Get Organized Month - Celebrate by Organizing your Home

Hi everyone, Beth here. I wanted to touch base. I am getting ready to head out for another speaking engagement this evening, and I wanted to wish everybody first and foremost a Happy New Year. It is the middle of January, January 17th to be exact. It has been busy, busy, busy over here at the HomeZada front, and we've been having a great time getting prepared for 2017 as well as closing out 2016, which is always exciting. And one of the things I wanted to talk to you about was GO Month, or Getting Organized Month. That's it, January's it. The holiday decorations are put away, and, or maybe they're on their way to get put away for some people. I know I've been super busy, so mine are gonna get put away at the end of the month. But I love artificial trees, so I have them up for 2 months, and I actually love Christmas decorations. So they look amazing in my house. Mm-hmm. But that's on a side note. So, Getting Organized Month. Many people think that getting organized is purely about literally getting your home and your person organized. That's cleaning out your closets. It's getting everything in storage properly, documenting everything. And that is part of Getting Organized Month. And it is very, very important to understand that the new year brings a fresh look and you can clean house. Add new things and out with the old. And then understanding exactly what you have so that when you are deciding to buy those new things that you're not buying the same thing over and over again. But one of the things that I also like to look at is all my file folders, all my electronic type of organization. So I'm a super organized person, or so I think sometimes, and I love getting my business organized But I also love getting my home and my person organized in terms of digital. So one of the things I love doing is making sure that on my computers I have all my file structures in an organized fashion. So I've been able to clean out my file structures, throw away documents that no longer work. Yep, I hit the delete button just like I would do in a closet and removing a shirt that maybe I don't want to wear anymore. I do that with my file folders, and then I also organize them Because sometimes I'm in such a rush that I get real messy and I just save documents just to save them anywhere and they're all over the map. So I actually get all that organized. And then one of the other things I start doing too is I'm big on organizing, um, things inside my home. So if I have a wine collection, um, I have a few bottles of wine but not like some people do, I would want to take an inventory of the wine collection just to make sure I understand what I have. And know what kind of parties I'm gonna throw. No, just kidding. Um, but good wine is good with good food. So, um, doing stuff like that. One of the things that I also like to do is, because I'm cleaning out everything that I've got inside my house, so the physical items, whether it's coats or, um, or shirts or shoes or even items you know, in my garage. The garage is just— I love cleaning my garage. I just— if I don't need it, I don't keep it. I don't need 500 screwdrivers, and I don't need all these different wrenches. I don't need 5 kits of wrenches. And so, um, I love removing what I don't need and then getting this— the items stored in a way that makes it easy for me to find them. So I don't buy the extra stuff. That's sometimes why I go and I buy stuff, is because I can't find the original thing. And tools are a good, good thing about that. But in addition to that, while I'm organizing everything and I'm removing things from my house, donating them, giving to other people, I also, um, document everything and update my inventory in HomeZada. And to me, that's really, really important because I need to understand what I've been able to keep And at the, I guess the fall of last year, I also sold some furniture to a consignment shop. And so I no longer had it. So I wanted to go back into HomeZada and delete those items because they just no longer existed. But it also gives me the ability to be organized. So that's the first thing. So I no longer have to worry about those different items. So I remove them from my inventory. The second thing I like to do too is I like to document. I'm all about my finances. A lot of my friends know this. So I have a travel schedule for the year because I travel a lot, both personally and professionally. And I need to make sure I not only am managing my time and making sure all that is in the calendar, but I also need to make sure that I'm managing the dollars and the cents. And then with that, I do the same thing with any health spend and also home maintenance spend. And what most people don't know is, um, what are their top most expensive, um, major spends that they have in their personal finances. And my top 3 are usually my home, any health expenses, and definitely travel. And so I am meticulous about understanding what this is gonna be, and it gives me the right tools I need to review this with my spouse because he needs to be aware of how we're gonna spend money for the year. But more importantly, it also helps me manage my cash flow. And if I know when I'm traveling and when certain budgets are gonna be spent, I also can know— what is it? I can also know when I can do house projects. You know, I like to get my carpets cleaned. I like to get my windows cleaned. I live in a pretty dusty part of the United States, and I have a lot of windows, and they make the look of my house look really fresh. And there's just something about a clean window. But because I have so many windows and some of them are pretty big, I need a professional to come in and help me, and it's not always The most, um, cost-saving of activities, but it's something that I love to do and it's something that I take pride in. And so, um, I have to manage when I can do these projects because of the way the travel schedule and all the other finances go, and I have to be really careful about that. So a lot of people are in the same position. So I actually track, um, all of my travel. I also track all of my maintenance. I make sure that I get the schedules. Aligned in Humzada so that when I'm ready, the alerts will come and I know exactly when I can do them. The other thing I like to do is to track birthdays. I have a lot of nephews and nieces across the country. I have a lot of family, and I need to make sure that I'm tracking budgets not only for the gifts that I'm getting them, but also timeframes so that I know when I can give those gifts. And I actually create a recurring task in Humzada To help me do that. And I just— that recurring task, it shows up once a month, and I see the list of all of the birthdays that I have coming up over the year. So I just keep the same recurring task, and I just add the months and all the different individuals and who they are. And then I can get the gifts accordingly, and I can see it and be reminded of it frequently. And then the other thing that I like to do is— I talked a little bit about health. You know, we have health expenses, health insurance. Some people, their