Welcome to the 30-Day Organize-athon!
In today’s 5 minutes we’re going to express-organize your paperwork.
Ready, set, organize!
Day 14: Organize Your Paperwork
Step 1: Gather all the paperwork from around your home – whether strewn throughout the house, covering every surface of your home office, or assembled in a towering pile. (If this alone takes more than 5 minutes it doesn’t count!)
Step 2: Quickly flick through the papers and create 3 piles:
- Action Pile: Papers that need your attention – look for bills, school notices, invitations, etc.
- File Pile: Papers that need to be filed – look for warranties, tax info, insurance notices, important receipts, etc.
- Discard Pile: Papers that you don’t need – look for junk mail, notices for past events, random scraps of paper, etc.
Keep it moving and don’t overthink. If you’re really in doubt about something, put it on your Action Pile to consider when you have more time.
Step 3: Schedule a time during the week to action the Action Pile and file the File Pile.
Step 4: Discard the Discard pile. Be sure to shred sensitive information.
And you’re done!
NOTE: We’ll tackle the rest of your desk, den, study, or home office area tomorrow.
Got an Extra 5 Minutes?
- Start dealing with your Action Pile now. It’ll be easier to continue later if you start now; and/or
- File your File Pile; and/or
- Shred your sensitive Discard Pile.
Now don’t you feel liberated?
The 30-Day Organize-athon Mantra
Move fast. Don’t overthink. Let it go!
Leave Your Comment Below…
Please leave your comment below to say you’ve done today’s task.
See you tomorrow!
[Image by aussiegall]
I literally would need to stay on this for a solid week to mark this one complete. When we moved my office downstairs and my son back upstairs because of all the trouble he was getting into, my paperwork just got scattered. I was so frustrated I just said the heck with it. I cleaned my desk at work, thats good enough.
Done – just a few things to file.
5 minutes done, but it’s going to take a few more 5’s to get completely finished — all tasks done this week!
done
Way too much paperwork in this house, not to mention income taxes. Okay, I’ve sorted, and I had three piles . . . and I threw away one pile . . . now to keep on going. And I’ve accomplished enough that I will keep on going now that I see the light at the end of the tunnel.
oh my gosh i had soooo much paperwork to sort through that this took me forever! but its done and into the appropriate piles now! 🙂 now i just have to set aside the time to wrap it up later! 🙂
OK Done my 5 minutes and that doesn’t include collecting all the papers and throwing them all on my desk.
My very first full time job was as an office clerk and learnt at an early age(16) how boring filing can be, so the non-system I have been using is to write on a box the date of the last box and the date of today. ANYTHING that was purchased, paid, etc all goes in to the box. I know that this system has it’s BIG faults (as I have had to sift through multiple boxes to find my dryer warenty, grrrr) and I want to have a better system like the one I read above by Jamie English about a small folder getting filed each month.
I have taken a before pic but there isn’t a massive change with my desk so will wait until after tomorrows challenge to take the after pic.
BTW, my hubby loved the kitchen drawers and as we share a bedroom study (although his desk area is much tidier), he is bound to love today and tomorrow too 🙂 thanks.
Done – and have completed the first 14 days of the challenge. Some places look lovely and tidy, others look a whirlwind blew through. The sorted paper piles have taken over my desk top temporarily!
I’ve done this too. I’ve completed all the tasks and left comments for them all for the whole 14 days and am loving the challeng.
done
I may have had a premonition but just created a binder this weekend with my “to do” papers in several categories. Now getting the papers filed that actually need to be kept (and purging files of those that don’t) — that will be the next challenge!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I am NOT mocking any of you…just laughing at my mess instead of crying.
I have so much paperwork I couldn’t find the top of my desk in 5 minutes!!!
Just carry me away and lock me up in the funny farm now, friends.
I got so stressed out by the 4th day, that I decided I had to just click and drag my daily e-mail to my Get Organized Wizard folder, knowing that I can try again some other day/week/month… I HAVE made huge progress in the past year, and am, in fact, consolidating files, scrapping supplies, art supplies, works of art, books, bins, etc.
Keep up your daily efforts, my friends, I know I’ll get there SOMEDAY. 😀
I don’t know if I left a comment for all 7 days this week. Sorry.
Oh, my. I knew this was coming, but didn’t think of it being ALL the paperwork on one day. No can do today. Just too much for this day. So, I did my school desk middle drawer (homeschooler). This, too, is bigger than 5 minutes, but at least I accomplished something.
Did the sorting, the discarding and shredding, but the putting away and filing is still to do. Stuff will need to be put away in so many different places! (archive box, binder, filing cabinet, etc.). But I did good! Done the 14 tasks!
Definitely more than a 5 minute job, but I did get the first part done.
more than I can do in one day… Done as far as the task is described, but can’t sort through them all in anything like 5 minutes…. At least a start has been made and I WILL keep going!
Really didn’t feel like doing anything today. Total lack of energy. But…I figured, 5 minutes.., I can do 5 minutes. So, gathered papers, sorted into piles….and actually shredded stuff that needed to be shredded. Put the ‘to be filed stuff’ into a folder so at least it’s kind of tidy until I get to it. Hopefully tomorrow.
thanks!
Done! This is one area I stay pretty much on top of, but I still managed to find a pile of stuff to shred.
Completed