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5 comments:
Please help me! I need some way to deal with the papers that come into our home and need to be filed. My desk area is COVERED…I can barely see the top of the desk anymore because it’s completely buried. I’d like to stick to the whole “handle each item only once” idea. But life happens, and I just can't file right when I get it. Ideas? Thoughts? What’s your motivation for staying organized?
I have a filing cabinet with business files and personal files. You can get as detailed as you want or stay rather generic.
Karen,I'm kind of an oranize freak so if you want me to come over somtime to help out I'd love to =)
I also have a "brain" area in the kitchen (a small desk and a peg board) I pin things on the board that I need to remember to do, like when we get a party invite or a card from someone whom I need to respond too. I also have a little basket on that desk for bills and then when we get our paycheck ever month I pay all the bills and file the stubs in the filing cabinet.
the biggest thing is to know what is trash and what isn't. Don't hold on to coupons you won't ever use or things like that. Maybe keep a little bin or basket on your desk and when it's full it's time to file away.
I don't know if this was helpful at all but somehow I am very organized (sometimes so much so that it buggs my hubby=) )
and it comes easy to me so I really would like to help if I can.
When important documents come into our house, they are usually processed as follows: bills are separated from the statement part and placed in the "Pay" mail slot to get paid, which usually happens once a month. The top statement portions are either shredded or put in "the basket", which when full, gets filed in a small portable plastic filing bin in folders that correspond to their purpose. eg: garbage, water, car info, etc.
Any receipts that come in throughout the month all get put into my wallet, which gets emptied at the end of the month into a folder in the file box for reciepts (by month). Receipts for tax deductible purchases or donations go directly into our "tax prep" folder, along with anything we'll need to give to our tax guy for next year.
Other important documents, such as our wedding/birth certificates, mortgage documents, social security cards, life ins./home/auto policies, etc. go into a big general folder labeled "Halstead's Important Stuff" and that folder gets filed into the file box as well.
It's a pretty basic system and sometimes it gets a little behind. But, with a little catch up work put in every few months, and usually a once a year purge of unnecessary stuff in the file box to make room for new stuff, we can usually manage to keep track of things very well.... better than most I'd say. It's not always easy, but it's way worth the effort we put in NOT to be stressed out when we need to find some obscure document.
Thanks, Tanja and Jenna, for your advice and suggestions! We have a filing cabinet, and we have labelled file folders. So everything has a place. I just don't like taking the time to file the papers. I end up with a pile of papers that's quite large and often gets shuffled from one location to another, but not filed.
I like the basket idea; perhaps if I placed "to file" papers in a basket of sorts, I won't feel that it looks so disheveled.
Tanja, thank you for your offer to help get us organized! I will certainly keep you in mind if/when I get overwhelmed!
Karen, I just stumbled upon this through the Christmas blog you just started....it is fascinating that we are struggling with the same things! I had a few thoughts:
I have read a number of "organization" books on this topic trying to find my own systems. I have the labeled files, I try to toss junk mail out immediately and I immediately file stuff that's important in an "in-box" or "to do" box as well; yet my problem is that the "in-box" gets gigantic before I tend to take care of it. So I came up with these two things that have helped: 1. Forgiveness--It is ok to have a messy desk or to take longer to attack the "in-box" once in a while as long as it doesn't take over the house! 2. Set a routine--Pick a day once a week or whatever works for your schedule to attack that pile of papers: My day is currently Wednesday.
Every Wednesday I take care of the "to do" box. If I can't take care of everything that day; I will write into my calendar what day I will take care of it. I also allow myself to skip a Wednesday if needed or change that week to attack the "in-box" on Thursday instead.
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