Organization of Financial Documents and Vacation Planning

00:00.23

Amy Irvine

Every week. It's our goal to share financial information that helps you in both your life and financial vineyard. We hope it takes you from your roots to the journey of your vines and the influences in the air that help craft your delicious life like wine life and finances have different palates. Should be celebrated and not judged welcome to this edition of wine and dime with Amy Irvine and Rebecca aka Becky Een welcome back to the show Becky so Becky and I prior to starting the record button talked about some wines from the canna degua.

00:30.35

Becky Eason

It's great to be back.

00:38.98

Amy Irvine

ill they've been around since: 1977

02:22.34

Becky Eason

That's right.

02:31.32

Amy Irvine

Topics lately is vacation and I thought Becky you and I could talk I know Kate and I talked last week about organization of some documents. But I I thought maybe we could dive in a little bit kind of expanding upon that just a tad bit talking about the organization of financial documents. Maybe some documents to keep in the safe versus what to keep in your filing cabinet or versus what to keep a copy with friends and family and then also maybe talking about you know how to think about sort of organizing your vacation. We're big checklist fans here at rooted planning group. We love checklists. But the reason we love them is because of the organization that it helps us keep so lots to talk about in this fun fact-filled episode. So let's dive right into that um, Becky talked to me a little bit about when somebody asked you the question about keeping documents I'm a big. Virtual fan as I mentioned last podcast I recorded Kate but even with the stuff that is is mostly virtual. There's still some stuff that you should probably keep the originals in a safe versus just a regular filing cabinet. What sort of thoughts or ideas. Do you have around those particular documents.

03:46.30

Becky Eason

Um, like car documents. So like your purchase um documents or even your sale documents. Um, most of titles are actually in physical copy because you get them right from the dealership. Um I mean that would be something that depending on the sensitivity.

03:50.64

Amy Irvine

Are.

03:58.59

Amy Irvine

Um.

04:04.99

Becky Eason

The information and how long ago you purchased or sold a car. Um, you know if it's got a lot of sensitive information then that'd be something you want point, you're safe and to hold on to.

04:07.67

Amy Irvine

Um.

04:14.39

Amy Irvine

Yeah, So yeah and like social security cards Birth certificates Some of that stuff would be really super critical right? Um marriage license probably is another one. Um. And thinking of all of those critical documents that if you have to reproduce them. They're not.. It's kind of a pain passports. Potentially I'm a big one to keep copies of documents in convenient and we always talk about the red file that we keep you know, but the original document itself. Should probably be in a envelope. Maybe even like a sealed I've got some of ours in Ziploc bags just right and that way if there's ever any water damage Those documents are protected I've even been got a few wedding photos.

04:57.55

Becky Eason

Yep I do too.

05:07.70

Amy Irvine

In a zip black bag just because God Forbid anything ever Happen water wise it would be and in ah in my fireproof safe just just to make sure that I have some yeah some protection on some of those documents. Um, and then. What are your thoughts around any other documents that you would consider that should probably be in the safe. Maybe your deed of your house but anything else that you would consider that should really be locked up in a fireproof. What potentially waterproof safe.

05:36.75

Becky Eason

I Mean if you have like sentimental documents like a letter that loved one wrote to you and maybe something you want to put in the safe just for not so much for the security of it. But from the protection against fire or water.

05:54.18

Amy Irvine

That's a really good point. My husband's would be his great grandfather wrote some letters back in the early eighteen hundreds that we. Came across when we were cleaning out his mom's house a little bit and they're really unique family heirlooms. Those should probably go in are safe instead of be sitting out on the gap on the filing or on the buffet. How about things that you think you might want to give copies of. To like friends and family or loved ones.

06:29.34

Becky Eason

Um, an emergency contact list. You know the name phone number even address email address of those who if something happens to you like who should be contacted and to what level.

06:44.97

Amy Irvine

Took a point.

06:48.20

Becky Eason

Also like copies of your driver's license. Maybe in case, you're traveling your passport marriage certificate I mean make sure that they put them in a secure spot too, but it would be good for them to.

06:57.83

Amy Irvine

All of those dot important documents.

07:06.10

Amy Irvine

Yeah, identifying your health care proxy and making sure that they're aware of it and that they have a copy of your health care proxy I think is really important same with maybe your power attorney. Probably yeah, having them aware.

07:06.70

Becky Eason

Be elsewhere.

07:17.54

Becky Eason

Yeah, absolutely.

07:23.12

Amy Irvine

Um, I know that there's been some situations where people didn't know they were a health care proxy or didn't know they were their power attorney and so it's like oh ah, okay I have to step into this role and I'm not quite sure I mean I can make the decisions but boy it would have been nice to have conversations with people about it. Those are all super great tips. How about moving into as you can tell I'm itching for a vacation. How about moving into the idea of organizing your vacation. You're a fabulous planner when it comes to I mean you you and your husband and your family have been great at putting. Some travel plans together in organizing vacations walk us through a little bit of what your what your process is when you're thinking about vacation.

