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For those who have some sort of organizing skills, this post won't be very useful. For those like me, it can really help!
First, get some nice boxes, such as the boxes copier paper comes in. The kinds with lids. Get 3 at least. If you have kids of school age, even college, get them one, too.
One box is to be labeled FINANCIAL. One is to be labeled HEALTH. And the last can be labeled whatever you need it to be - if you have a hobby, label it Hobby. Or if you're writing a book, label it Book. For the kids, label it with the year and their grade (or semester).
INTO THESE BOXES goes everything associated with it. If you have a son in college, as I do, into the FALL SEMESTER 2011 box goes ANYTHING to do with it. Receipts, their books, their notebooks, lab safety glasses, a folder with extra Scantrons it it, pens, calculator, ALL OF IT. Each day, things must be taken out of the box, and returned to the box. For the totally disorganized, just get them to THROW their papers into the box and slam the lid back on. The important thing is for the papers and items to be corralled where you KNOW they can be found. If something is needed - "I can't find my syllabus for Chemistry!" "I can't find my instructions for my science project!" - you KNOW it's in there and they must DIG for it.
Passwords, usernames, etc must be written on the inside of the lid, pronto. Go do it right now. Why are you still reading this? GO, and then come back.
For yourself, you're doing the same thing as for the kiddos. I have all my passwords and such written on the inside of my 2011 box's lid. I also have a little book, just a $1 book from the bargain bin at Michael's Crafts or the Dollar Tree store, and I write down everything to do with the web in it. Which forums I go to, etc. All my fave sites, my names, my blogs, etc.
For my work, I have a box. But mine is labeled "2011 Work/Hobby" - and into this goes anything I get from my employers, and anything I do to make extra money. ALL RECEIPTS go into it. And more. Recipes, ideas, thoughts, all of those scraps of paper get thrown in there.
So you get the idea about the boxes.
Now, the jelly jars. Get as many as you need. You are going to be saving change in them. Maybe you just need one for yourself. I need several, for my son and his friends. I put my change into them. I have them lined up on the top of a kitchen cabinet, and when I have change, I reach up and put it into the jelly jars, trying to divide it up pretty evenly. At the end of the year, you will not believe it. It can amount to hundreds of dollars. I give the jar to the recipient, and they can roll the money or pour it into the change-counting machine at their bank or at the grocery store.
Now, there is one more jelly jar or flour-sprinking tin you need to get. It is the Emergency Jar. I use a darling old tin contraption with a screw-on lid, that was used to sprinkle flour out onto pastry or counters. Use something you LIKE.
Into it goes your folding money you can spare. Even just a buck a week. Do what you can. It's your "house bank." Dip into it as you need, only as you need. Try to keep out of it, but it's also there for when you need to run and get a gallon of milk and have no money on you. In case of some disaster, you are going to need cash. ATMs might not be operable. You want to keep CASH on hand.
If you have good self-control, put a LOT of cash in it and "bank" from it. That's the Advanced Jelly Jar Banking System - don't try it unless you know you won't fritter it away. It can help you go to a cash-only basis and you can really find yourself saving a LOT of money.
Okay, try my system. I can't tell you how many times my a$$ has been saved by being able to go dig out a receipt or a little note where I wrote down something that happened. It's kind of like having a journal, only in pieces. At the end of the year, you can go thru the box and throw stuff out, or put it up as a snapshot of that year. And you count your dollar bills and your $20's out of that House Bank and you SMILE!
