Fall Cleaning for the Empty Nester: 4 Tips for Finally Throwing Things Out

Like traditional spring cleaning, the fall cleaning season provides an opportunity to clean house and eliminate all the accumulated items you no longer need as an empty nester. You will enjoy a fresh start to a new season when you get rid of all the clutter that detracts from your home’s comfort and beauty. Here are a few tips to help you get started.

Organize Systematically

Schedule your cleaning work to tackle one room or area at a time. This will help to keep things controlled instead of overwhelming when you might be tempted to give up and hold on to useless items. Within each area, tackle closets, cupboards, drawers, and shelves to set aside belongings that no longer need a place in your home. 

Adult kids that have moved out on their own, attend college in another state, or have joined the military may have little to no interest in the things left behind. At the very least, box up their possessions and mark them before stacking the containers in a safe, dry place like the basement or garage.

Spare Nothing That is Unusable

If you have broken furniture or equipment that has been sitting around for years, get rid of it. Chances are neither you nor your grown children will get around to fixing it. By the time you do, a better investment of your time and repair cost could be buying a new or used replacement. 



The exception would be something with sentimental meaning, such as a family heirloom or a priceless treasure that continues to hold its value. Otherwise, be willing to part with things that you no longer need or want.

Distribute Leftover Valuables

After evaluating and organizing the unnecessary things in your house, contact family members or friends who may be interested in having them. Although you may be willing to store useful things like seasonal clothing or a book collection for a loved one who is temporarily away, other family members who have established their own homes can be offered items of potential interest before you get rid of them.

Arrange for Hauling

Don’t try to fit everything into a single load in your car for a thrift store donation. Nor should you plan on making several trips to the local dumping ground, which will be gas-intensive and require hours of time. Instead, consider dumpster rental for a few days as you clean out years of collected junk, debris, and broken items that will do little good for anyone. 

Clear your closets, attic, basement, garage, and shed of all miscellaneous items, including bags of raked leaves or lawn trimmings, dried out winter salt decayed mulch, or other things that have lost their value.

Fall cleaning can make your home feel more open, spacious, and comfortable. Start planning your big event by setting aside a few days for the work and renting a dumpster for hauling everything away in one swoop.

Four Ways To Maintain an Organized Business While Growing

Each of the four methods listed below for keeping your business organized as it grows are born out of a need for managers to work smarter, not harder. Keep that in mind as you try to make sure your business grows and doesn't get out of your control.

1. Streamline the Work

Hiring someone to do intranet development for internal procedures is such a critical part of the process of making sure your business is managed well. You can try to do everything manually, but it is actually much better to have a designer create an intranet system that allows your business to flow paperless, or, as paperless as possible. You don't want to get stuck doing everything when the computer system can do a great deal for you.

2. Sync Scheduling

Using that same intranet system to keep everyone's calendar straight is an excellent idea. Imagine how much simpler it is for everyone in the office to log onto their intranet account and check the main calendar for events rather than trying to handle it all themselves. The less fluff people have to do, the more actual work they can accomplish in short periods of time.

3. Delegate Tasks

You must have a receptionist. Period. You absolutely must put a face on your office's operations, and a receptionist is the perfect person for that job. In the best-functioning offices in the world, from small regional companies all the way up to massive corporations, the receptionist an extremely well-paid employee who makes everyone look good with their acute organizational and interpersonal skills. You can answer the phone yourself, but it will never sound as good or go as smoothly as it would if you had a receptionist whose whole job it was to answer the phone. Having the person on the front line of your business keeps everything feeling stable.

4. Do Not Over Staff

Everyone wants to have all the most talented people in the world working in their office. Moreover, no manager wants to saddle their employees with more work than they can handle. However, in your zeal to be a good person, make sure you don't hire too many people. As the adage says, too many cooks spoil the broth. In this same way, too many employees create overlap, increased salary and benefit expenses, and they just clutter up the office.

This may be the hardest trick to master. If you foresee this area becoming a problem, investing in a training process could help save you from this trap. Finding ways to create order within the office will require a management staff that are fully capable of training new employees. They will create an environment that makes sure everyone stays on task and is organized. Finding quality managers will help drastically in making sure the staff has the appropriate amount of work and won't create any overlap.

Follow each step carefully and we hope that your office stays organized as you work very hard to grow your business.

