Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to figure out how quickly you can
Speaker 1: find important information. If the answer is quite quickly, that
Speaker 1: is a sign that your life is quite organized, even
Speaker 1: if your cereal isn't decanted into clear containers in your pantry.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, if you can't find important information,
Speaker 1: that is one of the first things you should organize
Speaker 1: and baby not worry about the clear canisters, cool as
Speaker 1: they might look. Today's tip comes from some interesting research
Speaker 1: by Lisa Woodruff, owner of the Organized three company. Lisa
Speaker 1: helps people organize all the systems, paper, and stuff in
Speaker 1: their lives. She asked people in a survey how often
Speaker 1: they experienced various forms of organizational stress. Some thirty of
Speaker 1: men and women said they always or often experience the
Speaker 1: stress of being unable to find important papers. We are
Speaker 1: talking things like birth certificates, insurance information, and medical records.
Speaker 1: This is a problem because while we don't need these
Speaker 1: things frequently, not being able to find them when needed
Speaker 1: can be a huge time suck. You need kids medical
Speaker 1: forms for camp or school. You need to apply for
Speaker 1: a passport, but you can't find the right paperwork, you
Speaker 1: wind up getting derailed in these projects, which is frustrating enough,
Speaker 1: but most unfortunate is that sometimes we need these papers
Speaker 1: when we are most stressed. I think trying to find
Speaker 1: health records in the middle of a health crisis, or
Speaker 1: finding your home insurance information when your kitchen is a
Speaker 1: smoldering wreck. So today, if you are not in the
Speaker 1: middle of a crisis, take a few minutes to think
Speaker 1: this through. How quickly could you find various important papers
Speaker 1: or information. Some documents to consider, birth certificates and Social
Speaker 1: Security cards, your marriage certificate if you have one, home
Speaker 1: insurance information, car ownership documentation, and health records, including vaccine records.
Speaker 1: A lot of financial information is kept online these days,
Speaker 1: but you might have paper tax documentation and the like.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you know roughly where much of this stuff is,
Speaker 1: but why not go double check when you are at
Speaker 1: home today. If anything is not quickly findable, make a
Speaker 1: note of what this is, carve out a slightly longer
Speaker 1: time over the weekend to hunt for it. If it
Speaker 1: is truly not findable, you may need to get a replacement.
Speaker 1: This is often doable, but the best time to write
Speaker 1: the county courthouse in the place where you were born.
Speaker 1: To get a new copy of your birth certificate is
Speaker 1: not when you urgently need it. Lisa Woodrift of Organized
Speaker 1: three sixty five actually suggests collecting all these papers and
Speaker 1: a few binders. You could have a binder for medical information,
Speaker 1: a binder for financial information, a binder for household reference,
Speaker 1: a binder for household operations, or maybe you might need
Speaker 1: some different category. But the upside of a binder is that,
Speaker 1: unlike a filing cabinet, it can move. If you've got
Speaker 1: a family member with a complex medical condition, you could
Speaker 1: just take that binder with you two appointments, and a
Speaker 1: new provider could easily make a copy of what you've got.
Speaker 1: Or if you need to leave your house quickly in
Speaker 1: an emergency, say when a hurricane is barreling in, you
Speaker 1: could just stuff those binders in your go bag and
Speaker 1: not worry about finding them in your limited time. But
Speaker 1: in any case, if you can find these documents quickly,
Speaker 1: then I'd say you have passed one of the major
Speaker 1: tests of organization. Instagram is full of photos of so
Speaker 1: called organizations, say junk drawers with all the pencils facing
Speaker 1: the same direction. That is all fine, but true organization
Speaker 1: is having what you need easily accessible. I'd argue that
Speaker 1: serial and pencils are not as important as the documents
Speaker 1: and information of life. So take some time to get
Speaker 1: your documents in order, or to confirm that you know
Speaker 1: where they are. Then you can proudly call yourself an
Speaker 1: organized person whatever state you're sereal happens to be in.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.
Speaker 1: That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
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