If you are like most people, it's a challenge to keep track of pending items in your life like:

• Medical claims submitted to your health insurance company (have you been reimbursed?)
• Returns of unwanted items to stores (have the refunds been posted to your credit card?)
• Expense reports youve submitted at work (have they reimbursed you?)
• Things youve lent to people. (did you ever get that book back you lent to your co-worker?)

1. Make a "Pending" file! Yeah, that's a boring name, I know. To me it's sounds too much like work. So, why not have a little fun naming the file Perhaps something like: "Money on it's Way" or Did I Get Reimbursed Yet?" or "They OWE Me Money!" Be creative!
2. Put pending items in your folder as soon as you can. Pending items include:
   • Copies of medical claims you've submitted, or keep a log of claims sent & dates mailed.
   • Receipts for credit card returns you made and want to make sure they get credited to your account.
   • A list of items people have borrowed from you. Note the date, item and to whom you lent it
   • Expense reports for work
   • Deposit slips that you want to make sure get posted to your account
   • Confirmations for online purchases that you are waiting to receive (especially backordered items!)
   • When you make a purchase over the phone make a note of it and put the note in this folder.
   • Notes on Rebate Offers you've submitted
   • Anything you are waiting for approval on, or to get paid for!
   • Anything you've submitted a request, application, or proposal and are waiting for a reply.
3. Before you put an item in your file, note the date you expect to receive the reimbursement for it, or the shipment, etc.
4. If you have many of one kind of pending item, such as health insurance claims for a long-term illness, make a separate pending folder just for that item.
5. Keep your pending file folder handy to your bill-paying and mail processing area, perhaps make it the first folder in your financial file drawer, or the first folder in a Desktop Action File system.
6. Check the file on a regular basis. Every week, month, or every time you pay bills, look through it to make sure you have gotten paid or reimbursed.
7. If something takes much longer to happen than you expected, move it to your Action Paper system to follow-up on it.
8. When you have received the check, credit, shipment, deposit, reply, etc. you can either toss the item or note the date received and file it appropriately.

If these tips don't work for you, you may need to use a binder, a basket, a pile on a shelf, or a more custom approach. Consider consulting a professional organizer to help you figure out why your pending system is not working and help you design a custom pending system that fits your unique organizing style!

2006 Ariane Benefit, Neat Living All rights reserved.

Ariane Benefit

Ariane Benefit is a professional organizer, speaker, and author of the popular Neat Living Blog which provides free organizing tips, home makeover photos and much more.

Her mission is to inspire people to simplify, clear clutter, and get organizes so they can get things done easily, and have more time to enjoy the things they really love!!

Contact me at 973-429-2100 or abenefit@neatliving.org. Article or book writing requests are welcome! I am also available to provide content expertise to other writers.

Background: Having grown up in an extremely cluttered home and having moved frequently, I learned first hand how to overcome the need to keep everything. Being the first and only person in my family to go to college, I also learned early on how important it is to organize yourself to achieve your dreams and goals.

I am especially empathetic to creative people, people in crisis, people with ADD/ADHD, young people, students, packrats, sentimental collectors, people moving, merging households, and anyone who needs to downsize.

I have a Master's Degree in Education with a minor in Business and a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish from the University of Miami in Florida. With over 20 years experience in corporate performance consulting, I am also certified in Process Facilitation, Management Development Training, and Accelerated Learning Methods.

My personal and professional qualifications uniquely enable me to help people not only get organized, but acquire new skills and habits so they can STAY organized.

I am an active member of the National Association of Professional Organizers, the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (where I am currently pursing the newly established Certified Professional Organizer designation), the American Holistic Health Association, and the International Society for Performance Improvement.

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