I’m often asked what I do as a financial organizer / daily money manager. (Understand, first, that I am not a financial planner or advisor; I don’t work with your investments.) So what should you or a family member of yours expect from working with me? What is my role? Why does someone contact me for help? In short: to …
I grew up in a home full of books. My parents — avid collectors — took us to book fairs the way other kids are taken to the zoo. But my real education in the book world occurred when my mother moved into assisted living and eventually passed away, leaving thousands of books behind. I was left to figure out …
Late payment notices, overdraft fees, missed deadlines, confusing medical bills–you don’t have to be a senior to encounter these unwelcome surprises in your mailbox. While keeping up with paperwork is something people of all ages must do, it can be especially overwhelming for seniors and the disabled. A trusted family member or friend can help, but people often do not …
In my 10 years of financial organizing / daily money management, I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to people’s attempts at paper-organizing. Here are the top paper-organizing challenges that have tripped up my clients, and the solutions I have shared with them and helped them implement: No “landing strip” for your mail. One …
After sorting, shredding and filing with my financial organizing / daily money management clients, a few irreplaceable items often emerge that need special handling. The solution: A fire-resistant, waterproof locked box at home or . . . a bank safe deposit box. Is there a safe deposit box already in place? Sometimes a client already has a bank safe deposit …
Here’s my best unclaimed funds experience as a financial organizer. It was not an unusual first visit with a client who had contacted me to help manage her paperwork. What was unusual was the very first envelope I picked up from the pile of unopened mail. Inside was a letter from a bank saying that if they didn’t hear from …
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 …
What to do with All That “Stuff” In my last blog, “Trash or Treasure?”, I told the story of a coin bank we found in my parents’ storage unit. Its true identity remains frustratingly elusive. But it didn’t have to be that way — if we had only known it had existed and had asked my dad about it before …
My parents moved across the country several times over the years, with second homes along the way. Each time they moved, they hauled not only the necessities, but also lots of “stuff,” which was … trash or treasure? One item left to us was a rusty and broken child’s bank in the shape of a bank building (see photo of …
A fellow professional organizer brought me in to locate a client’s important papers during a whole-house packing and moving project. The client had bolted across the country (that’s the only way to explain the dirty dishes left in the sink) for a lucrative new position. He was climbing the ladder in the financial industry at a speed that left him …