We’ll start by organizing your wallet by emptying everything out onto a cleared off surface area–do this weekly if not, monthly. You’ll be surprised what you find.
- Sort items into groups: change (if you carryit in your wallet or coin purse), paper money, any identification card (like library or supermarket cards), credit cards, license, notes—just dump everything out! Any unused, expired or outdated personal information, should be cut or cross-shredded to protect your identity and security.
- Move items like phone numbers, directions, notes, receipts, etc., to another location, but not back into your wallet. Put those items into your desk, filing cabinet or a folder for data entry or follow-up.
- A lesson from money guru Suze Orman, author of“Courage to Be Rich,”says that you should respect your money by arrangingit in order of denominations with all the pictures facing the same direction.
- Put your extra change in a jar and see how much you’ve collected at the end of the year. Putitin a savings account and watch your money accumulate Most people can usually get by with a small amount of change: about 10 quarters, 2-5 dimes, 2-4 nickels, and about 5 pennies.
- By using the new simplified, improved, and condensed categories that you established while sorting and purging the contents of your wallet, replace the items back into your wallet.
Now you can enjoy reaching into your wallet knowing that you’ll be able to find everything at your fingertips.
You can also expand this task to include your bag and/or briefcase using the same principles of sorting, purging, and putting the extra items into their proper place in your office or home, and replacing everything back into your bag/briefcase in an orderly fashion.
Remember, “If you can’t find it in 30 seconds, it’s in the wrong place.”