Michael Emilio

Tax season has come and gone. Every spring we barrel our way through huge stacks of tax-related papers and random financial record messpiles. While we’re frantically looking for that one statement we can’t seem to find we plead to the heavens, “Just let me find that paper - I promise I’ll do better next year!”

One week before tax time is NOT the time to organize your paperwork. You should start way sooner - like now, for instance?

Now that I’m talking to you about getting organized with your tax paperwork, the first thought that might rush into your head is, “I gotta get me some containers, folders, files, and binders!” You might even get these in a variety of wild colors including neon green and hot pink - among others.

You set these crazy amounts of organizational equipment on the floor. Now what? Where do you go from here? Now you have to organize the organizational equipment and you go even crazier than before! What’s the solution?

How to Clean Up a Huge Organizational Mess

Well, there’s a solution. There’s small companies that have sprung up recently to help out with this growing financial organizational problem. These companies help instruct people on how to get the best storage products and how to use them correctly.

The way these companies run their business is buy producing specialty organization items that have instructions on how to use them correctly. They then support the use of their products by writing in their company blogs, sending out instructional newsletters, and running organizational intensive workshops that immerse students in organizing their finances in the right way. If you think about it, whether you’re a tax veteran or a college kid in your dorm that’s just getting started, it’s important to always improve your organizational skills.

“By making products more user-friendly and offering consumers compelling reasons to use their products, businesses can set themselves apart from the competition,” says Parkland Group founder and president Larry Goddard. Parkland Group is a Cleveland-based business consulting firm helping businesses succeed and grow.

Get Your Life Buttoned Up

Buttoned Up is a startup company that was founded with the confused user in mind. The founders, Alicia Rockmore, 42, and Sara Welch, 36, started the 11-employee Ann Arbor, Michigan company four years ago because they themselves needed the service they now provide but there’s wasn’t anything like that out there at the time. The Buttoned Up co-founders say that they used to spend tons of money at stores like Target, Wal-Mart, and the Container Store and when they got home with all these organizational products they had no idea what to do next.

It’s rare for someone to instinctively know what specific items to put in specific containers or what important documents and files to put into your filing cabinet or organizer.

“They needed a road map to give them the tools to actually do it,” says Rockmore.

The Buttoned Up Product Line

The company currently has more than 20 organizational products and can be found in nationwide retailers. One of the hottest ones right now is the Life.doc, which is a bright red binder where you can put your emergency, insurance, and other important documents in one spot. When you open the $29.95 binder, the first thing you see is the “Welcome Letter” that talks about the Buttoned Up philosophy of focusing on the most important 20% of organizational tasks - it’s an organizational remake of the 80/20 Pareto Principle, which is that 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes. It also includes forms to fill out that include emergency, financial, and insurance information. The entire binder is covered in transparent plastic and is labeled colorfully with details on how to use it correctly.

“This way, consumers can see and understand the product before buying,” says Rockmore.

Other Buttoned Up products include Valuables.doc, Do&Delegate.list, and the Moving.kit.

The two women also have a newspaper column, a company GetButtonedUp.com blog, and an e-mail newsletter with advice and tips. They talk about tax tips, organizing computer passwords, making to-do lists, and why organizing is important for your entire lifestyle. They feel that this content “deepens the relationships we have with consumers, which leads them to our products… or from one product to another,” says Rockmore. They have also just released a book titled Everything (almost) In Its Place: Control Chaos, Conquer Clutter, and Get Organized the Buttoned Up Way.

Other organizational startups include See Jane Work, which sells organizational products online and through their California store and The Paper Princess, which sells stationary, bookplates, and calendars.

Ever wanted to be Barbie for a day?

Maybe get yourself a glittery hairdo, pink makeup, wear a shiny gown and play with dolls for the entire day. Sounds good?

As for me, well, can’t say I’m interested in doing that, at all. But make a G.I. Joe theme store and I’m there, no doubt about it.