08:12.38

Becky Eason

Generally we start by listing out like where do we want to go? Um, you know what time of year is it going to be. You know if it's someplace warm. Do We want to go in the off season or you know. I Mean That's the biggest thing is figuring out where to go and then when because if you're going to go someplace up North You may not want to do that during the winter if you're hoping to have warmth so strategizing around that. And then figuring out when everyone can get time off of work or school. Um and then you know that does place a lot of limitations on many people and then determine the length of time that you want to stay somewhere or do you want to make like little mini trips. On your way to the ultimate destination.

09:05.14

Amy Irvine

That's one of my famous tricks right? and even just to trying to decide where to go thinking back to the very first tip you you said um, is there a process that you go through to.

09:05.52

Becky Eason

Um, yeah.

09:21.31

Amy Irvine

Like list out different places that you you guys want to go to and then sort of start saying you know this year we'd like to go here that year. We'd like to go here is and what's going on in your life in the future knowing what that might look like to right.

09:34.66

Becky Eason

Right? And you know how much do you have in your budget to afford or to spend on a vacation so you know if you want a really long expensive vacation 1 year maybe you scale back and the years leading up to that. Do smaller like more cost-effective vacations.

09:57.81

Amy Irvine

Do you have I mean thinking about the trips that you would take um also being aware of what the like what the requirements are do you need your passport not need your passport. But do you. When you guys are thinking about traveling I know for Brent and I we are. We always think okay, what what will we need along the way or what will we need once we get there so sort of the organization of the vacation itself. The needs of the vacation. It's. Self what process do you guys? go through when you're thinking about that.

10:39.44

Becky Eason

Yeah, that kind of goes back to where are we going? Um, last year we went to Myrtle Beach where we had a condo with a full kitchen. So as a preparation to that trip I actually planned out like okay how many meals are we actually going to eat out how many are we going to cook. So I packed our crackpot that way I could cook a meal while enjoying the beach. But with that also came okay, what supply should we bring from home and what should we buy in a grocery store down there? Yeah yeah.

11:10.21

Amy Irvine

Because you were driving right? So you had the car that you could pop up right.

11:16.61

Becky Eason

And then we packed snacks for the roads that way we figured we could stop. You know just once or twice on the way down um to eat and then you know get gas along the way. But.

11:26.48

Amy Irvine

Yeah, and thinking about you guys went on a cruise four years ago the most right? Yeah gosh. Wow um, what was that process like because that's a whole different kind of trip to plan for.

11:33.54

Becky Eason

And: 2019

11:43.45

Becky Eason

That one I honestly kind of was hands off on because I was planning the wedding or so and my husband got to plan the cruise but that was a lot of you know because it was right after our wedding making sure that my legal name.

11:58.15

Amy Irvine

Movement.

12:02.54

Becky Eason

Matched everything like um passport and the cruise ticket airline tickets. Um my driver's license even so I would have 2 forms 5 d and then mapping out the flights. To make sure we arrived before the crews left. So even if there was a delay we wouldn't miss the departure of the crews.

12:25.91

Amy Irvine

So interesting that you bring that fact up, it's It's been so long for me that I didn't I don't really recall, but how did you do the legal name.

12:37.47

Becky Eason

Yeah I actually waited until we got back from the cruise slightly then there was no question about anything any missing documents or anything like that.

12:49.44

Amy Irvine

Smart Um, any tips I Know we've talked a little bit about this in the past but any travel hacks that you would have or travel tips and organizing those travel tips I Know you're really good at finding discounts.

13:05.91

Becky Eason

Yeah I like to Google you know things to do in the area and then figure out what you may want to be interested in and then from there search for any Coupons. So if you know you want to go to like a dinner show. Like is there a night of the week that's cheaper or less crowded and then are there any Coupons and it might be at the resort or the hotel that you're staying at they may offer something um or different apps like monster is one of them that a lot of touristy areas actually have.

13:26.46

Amy Irvine

Um.

13:44.33

Becky Eason

Yeah, bands. And yeah.

13:44.62

Amy Irvine

I had not heard that one monster hope to look that one up so shifting just a little bit. 1 of the other things you actually wrote a blog. It's a little while back and I'll try to find it for the show notes but you actually wrote a blog about. Physically getting organized in the space you know your space of organization um I can't um, call all the details of the blog right now but I remember at the time think you had moved into your house and you guys were. Trying to get like rooms organized within your house and I think in particular it was around the kitchen that particular article was but Kate and I talked about the fact that both of us when we have disheveled workspaces we have a hard time focusing. And if I remember correctly that's sort of what your article was about was a little bit about that particular like space having an organized space and how and that sort of clears your mental clarity. What kind of things when when you're when you're in that mode where you're feeling like. Things need to get organized. Um, what sort of things. Do you do to just pause and plan out what needs I guess get yourself organized. What are some of the thoughts that you have around that.

