Is your junk drawer a mess that needs to be organized, or a safe haven where you can find items that your think are lost?

Your Junk Drawer: 2 Perspectives

Karen Caccavodecluttering, Organizing Tips

I launched Personal Money Manager in 2008 with a presentation about organizing.  If you live in New York’s Hudson Valley, you might have heard it!  I used the proverbial junk drawer as my model for sharing organizing tips.  But read on. Why a junk drawer? Everyone knows what it is and probably has one (or more).  Organizing it is a …

Use a warm quilt for bundling up in cold weather; or by using extensions of successful procedures you've been using in earlier projects.

Bundle Up

Karen Caccavodecluttering, Life Lessons, Paperwork Organizing, Tax Organizing

A chill in the air makes us want to bundle up.  And not just with blankets and quilts (though I do love quilts!).    Bundling is a simple technique to start adopting a new habit.    At Personal Money Manager™ I’m often asked how to develop new routines and good organizing habits to avoid clutter build-up and the confusion it …

Illustrates Dad's Clutter Game

Dad’s Clutter Game: How to Get Rid of Stuff

Karen Caccavodecluttering, Life Lessons, Possessions

I remember Dad’s Clutter Game that he invented for my siblings and me when we were young.  It was a good rainy-day activity that kept us busy and out of each other’s hair.  And it seemed to satisfy his life-long crusade against clutter. How would we get rid of stuff? Dad would set each of us up with paper grocery …

Sometimes I have to trick myself into doing what needs to be done.

5 Productivity Tricks

Karen CaccavoPaperwork Organizing, Productivity

A client of Personal Money Manager recently told me, somewhat sheepishly:  “I have to confess.  Sometimes I have to trick myself into doing what needs to be done.” To which I responded: “No need to apologize! If it works, go for it!” In that spirit, here are some field-tested productivity tricks for “fooling” yourself into getting stuff done.  (Click here …

As a financial organizer, my objective is to bring more ease and order to my clients' lives.

Sometimes It’s the Little Things That Make a Difference

Karen CaccavoDaily Money Managers, Financial Organizing, Living Independently, Working with Seniors

As financial organizer / daily money manager, my objective is to bring more ease and order — to make a difference — in my clients’ lives. I achieve this in a variety of ways. Where do I start? I often start by tackling the big issues that are making life difficult for a client.  Erratic bill-paying? I create a system …

Saving vs Shredding -- Finding Memories on the Back of an Envelope

Finding Memories on the Back of an Envelope

Karen Caccavodecluttering, Life Lessons, Preserving Memories, Working with Clients

Clients expect me, as a financial organizer / daily money manager, to be all business, forging ahead with one goal in mind: to work with them and conquer their paperwork clutter.  But my work as a financial organizer is more nuanced.  After all, I am working with people, not just paper!  The key to success in my close-to-10-years in business …

Take Control of Your Desk! (Part 2)

Karen CaccavoPaperwork Organizing

Last time I shared some general ideas for organizing your desk: how to take a backhoe to the disaster area many call their paperwork “home.” Here, in Part 2, I want to dig down with ideas for the problem areas which might be getting in the way of being productive or denying you the satisfaction of having a clear workspace. …