A new store, named the Casa de Barbie (Spanish for House of Barbie or Barbie Store), has officially opened. Young girls wait for hours to get in and mothers make offers on clothes that are just up for decoration. The fanaticism is incredible.

How the Barbie Store Idea Come to Be

The idea for the store came to Tito Loizeau, 37, in a shopping mall three years ago. He went on to build this Barbie-themed store and it’s been a huge hit in Buenos Aires, Argentina ever since.

The way he tested his idea was to set up a small “House of Barbie” promotion for Mattel (creators of Barbie) inside of the shopping mall. The demand was immediate - and powerful. Kids would want to buy everything in the store - even items that had nothing to do with Barbie.

“It would be a pink shirt you could buy anywhere in the mall,” said Loizeau. “But they’d want the shirt because it was associated with Barbie.”

The Debut of the Casa de Barbie

So he decided to open the 6,996 square-foot Barbie “fashiontainment” store - first in the world. In the bubble-gum scented store, girls with a love of everything Barbie get their Barbie hairdos and makeovers at the Barbie beauty parlor and can play with dolls at the Barbie playroom while eating their pink-frosted desserts from the Barbie cafe.

It wasn’t easy for Tito Loizeau to get his Barbie Store open. He spent a year persuading Mattel to license the idea of the store to him. Loizeau, along with two partners, put up $500,000 of their own savings to open the House of Barbie. His group now has exclusive rights to the Barbie Store license in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay as well as first-option rights in all of Latin America. In exchange, Mattel takes a percentage of all sales made in his Barbie Stores and the exclusive right to expand the Barbie Store concept around the world.

Why Do Argentinian Girls Love the Barbie Store So Much?

“I am here because I wanted to have my hair done for my mum’s birthday,” said six-year-old Pilar Tolosa.

Open since September of 2007, the chic Palermo neighborhood in Buenos Aires - home to many high-class restaurants and swank boutiques - has been taken over by the Barbie frenzy.

“There are girls who come every single day,” says Loizeau. “No one understands it.”

To enter the store and partake in the Barbie activities, you’ll be paying $7 an hour. You’ll then recieve free access to play with the Barbie dolls and toys, you can try on the various costumes, makeup, and jewelry. Once you’ve found the perfect Barbie wardrobe to wear, you can walk down the Barbie catwalk runway, where you’ll be strutting under the disco lights and thumping music. The Barbie Store also includes the coffee shop and beauty salon, where you can get a Barbie hairstyle or a painted butterfly on your cheek. You can also rent out the Barbie playroom for your kid’s parties at a starting rate of about $650.

Exclusively for Barbie Fans

“It is something that is just for the girls, that is the most important thing and I think that is their most favorite thing. That is what makes them feel special. As soon as they enter they see a place that is exclusively for them, where they are the stars of the store, that was created for them,” says Barbie Store manager Fernando Bosc.

Tito explains that Saturdays are the most hectic days at the Barbie Store. “It’s chaos,” says Loizeau about Saturday afternoons. He says that the Barbie birthday parties bring even more chaos. Some girls “get angry that they can’t go in and they throw tantrums.”

Although a huge hit now, Tito didn’t think it was going to explode in popularity the way it has. He had an initial estimate of about 20 or 30 girls a day but he’s had days with over 150 children coming in.

The Initial Idea for the Barbie Store and How It’s Changed Over Time

It’s interesting how what he thought would sell well didn’t and that only after conducting various focus groups that he found out what really would sell. He originally wanted to sell glamorous Barbie outfits in kid sizes. Once he did some focus groups with mothers, he found out they didn’t like the idea - even if the young girls would approve. Instead he found that the best strategy was to commission the development of basic kids clothing in a Barbie theme that has matching items for sale. He also initially targeted girls 3 to 9 for the sizes but he found that he needed to create bigger sizes as demand grew from girls as old as 16 wanting Barbie apparel. He even has plans to create adult sizes in the near future.

