How to throw your own Paperwork Party 📝🎉

Hey it’s Pam 🦋

In-person Paperwork Party! In case you’ll be in the Bronx this Saturday, we will be doing an in-person Paperwork Party with Artist Resource Collective at Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance (BAAD!). The whole Money in Motion workshop goes from 1-5pm and the Paperwork Party will be from 3-5pm. RSVP HERE

In case you’re not in the Bronx, but wishing you could go to a paperwork party, maybe you could throw one instead.

A survey in the UK found that 58 percent of respondents often ignore the number of tasks on their to-do list. Four in 10 people wish they had more assistance or support completing paperwork and, AND 74 percent (3 out of 4 people!) say they don’t have someone they are able to turn to for help when they need it.

You don’t have to do this alone. If you want to practice collective care during Financial Literacy Month, here’s the recipe for throwing your own paperwork party:

Ingredients:

• Friends with laptops

• something to play music from

• snacks and drinks (or make it a paperwork potluck)

• Post-it notes and pens/markers

• A wall to put the post-it notes on

• Things that make noise (or ask people to bring a noisemaker, musical instrument, etc.)

Instructions:

Step 1: Set a date and invite people! Tell them to bring any paperwork or forms they’ve been meaning to get done and their laptop. Some ideas for what they could do:

1. Apply for a new credit card or other loan

2. Open an IRA or other investment account

3. Grant application budget

4. Review your credit report

5. Switch banks

6. Open a high yield savings account

7. Create cash flow projection

8. Apply for an ID or passport

9. Student loans anything! Review, switch to a different payment plan, consolidate, call their servicer, etc.

10. Sign up for employer benefits (transportation, health insurance, etc.)

11. Call a financial institution to reverse a charge, lower a bill, etc.

Step 2: Before people arrive, make sure there is music playing and snacks and drinks ready. Lay out post-it notes and writing instruments. Lay out noisemakers. Clear a wall to put up post-its.

Step 3: Take three post it notes and write on each: 1. Not Started, 2. In Progress, 3. Completed. Put each post-in on one part of the wall apart from each other.

Step 3: Give folks a chance to arrive and get settled - eat, drink, say hi to each other.

Step 4: Explain how this is going to work: Everyone is going to write 1-3 tasks they’d like to complete during the paperwork party, one on each post-it note. For the task they are going to start right away, tell them to put it in the In Progress column. For any other tasks they want to complete, put them in the Not Started column.

Step 5: Start doing paperwork! Feel free to ask questions out loud, see if anyone has had experience with what you’re trying to complete, and generally money buddy it up.

Step 6: Every time someone completes something, they move their post-it from In Progress to Completed and grab a noisemaker! Everyone else responds by grabbing a noisemaker or making noise in celebration!

Step 7: Every 30ish mins or so, do a little stretch or snack break in case folks need a state change. Otherwise, keep going! 1.5 hours seems to be a good amount of time to aim for.

Step 8: if you have time, you can transition the paperwork party into just… a party! Turn up the music, put out more snacks, and put away the laptops. You did it!

In that same UK survey, 89 percent of respondents felt satisfied when the paperwork was done, because, uh, yeahhhh!

Let’s celebrate supporting each other through the anxious mundanity of financial admin because it feels good when it’s done, but feels even better when we do it together. See you at the next paperwork party 📝🎉