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]
OK, this is my day 27 (as I am doing this all out of order). I have all the paperwork now in the office with no more piles around the house. I still need to organise the 2 4-drawer filing cabinets, but I have cleared 4 drawers worth of paperwork out, so I now have room to reorganise what is left. I imagine there is still a bit more that can go, but I will tackle that as I go through each remaining file and move it to the newly cleared 4-drawer filing cabinet. Feel like I am on the home run now 🙂
w00t! The office is a hard one so well done Amanda!!
My action pile is ready to go! I have a discard pile of old statements I no longer need: I think I will have my ten year old feed the shredder tomorrow afternoon when it rains!
I bet it feels amazing Stacey. 🙂
Yay – less clutter.
Done!
Done
Done
done
Tasks 13 & 14 done – can’t believe I am almost halfway through!
I’m with Debbie lol – my work title – research director – I probably process and examine more paper and information in a day than some do in a week… This will take a major paridigm shift to conquer…And I’m over the top kinestetic and so those nice little scanning devices have resulted in multiple flash drives that always seem to be in the other computer… Will continue to chug along. 5 minutes: move fast and don’t over think and let it go Hmmmm
this is a problem area for me in my office only….but 5 minutes is easy. Done!
ooops – way to many screens opened and way too much cutting and pasting happening !!
http://edaic.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/day-14-30×5-organize-athon-work-in-progress/
Paperwork is filed and sorted – this is an area that I can do
All tasks 1 – 14 now completed !!
http://www.getorganizedwizard.com/blog/2011/04/30-day-organize-athon-day-14-organize-your-paperwork/
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