guest post: get organized – start with your desk paper flow!

There are A LOT of good reasons to get and stay organized. Organization can reduce stress, reduce (or eliminate) time spent on mundane tasks … and even reduce the likelihood you will experience legal problems. No missed tax or business filings, no late payment of bills … you get the idea. Having ready access to important documents, knowing important deadlines and generally being aware of what needs to be done when – all of these things directly affect your daily personal and business life. The following guest post by Liz Jenkins, a local professional organizer, shares some simple tricks on how to start … beginning with your desk paper flow. No excuses – just do it!

When I was working with a client recently, I found a check for $11,500 that had never been cashed. It was mixed in a box of random papers. The check was 10 years old. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of money to just misplace.

Here’s what happened: My client has a lot of paper come into his office. Instead of dealing with them promptly, systematically, and having set places for certain types of papers, he would let them pile up on his desk and then they would end up either in cardboard bankers boxes to ‘deal with later’ or fall on the floor and get caught up in the trash.

Sound familiar? Well, maybe except for the size of the check. But I so often run into intelligent, competent people who get completely frazzled by paper.  The problems can be as minor as misplacing a business card to late bill paying to losing out on tax deductions because you can’t find a receipt to as serious as your entire estate falling apart because something happens to you and no one knows where the proper documentation might be.

Here are my suggestions to help with this:

First, have a designated “IN” box. This could be a wicker basket, a basic metal office supply store tray, a pretty canvas covered bin, whatever. As long as it is big enough to hold about a weeks worth of incoming papers into your home or office – generally a 9 x 12 inch one is good.

Place this container at a location that works in your setup. The best way to figure this out is to look for where papers naturally land – you know, that pile you have. If you have to trek across the house or office to put things in the IN box, it won’t happen. Put the box where you enter, in the kitchen, on an entry table . . . the easiest place to just drop them.

Next, assign designated places to ‘sort’ out the papers you acquire.  Here are some ideas:

• Shred – to hold any papers you don’t need to keep that may have identifying information such as credit card offers or receipts.
• Recycle – papers you don’t need but aren’t personal
• Bill pay – one place where all the bills go that need to be paid whether you pay them online or by check.  I recommend keeping checks, envelopes, stamps and a pen in that same location. If you pay your bills online, then this place should be near the computer.
• Action items – events/appointments/invitations/correspondence – these need to get on your calendar, rsvp or decline.  These require your attention – usually in a timely manner.
• Contacts – business cards, phone numbers, flyers for a product or business you want to try
• Things to read – a lot of my clients gather newspaper articles, magazines, etc. that they want to read but don’t have time right at the moment. Corral these until you have that time otherwise the really important stuff gets caught up in them.

Other papers that come in may be coupons, summer camp information, promotional items, etc. Look at what you have in your weekly stash and determine the appropriate categories.  Then make a place for each.  But remember, you are not the keeper of all paper and are not responsible for honoring papers that come in unsolicited such as advertisements and catalogs.

Tip: get off of mailing lists using services such as www.dmachoice.org or contact catalog companies directly and specifically ask to be removed.

These designated locations to sort into can be as simple as a small garbage can for shredding or recycling, a labeled file folder, a pretty basket, a desk drawer or a letter tray.  Be creative but be practical. And do label each of these places.

Lastly, have a designated place where papers go when you are finished with them but need to hang on to them for tax, personal or legal purposes.  This is your “FILE” bin.

When you come in each day with the mail and the other accumulated papers, dump them in your IN box and go on with your day. BUT! Once a day or once a week or on a regular basis that works for you – SORT these papers into their categories.  Then deal with them according to your schedule.

Here’s the flow when you pull everything out of the IN box . . .

• Purge. Immediately toss everything you don’t need or want into either the shred or recycling bin
• Deal with anything immediately that is time sensitive such as bills or invitations *if you can do it in 5 minutes or less –just do it
• Sort any remaining papers into their appropriate locations to be dealt with at a later time
• Place finished paperwork that needs to be saved into your file bin

The key is to have like papers with like papers, and in a location where they are easily accessed and you have all the materials you need in order to deal with them.  For example, invitations should be kept near your calendar. Bills with the checkbook.  Etc.

Then, when you sit down to process these papers, you have everything you need at your fingertips and nothing gets left behind. The biggest benefit to this system is the mental relief.  You know everything is where it needs to be, waiting for you. You don’t have to worry you’ve missed something because you’ve looked at it and placed it where you want it, to be dealt with on your terms.

Take a few minutes to analyze your papers, set up a simple system and tweak when necessary.  Papers don’t have to be overwhelming.  Using these tips can help save your sanity . . . and maybe $11,500!

Liz Jenkins, Certified Professional Organizer and owner of A Fresh Space in the Nashville, TN area, specializes in helping people in their homes or small businesses streamline their lives so they can be more effective, productive and not so stressed out and frazzled.  A self-professed life-long organizing geek, Liz wields a label maker with style and can sort & containerize with a wave of her magic wand (not really but wouldn’t it be cool?).  De-cluttering, figuring out what to do with all the papers, wrangling the kids toys, managing emails & calendars, creating order out of chaos . . . these are the things that make her day.  Find more organizing tips on her blog, A Fresh Space.

March 29, 2011 at 11:30 am 1 comment