It also may be surprising to know that the store doesn’t focus on selling dolls - even there are some select dolls for sale. Instead, the focus is on T-shirts, handbags, skirts, and pants in various shades of pink. The clothing is designed and made in Argentina and are available only at the Barbie Store.

Not a Barbie Toy Store

“We’re not a toy store. Girls play here and then they want a Barbie.” says Loizeau.

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As far as future plans go, anything is possible. For the near future, Tito Loizeau plans to secure funding in order to open more Barbie Stores in other cities in the neighboring regions of Buenos Aires.

The Barbie Store address is Scalabrini Ortiz 3170 Capital Federal in Buenos Aires, Argentina and they can be visited online at their Barbie Store website: Barbie-Stores.com. The Barbie Store phone number is 0810-4444-BARBIE and the store hours are Monday-Saturday 10am-8:30pm and Sunday 1pm-8pm.

What do you think of the idea of the Barbie Store? Would the idea work just as well in other markets around the world?

This is part two of a series where we’ll be looking at the real estate-related rules in Money Magazine’s “25 Rules To Grow Rich By”. We’ll be taking these rules one-by-one and going in-depth as to whether it’s a rule “to grow rich by” or not. Take a look at the rules we’ve covered at the 25 Rules list.

Rule 2: It’s worth refinancing your mortgage when you can cut your interest rate by at least one point.

I agree with the premise of this rule - it’s usually a good idea to refinance your mortgage loan if you have a chance to cut interest. Especially if you’re early in the life of the loan a 1% drop in your interest really adds up over the course of the loan.

Did you know that the overall percentage of the average homeowner’s income that goes to pay their mortgage has risen 12.6% from ten years ago? That can leave many people scrambling for some sort of relief - a refinance may be a way to do so.

The Reasons Why People Refinance

If you’re looking to refinance, there are many other reasons why you might be considering doing so. For example, you might be under an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) - which I usually do not recommend for homeowners - and switch over to a fixed rate mortage. You might want to reduce your monthly debt load by rolling your unsecured debt into your mortgage as a temporary fix to your credit situation. You may want to refinance your mortgage into a shorter term - this allows you to pay off your loan faster and build your equity quicker. For example, you might want to take your 30 year mortgage and drop it down to a 20 year loan or even a 15 year loan.

By dropping your loan in terms of total years, you’re really getting a handle on your mortgage. Dropping your mortgage down by a percentage point may often not make a very big difference in the long run in the total mortgage interest you’ll pay in general. But if you get a short term mortgage, especially combined with the lower interest, this will really make a big dent in the interest you’ll be paying over the life of the loan.

What You Need to Know About Mortgage Refinance

There are some hidden costs you need to be aware of when refinancing your mortgage. You’ll have to pay lender fees, which can include points, origination, credit report, application, and appraisal. You may have to pay third-party fees - these vary by state and mortgage company and can include title exam, title insurance, closing, and recording. These closing costs can range from 2% to 3% of your loan amount.

To put it blunty, if you make a mortgage refinance decision, you do it for the long term. It must benefit you over the long haul - it must make sense in this future view context! If you think you might be moving relatively soon, then just stop thinking about refinancing your mortgage. Be aware of what’s out there and don’t get suckered into many of these no cost refinance advertisements you may see on television and get into a bad mortgage refinance decision that can cost you money, time, and major headaches down the line.

As for the topic of refinancing your home to pay off credit card debt, I’d recommend you stay away from this course of action for the most part. Statistics show that more than 85% of people who refinanced to pay off their credit card debt return to the same level of credit card indebtedness within 2 years. Don’t fall into that credit card debt cycle.

This is just such a complex and important subject it’s very hard to recommend any course of action as a blanket path for everyone to take in this situation. You really need to take into account your particular situation, learn what you can about the refinancing process, get yourself a reputable professional that can assist you and then it’s time for you to make your decision.

Revised Rule #2: Refinancing your mortgage is a viable solution if you focus on the long-term and are able to save yourself money in the way that makes sense to you.

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