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Welcome to Day 5 of 7 Days To An Organized Home Office.
Today’s task will take about 1 hour for the average home office. Depending on your home office situation you may need more or less time.
Today we’ll escape from the tyranny of paper. We’ll take action to erode those towers of paper – and later we’ll learn excellent habits to stop them from ever appearing again.
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Time to throw the bags out. I can’t believe how much paper is in my house and I had corners of it everywhere- now I have one command center with kids artwork box, memory boxes, files, calendars, office supplies etc. It’s a little busy but I have a place for everything and everything in it’s place.
FORUM RESPONSES: Organized a file drawer; cleaned off your coffee table; straightened your bedroom; organized a cloth bag and put computer software in this bag; organized a cloth bag and put prescription medication in this fifties bag; 5 bags of laundry; moved a bed from upstairs to downstairs; went down to the basement and threw all the papers away; washed the big green container/tub so I can put my dirty laundry in it; ordered a file box and folders; washing clothes and hanging them up in your bedroom; sorted his old clothes and threw the worn out ones away.
Great responses – thanks for sharing Terry!
We will have an open forum on what we applied the week before. The goal is how far did you get?
GOAL: Go through one box, one pile, one drawer or one bag – go through and trash or recycle items save the important materials.
My group is identifying on which pile each piece of paper belongs as follows:
Shred Box: Papers you don’t need that contain financial, personal, or there sensitive information. If you don’t want your addresses in the trash shred or rip it up.
Recycle Box: Papers you don’t need that don’t contain financial, personal, or sensitive information.
Archive Box: Old papers you need for reference, legal documents, warranties or tax/accounting reasons* that can be stored offsite/out of reach.
File Pile: Current papers you need for general projects, reference or tax/accounting reasons*.
When you’re done: Place the File pile and Action pile neatly on your desk or near your desk.
Take your File pile over to your filing drawer or cabinet, and put everything away.
Action Pile: Papers that require some kind of action – including bills, invitations, etc.
Our Action File: Clean out existing files, sort new documents then file the new documents.
*There are always exceptions to the above rules.
If you have a large file pile set Saturday from 8 to 10 AM to continue sorting then filing.
Upon completion of your filing use Saturday mornings for organizing, de-cluttering and projects.
Yipee, it is all coming together for sure. Filing is filed and yep – that was so fun – really – having laid such great foundations with file systems and purges and sorting – I liked using my new organisation 🙂 I lost a bit of my smile when I realised I have about a hundred Action hours ToDo – actually it is about 15, so I have put 4 hours in my diary tomorrow to start on the most important and fun, easy, no-brainer ones so I sneak into action because I know that once I am on my way it will be easier to keep going.
I do have a question though – I have along the way of these past “days” ended up with about a dozen Post-its with bits of collected info; sayings I like, tech tips and various other kind of random stuff but info I want to keep all the same. Trouble is, I don’t know where to file them. I thought maybe I should start an electronic document to capture the tid-bits but would welcome other ideas/comments.
And where are you Amanda Power? I miss your funny comments and company.
Thanks again Michele, with each day of your program I feel like I am coming further out from under a cloud that has been hanging over me for… well… years, really 🙂
Wow you’re making such fabulous progress Jorja! Go girl!!
For post-it type notes I use the Notes app. It syncs on my iPad, phone and Mac so I always have access wherever I am. And when I’m waiting on a line or for my coffee to be ready I can scan/tidy/consolidate. I could never read my post-it scribbles anyway!
Thanks Michele. And thanks for tip about Notes app, that sound like just the ticket 🙂
Thanks Michele. And thanks for tip about Notes app, that sound like just the ticket 🙂
I’ve been moving towards digital planning for a couple of years. I can access my calendar and todo list on my Mac, iPad and/or iPhone – all synchronised. No longer do I have to carry around a heavy paper diary – which is better for my handbag and my back.
I had kept my ‘action’ paperwork separate from my ‘archive’ (aka ‘scanning’ pile) as I purged, so no need to sort now. Actually very little to action so think I shall just get into this and get it done now. The scanning I shall allocate a couple of hours a week to and get it down over the course of several months (of course, checking a second time whether I really need to scan it or can throw/recycle).
I use Calendar, Reminders, and Notes too, and with iCloud they sync perfectly across all my devices – very handy!
Great progress today, Michelle!
I use Calendar, Reminders, and Notes too, and with iCloud they sync perfectly across all my devices – very handy!
Great progress today, Michelle!
I am working on these items and I just purchased a brand new diary/planner yesterday as a matter of fact. Got some great ideas on how to use it on Pinterest. I had stopped using one and was trying to utilize my iPhone apps but lost a bunch of stuff recently and now I want to go back to paper. I still use Outlook and Toodledo and some other apps but I also love paper planner and am going to use it as a home/work family organizer that I carry with me everywhere!
I’m with you Tami – I need both paper and digital for different things.
http://www.getorganizedwizard.com/blog/2012/10/paper-planner-or-digital-diary-how-to-choose/
Excited! A reason to buy myself a Diary for 2013. I love Diary’s and Stationery shops etc but somehow this year I’ve managed to miss the shopping trip. Shopping time!
LOL Julie I’m a stationery addict too. But after all that excellent purging it will be easier to just buy the diary, right?. Um, right? 😉