15:11.95

Becky Eason

I Like to tackle big items that take little capacity. So like if there's boxes laying around from a delivery or whatever just getting rid of those and then that just makes it feel less overwhelming. And then tackling if there's a pile of papers that you know exactly where they go but it's just a matter of getting them there tackling that because you know what needs to be done with them. It's just a matter of doing it and then either save like the items that. Really don't know what to do with and you need to figure out for after those little things are taken care of or completely separate time to not overwhelm yourself.

15:59.88

Amy Irvine

That gives you the mental space right? You're you're able to focus on those big thought items. Um I'm ah I'm a morning person when it comes to big thought items as you very well know when there's.

16:07.78

Becky Eason

Um, yeah.

16:16.54

Amy Irvine

Things that require a lot of mental capacity is what I like to call it or thought or research it's not uncommon for me to get up at ah what most people would consider ridiculous hour but it's my time and I think knowing. How your body and mind works is also very helpful for some of those items towards the end of the day I'm good at those big items you mentioned mentioned but in the morning I'm really good at those. Really heavy ones. So knowing how to organize your day a little bit I think is also very helpful and kind of taking a step back and and realizing that I think is often very helpful. Are there Any tips that you would give the listeners to try to. If they're struggling with organization. Um that you would give to them to sort of just get the juices flowing when it comes to organization.

17:25.90

Becky Eason

Yeah, a great technique at least for me is to grab a notebook and even though you're not actually tackling the issue just jot down what you ultimately want to do and then but don't make it too long of a list. So start small just jot down like today. My goal is to do these 3 things once those are complete and it's okay to push it to the next day if you need to. But once those are complete then sit back down and okay, what's next.

17:48.52

Amy Irvine

And.

18:02.22

Becky Eason

And then just slowly work your way through it and don't be hard on yourself. Yeah.

18:02.31

Amy Irvine

And things might prioritize themselves different right? I mean they might go up or down. Yeah so good old fashioned notebook paper notepad notepad um. Write down some of those things that are cloud in your brain sort of like a brain dump and then maybe from there be able to break it out just a little bit and that could be true of a vacation of work of home of home remodeling. Of cleaning really anything in particular so number 1 tip is to is to sort of write down what's floating around in your mind is there a way that sometimes when once you see that list that you kind of. Look at that list and say okay now that everything's sort of brain dump. What's the most important item is there a way that you can because sometimes like 5 of those items are really important. How do I determine which one is most important is that where you kind of look at the big box little box kind of idea.

19:12.46

Becky Eason

Yep, and also you know what can you know someone help you with is there something on that list that maybe you don't have to do and like I know my husband's always like just tell me what you want help with and I'll help you and so by doing that I can actually say.

19:13.18

Amy Irvine

Okay.

19:20.41

Amy Irvine

Yeah.

19:29.62

Becky Eason

Ah, be great if you could help me with this item and he's happy to do so.

19:33.56

Amy Irvine

Yeah, so tips to get yourself organized and what can you delegate are really important and then tips around those vacation items those Hacks maybe listing out or doing some research on some of those websites that you mentioned would be helpful for your. For your vacation items anything else that you can think of that you would share with listeners around the topic of organizing yourself or your financial documents.

20:04.89

Becky Eason

You know if you're in a space where you want to be organized but you aren't organized. It's okay, like I feel like there's so much pressure sometimes to be super organized and it's okay, if you're not.. It's whatever works for you. And taking little steps to get to where you want to be.

20:28.74

Amy Irvine

That's a great point. We are very judgey when it comes to that kind of thing aren't we sometimes well Becky as always. It was great chatting with you and we know that you are a super organized person. So I think if you're looking for.

20:32.72

Becky Eason

Um, yeah.

20:45.37

Amy Irvine

Other tips and ideas. Ah maybe like I said I'll try to find Becky's blog that she wrote several years ago a couple years ago on this particular topic. But um, like she said just taking out a sheet of paper and sort of writing down all the things that are going through your head may help get you organized. And it's okay, if you don't have everything in exactly the way that you want don't stress about that. Don't let organization stress you out. We hope you've liked this show if you do certainly like us on Facebook Twitter Instagram and we'd love to hear. Any questions that you have and also like us on ipad and spotup adpad. Yeah, how about Itunes and Spotify as we know that every time that you share a like there that does move us up in the rankings so that more people can get access to our podcast. We hope all of you have a wonderful month of April and that you're planning your vacation and your own style of organization stay tuned next week for Carrie being and I to continue the conversation around organization and one of the things that we're gonna be talking about with Carrie is how she sort of organized herself when she was in car buying mode I think that's gonna be an interesting topic for everybody to listen to. Hope you all have a wonderful day or evening.