Speaker 1: a passport, but you can't find the right paperwork, you

23
00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:47,559
Speaker 1: wind up getting derailed in these projects, which is frustrating enough,

24
00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,440
Speaker 1: but most unfortunate is that sometimes we need these papers

25
00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:57,000
Speaker 1: when we are most stressed. I think trying to find

26
00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:00,880
Speaker 1: health records in the middle of a health crisis, or

27
00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:04,800
Speaker 1: finding your home insurance information when your kitchen is a

28
00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:09,200
Speaker 1: smoldering wreck. So today, if you are not in the

29
00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:12,239
Speaker 1: middle of a crisis, take a few minutes to think

30
00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:17,120
Speaker 1: this through. How quickly could you find various important papers

31
00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:23,440
Speaker 1: or information. Some documents to consider, birth certificates and Social

32
00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:28,200
Speaker 1: Security cards, your marriage certificate if you have one, home

33
00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:36,200
Speaker 1: insurance information, car ownership documentation, and health records, including vaccine records.

34
00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,200
Speaker 1: A lot of financial information is kept online these days,

35
00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:42,680
Speaker 1: but you might have paper tax documentation and the like.

36
00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,080
Speaker 1: Hopefully you know roughly where much of this stuff is,

37
00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:50,120
Speaker 1: but why not go double check when you are at

38
00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,840
Speaker 1: home today. If anything is not quickly findable, make a

39
00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,840
Speaker 1: note of what this is, carve out a slightly longer

40
00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:01,920
Speaker 1: time over the weekend to hunt for it. If it

41
00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,760
Speaker 1: is truly not findable, you may need to get a replacement.

42
00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:10,400
Speaker 1: This is often doable, but the best time to write

43
00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:12,720
Speaker 1: the county courthouse in the place where you were born.

44
00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,640
Speaker 1: To get a new copy of your birth certificate is

45
00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:20,720
Speaker 1: not when you urgently need it. Lisa Woodrift of Organized

46
00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:24,160
Speaker 1: three sixty five actually suggests collecting all these papers and

47
00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:28,160
Speaker 1: a few binders. You could have a binder for medical information,

48
00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,960
Speaker 1: a binder for financial information, a binder for household reference,

49
00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,040
Speaker 1: a binder for household operations, or maybe you might need

50
00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:41,120
Speaker 1: some different category. But the upside of a binder is that,

51
00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:45,960
Speaker 1: unlike a filing cabinet, it can move. If you've got

52
00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:49,760
Speaker 1: a family member with a complex medical condition, you could

53
00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,480
Speaker 1: just take that binder with you two appointments, and a

54
00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:56,480
Speaker 1: new provider could easily make a copy of what you've got.

55
00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,080
Speaker 1: Or if you need to leave your house quickly in

56
00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:04,680
Speaker 1: an emergency, say when a hurricane is barreling in, you

57
00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:07,960
Speaker 1: could just stuff those binders in your go bag and

58
00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,720
Speaker 1: not worry about finding them in your limited time. But

59
00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,720
Speaker 1: in any case, if you can find these documents quickly,

60
00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:18,839
Speaker 1: then I'd say you have passed one of the major

61
00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:23,720
Speaker 1: tests of organization. Instagram is full of photos of so

62
00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:27,840
Speaker 1: called organizations, say junk drawers with all the pencils facing

63
00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:33,120
Speaker 1: the same direction. That is all fine, but true organization

64
00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:37,960
Speaker 1: is having what you need easily accessible. I'd argue that

65
00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:41,400
Speaker 1: serial and pencils are not as important as the documents

66
00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:44,920
Speaker 1: and information of life. So take some time to get

67
00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,120
Speaker 1: your documents in order, or to confirm that you know

68
00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:52,240
Speaker 1: where they are. Then you can proudly call yourself an

69
00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:59,000
Speaker 1: organized person whatever state you're sereal happens to be in.

70
00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:04,680
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

71
00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:14,799
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

72
00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,159
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

73
00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:20,839
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

74
00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:25,240
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.

75
00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,279
Speaker 1: That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

76
00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:33,960
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

77
00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,440
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

78
00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,120
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

79
00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:48,320
Speaker 1: should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast

80
00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:51,520
Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts

81
00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:54,359
Speaker 1: from my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,

82
00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:57,839
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

83
00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:03,440
Speaker 1: The ye