Are your tax records still cluttering your desk or dining room table, even though you filed your return?

Professionals recommend that you keep personal tax records for 7 years and anything related to real estate property bought or sold indefinitely. But you can safely shred at least one older box of other paper records after you file each year. How do you decide what papers you need to keep in addition to what is required by law?

In Feng Shui, keeping too much paper clutter represents the inability to move forward. If you want to get rid of paper and make space for new things to flow into your life, answer these three questions to decide whether a piece of paper is clutter or a keeper:

1. If I throw this away, will I have legal problems in the future? If the answer is NO, shred it and recycle – go green!
2. Did I need this during the last year? If the answer is NO, shred it and recycle – go green!
3. Can I get it someplace else, especially on the Internet? If the answer is YES, shred it and recycle – go green!

This tip comes from the Feng Shui Quick Guide For Home and Office: Secrets For Attracting Wealth, Harmony, and Love by Carol M. Olmstead, which includes a month-by-month guide for reducing clutter. Carol is a Certified Feng Shui Practitioner specializing in practical Feng Shui for home and office. You can order the book or sign up to receive Carol’s free monthly e-newsletter of tips and advice at her website: www.FengShuiForRealLife.com.

Carol Olmstead