Paper is everywhere. As much as we want to be paperless it still comes in our homes. What do you do with it? How do you keep from having paper avalanches? How do you stay on top of the things you have to know and do?
These are all questions that have come my way from time to time during the course of a home-office organizing session.
Paper can be managed but you must get in the habit of dealing with it everyday.
Here are a few quick tips:
1. Sort the paper as it comes in your house into the following categories: File, Shred, Recycle, Toss
2. Have a desk top action file holder. Create action files. These could be something like: Bills to pay, Articles to read, Pending or Things to think about, Follow up …
3. Sort the papers to file into your action files
4. Schedule a day every week to go through and work on your action files.
This system works and will help you gain control over the incoming paper. The next step is to have a main filing system that resonates with you. It is critical that you know where to put the documents you need to file and even more critical that you can find them when you need them. For this to happen, your filing system must make sense to you. It can be alphabetical, categorical or a mix. Whatever works for you is how it should be set up.
Once it’s set up – use it. File those papers, don’t pile them!