How to Find a Barter WebSite

Bartering is not an activity confined to Victorian England where goods were exchanged between companies for the same value because it is still practised today. In the digital age, there are many barter sites which are used by scores of organisations around the world. The services which it provides can be exchanged for what other companies or individuals specialise in. Tracking down a barter site can be difficult but here’s how to find one:

Ask contacts 

The contacts which an organisation has can be asked about the bartering sites they use. By asking multiple contacts, they could be given information about various bartering websites. When the same bartering website is mentioned, it is very popular and could be what an organisation joins.

Before choosing a bartering website based on such recommendations, ask contacts about their experience. If they have encountered any problems, an organisation will know what they are. In fact, there can be no faults with some websites or any of them. Consequently, these bartering websites could be used because of such positive feedback.

Post a message in an online forum

There are many online forums which enable organisations to pose questions to each other. By asking a question about a recommended barter site, an organisation could be inundated with replies. Although some bartering sites might not be trustworthy, the same logic here applies as with asking contacts – when the same bartering website is suggested several times, this indicates that it is popular.

Ask friends

Not only can a business contact be asked regarding the bartering sites which they recommend but also friends. The skills which a friend has can be bartered for goods between other people. The bartering sites which friends suggest could be entirely different than what various contacts mentioned and these can also be considered. 

Some of the bartering websites which are mentioned by friends could be the same as what an organisation’s contacts said which, therefore, further demonstrates their popularity. By investigating all of the sites that friends and other loved ones suggest, the merits of each can be written down. If there is one which seems to stand out from the rest, it can be added to another list that contains the sites which look very impressive and could be the most beneficial.

Search on video sharing websites

Many barter sites have released promotional videos stating the benefits of choosing it over their rivals. Explaining how easy it is to barter goods and services, videos for many bartering websites can be watched on such video sharing websites as YouTube and Vimeo. By entering ‘bartering site’ onto these and any other video sharing websites, several promotional videos can be found. 

Although not every video has to be watched because it can take a long time, the ones that have the most hits can be viewed instead. When a video has been watched thousands of times, the site which it promotes can be investigated further and could be what an organisation finally chooses.

Author Bio

Bartercard is one the leading barter sites that offer businesses a platform to exchange goods and services rather than part with currency such as cash. Find out more by visiting http://www.bartercard.co.uk today.

Is It Finally Time To Get Organized?

With tax season almost over it's a great time of year to go through our files and get organized. I have just gotten all my paperwork back from the accountant and i would like to get organized. But what should I keep and what should I throw out?

What	How Long to Keep	Why
Tax returns (including receipts and supporting documents)	Up to six full years	The IRS can audit a return up to three years after you've filed. The agency can challenge your return for up to six years if it suspects you under-reported your income by 25% or more.
IRA contribution records	Permanently	Keeping these forms — like IRS Form 5498 and 8606 — may prevent you from paying too much tax when you tap your retirement stash.
Investment and real estate records	Seven years after you sell	They help track your cost basis — and the taxes you owe when you sell; shred your monthly statements and save the annual summaries.
Bank statements and checks	One month to seven years, depending on whether your bank has them available online	You could need them if you're audited by the IRS. If you haven't already, switch to receiving your bank documents online. Your bank may have past statements available online.
Credit card statements and bills for non-deductible items	Shred immediately after the next statement arrives	You don't need them once you confirm the charges and have proof it was paid.
Form W-2: Wage and Tax Statement	Until you start receiving Social Security benefits	Usually your best proof of earnings for Social Security
Pay stubs	Until the end of the year	Not needed once you get your W-2
Insurance policies	Until they expire — except for liability policies with "occurrence" coverage	Occurrence-based policies cover you for damages that occur while the policy was in effect — even if the claim happens after coverage expires.
Receipts	Day-to-day debit/credit: Toss after confirming the amount charged is correct. Big-ticket item: Keep with other purchase documentation for proof of value in case of loss or damage. Charitable donations: Store and keep for tax-filing purposes.	Depending on the type, amount and reason for the purchase, they may be necessary for insurance- and tax-filing.

Needless to say keeping documents safe means either a fireproof safe or a safety deposit box. There are many new services that will scan your documents for storage online or on disks. Try Shoeboxed.com