It can feel anticlimactic that the physical remains of a decades-long career sometimes fit neatly in a stack of boxes. Some of my clients have multiple boxes that they brought home on their last day of work, even if that last day was many, many years ago.

You may wish you had the carte blanc services of a family member who is a professional organizer, but my poor mom can’t enjoy a glass of wine with me without me starting to dig around and organize something. “Kacy, get your hands outta there!” is commonly heard at my parents’ home (and has been since I was a kid!).

In cleaning out my own Evernote this week I found a gem of an article that can no longer be found online (another reason why saving articles to Evernote is superior to bookmarks!). 

This one happens to be a tear-out that I photographed while working with a client to thin her newspaper clippings.

Everybody wants to know “how long should I keep records?”  Each time I’m asked I refer clients to the IRS’s answer to this question to draw their own conclusions.  

Most are surprised to learn that they are keeping tax documents for about 4 years longer than necessary.  

A while back someone wrote in with a question on the Paper Tiger filing system. My email to her summarized countless conversations with clients I’ve had on the same topic. Though I have one client now who successfully uses one, I rarely see them in-use. In fact, I can’t go a month without finding one of these systems empty or abandoned in a new client’s drawers.

In a magnificently stuffed antique shop in Royal Oak, Maryland (Eastern Shore) last week I was reminded of how much I love vintage office supplies.  They combine my love of all things patina, quality, age, and good design with office organizing. I gasped when amongst the thousands of odd and beautiful objects, a vintage brass letter sorter jumped into my arms.