Living the mobile lifestyle of a house sitter I’ve had to find ways to deal with the ongoing important things.

E.g. I keep track of what’s due, and when, in one central place – the calendar feature of my phone, with recurring reminders set up and an alert (one alert is enough, I’ve made an executive decision to deal with due dates sooner rather than later).

As for the managing those day to day aspects of life I once took for granted with a permanent “office” space at home here’s what I do:

• Mail – snail mail is sent to a post office box. I visit my post very infrequently. Why? Because most of my mail is delivered to email. All it takes is to ask or to tick the appropriate box. What gets delivered to my post office box?
• Statements that can only be sent to a physical address – weird, I know. No matter how many times I’ve requested email rather than paper mail it seems that’s not yet available for some accounts. Even weirder because I can access them online, so it’s a redundant option that continues to linger.
• Magazines from professional membership subscriptions – magazines are not yet dead and they keep me in touch, albeit at a later date. They are quickly shared once I’ve read them.
• Annual bills that can get overlooked because they are only once a year and
• (sadly) The odd traffic infringement that catches me by surprise – thankfully these are very rare now.

Occasionally I think I need to keep something. Mostly I find I never need it again. Eventually, it can be destroyed.

Once upon a time I would print everything and keep it, just in case. I do not carry a printer with me. Here’s what I do instead:

• I have a folder that contains really special papers – my birth certificate, my citizenship papers, my passport, my mortgage documents, treasures that cannot be replaced; well they can, but you know what I mean.
• I’m a little old school in that I carry around a USB stick with my business treasures.
• I’m learning to use cloud based features e.g. Dropbox, LastPass so I can access what I need anywhere and on any device.
• I have a digital signature to sign documents which I then save in pdf format and file.
• I visit the local Officeworks store; the staff are really helpful and often can do that last little technical detail I struggle with and
• I let others know and provide an alternative solution to give them what they need; this occasionally requires a trip to Officeworks.

My personal files are up to date and in order, somewhere. Groan! There is nothing quite as frustrating as not being able to lay my hands on something when I need it. Paper clutter has turned into digital clutter and now is a good time to make my digital filing system more user-friendly – I’m thinking a VIP (as in Very Important Papers) file that can be updated with the most recent version.

Need a hand getting your personal files in order? Can you access them easily or is finding them a frustrating exercise? Contact me to find out how working with a life coach can help you get your personal life in order.