companies pay for it, so it's a little bit different management style. But I actually pay for my health insurance outright. And so I need to track my expenses. I need to track when things go up. You know, I've got a lot of bills coming due, like property taxes and insurances. And I like to actually compare year over year. My expenses and when they go up, and how much they go up. Because I like to have discussions with people if they're open to it on why are these expenses increasing and why aren't they? Because if it's just an arbitrary number that someone's attaching a number to and they're increasing it, I I have a hard time with that. I want to understand if I'm a good driver, if I haven't had any claims on my home, if I take care of my home. If I'm in really, really good health and I'm being preventative, which is what I do in every as many aspects of my life, then why are my expenses going up? So it sparks gives me the opportunity to have a discussion with somebody. But because I can track the data year over year, it also helps me. So I actually take a lot of this data and I upload it into Humzada. So my insurance policies. You know, I have the last 3 years worth of insurance policies in HomeZada to start tracking the trends. I have life insurance policies in there. So things like that are just all in HomeZada so that I can have it tracked. The other thing that I like to do is, and we'll talk a little bit briefly more of this when we've got some new features in HomeZada, 'cause I'm getting excited because we're gonna have some new things coming out. But I like to review any of my wills, trusts, or anything like that, some of those documents, because sometimes they just need an update. And so I quickly go through the glance of them and I review them, and if everything's all copacetic and all good to go, then I'm good. If it's not, then I need to make adjustments. And so I've been very fortunate just going through a quick glance of it has been really effective. And I know in the next couple of years it may be time to make some edits or updates to those documents based on just different conditions. And so I actually store a lot of my, I guess, trust or estate planning type style of documents also in HomeZada because it creates a better organizational structure for me. And I can access it. And not only can I access it, but my spouse can access it, and then my trustees when, God forbid, something happens. Because let's face it, things happen. And I know I'm, I'm being gifted this life, and I only have whatever time the Creator gives me. So, um, I want to make it easy for that that party that's going to be helping take care of that access the data really easily. So if I put it in HomeZada, they have access to everything, everything from the home, the items, the documents, you name it, they have it. The other thing I like to do when it comes to organization is, um, is I like to look at the paperwork in my house. So I think I've told many people here, and if I haven't, I'll reiterate it. I am Completely, 100% paperless as it relates to my house in my home. I have zero paper as it pertains to my house. I don't have any owner's manuals. They are all in HomeZada. I do not have any real estate documents. They are all in HomeZada. I do not have any more construction documents. They're all in HomeZada. I took my plans in. To get scanned into smaller formats, so I no longer have those big plans anymore in my house. I what else? Any warranty cards, any receipts out of here. Even photographs of my house. So I had I had the opportunity to build this particular house, but I also had photographs of my old houses because I was so excited. So I actually put all those in HomeZada. And, um, I just thought I must be crazy, whatever. But I don't have any paperwork as it relates to my house. And the reason why I don't is because I wanted one central location where both my husband and I could access the data at any time. So if I'm out of town and he needs something, he knows he can go to HomeZada and find it. If he's out of town or I happen to be somewhere else and need that document, like I'm in a meeting or something, Then I can access it right away anywhere that I am, that I have access to my phones, the internet, etc. Then I can access it. So this is Getting Organized Month. I hope if you are getting organized, you're looking at all aspects of organization, whether it's getting your cars fixed and getting that schedule on the calendar, whether it's getting school for the kids all organized. I do not have kids, so it's a little different. Mm-hmm. Whether it's getting your gifts all organized, whether it's your budgets, whether it's your documents in your house, whether it's your file folders in your— not your physical file folders, but even if you do have those, it's a good idea— but your electronic file folders, making sure the data on your computers is organized to help you better understand it. Making sure that you are throwing out what you don't need. You know, if you don't need it or you're just tired of it, By all means, I'm a firm believer in donations. I know there's a lot of people out there that I donate clothes to who are looking for work. So I have a lot of clothes that fit that kind of style, so I can donate those to people who are looking for work. I like to donate things to charity. So you can get all that done. And then a friend of mine here, Lisa, is saying, Get over here to help my house and office. Gotta work and got a week. She just had her birthday. Happy birthday, Lisa! And she needs to get organized too because she's a busy, busy girl. She's a real estate agent who also is— I think her office is both— her office is in Sacramento, but she also has some stuff out of her house. And she's a busy, busy girl. And she's fortunate because her kids are grown now too and out of the house. That's exciting. And yeah, so get yourselves organized. Have a great time. Look at all the different aspects. It's tough. You may have to give up the wine tasting for just a couple of hours to get those documents done. Or maybe you just use your phone as a hotspot and you get your— what do you call it— your documents organized on the way to wine tasting. Not after, because that doesn't work. You'll accidentally delete something. But if you're on your way and you really need to get some things done, maybe you don't even need a hotspot because it's all on your system rather than in a cloud. Get it organized, have fun, enjoy. But once you're organized, you'll be able to find things a lot easier and you'll be able to understand your finances, all kinds of things. So it's Getting Organized Month or Get Organized Month. Have a great time or productive time getting everything organized. I know I love the results of being organized, so enjoy. And if you have any questions specifically about how you can use Hamzada to do this, by all means let us know. And you can reach us online or you can reach us via phone. We look forward to hearing from you and have a great day. I'm off. To my presentation, and I'll let you know how that goes because we've got some more live videos in the near term. Have a great day.