Organize your financial life

Easy bill-paying systems

Bill-paying systems are another area where effective set-ups will depend on the person. Some may use automatic payments or online billing programs that remind them when bills are due.

Sherry Schodts of Boerne, Texas, has regular times of the month that she pays bills, but she makes sure to send in at least the minimum due on her credit cards as soon as the bills arrive.

"That way, you're not charged a late fee," Boerne said. She pays the rest of what's owed when she sits down to pay her other bills.

One system that usually doesn't work, according to organizer Julie Morgenstern: leaving bills and other critical documents on your desk or countertop as a "to do" reminder. It's too easy for other paperwork to get stacked on top, thus obliterating your visual prompt.

A better approach is to use a calendar or e-mail reminder system to help you get things done on time.

Centralize your clutter

Another way to ensure problems: Having paperwork scattered all over. You need to have one or two central locations to process what comes into your house from the mailbox, kids' backpacks and your own wallet or briefcase, said Morgenstern, author of "Organizing from the Inside Out."

The central locations should include all the tools you need to process the paperwork, such as:

• Stamps, pens and checkbook or computer with Internet connection for bill paying.
• A filing cabinet for storing important paperwork.
• A wastepaper bin with shredder.

You also can make your life easier by reducing the volume of paper that comes into your house and purging more of what's already there.

Much of the paper that clutters up our lives is unnecessary. Electronic records take much less physical space and may even be safer. Consider replacing paper statements with electronic downloads, or using your scanner rather than your file cabinet to preserve documents. Just make sure you have a good backup system that you use regularly, and consider storing a CD of your documents off site.

Other ways you can cut down on the deluge:

• Opt out of most credit-card solicitations by using the credit bureaus' toll-free hotline, (888) 5 OPT OUT.
• Use the Direct Marketing Association's DMAchoice name-removal system to choose what marketing mail you want to receive.
• Every time you give your address to a vendor, ask to be kept off mailing lists.
• Finally, know when to trash your old records. An overstuffed filing cabinet makes it harder to file new documents or find what you need. Here's some of the stuff people hang onto that they can usually toss:
• Annual reports for your investments (you can find them online).
• ATM or credit-card receipts (if they match what's on your statement and aren't needed for tax purposes).
• Expired insurance policies.
• 401(k) statements, once you've ensured your contributions are being reported accurately.
• Paycheck stubs, once you've got your annual W-2s (you might want to keep your year-end stub if it has tax-related information, such as union dues, that isn't reported on your W-2).
• Tax returns older than seven years. (Check with your accountant; you might want to hang onto the return itself but trash the accompanying paperwork.)

Liz Pulliam Weston is the Web's most-read personal-finance writer. She is the author of several books, most recently "Your Credit Score: Your Money & What's at Stake." Weston's award-winning columns appear every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions on the Your Money message board.

Updated April 9, 2009

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