Papers and mail covering the table

Deal with paper every single day, before it turns into a paper monster. When it comes to paper and mail, every home should be run like an organized office. Perhaps institute a Home In-box, where initially, all papers and mail get placed on a daily basis.

Then, once a day, sort mail, being sure to put bills into your Bill Paying System, papers that need to be referenced in the future into your filing system, papers that need to be distributed to other family members in a mail basket or file designated for that person, and of course, papers that are trash should be immediately placed in the recycle bin.

Papers requiring quick further action should be handled immediately. For instance, school permission slips can be quickly signed and given back to your child. Papers requiring more in depth reading or study, should be placed in an action folder or Tickler file.

by Maria Gracia - Get Organized Now! http://www.getorganizednow.com FREE Get Organized Now! Idea-Pak and E-zine, filled with tips and ideas to help you organize your home, your office and your life, at the Get Organized Now! Web site.

Paper covering every surface in your office; use these quick tips to clear it up

It was once said that computers were going to make a paper less society, I think that most people would argue that they have given us more paper in our offices.

So it's important to keep that paper from mounting up and keep the lure of all that information from making us think we can read all of the paper that crosses our desk. We just can't, we need to be selective and stay focused or the tops of our desks will never be seen again, not to mention we will be totally over whelmed by our stack of things to read, and never get the important things accomplished on time.

Attend to mail and the day's fresh stack of paper as soon as it comes in. By putting it off you will always have more pressing things to do and the paper stacks will continue to rise making it impossible to find the important papers among the clutter.

As each piece of paper comes across your desk immediately sort it by importance. Three piles should usually be enough, make one for urgent things, important but not urgent, and not important. Obviously work on the urgent things first, but it might be a very good idea to give the not important things a ride right into the wastebasket or shredder without letting them accumulate in a pile.

Make sure to go through your unused files once a month and discard anything that doesn't need to be kept. Make sure you don't keep memos, articles, and letters that you don't need in the first place.

As you sort the daily mail make notes about how it needs to be handled. If you can take care of something right away do it, it will take much less time than sorting through it all again later. That will mean handling each thing only once.

Store as many files as you can electronically and make sure you do a complete file backup at least twice a week at the very least depending on how fast you accumulate new files. Make sure to keep one copy of the backup off-site from where your computer is in case of fire or other damage. Make sure to review your files periodically and discard the ones you don't need keeping premium hard drive space free.

Get in the habit of keeping it clean. Make sure that your desk in-box and your desk are clear each day before you finish work. If you keep to this routine in a few weeks time you will have gotten in the habit of taking care of things as soon as they come in. The reduced piles of paper and information on your desk will improve your attitude; making you more efficient, able to accomplish more and enjoy each day.

©BZ Riger-Hull. www.in-spiros.com or valuable free articles, assessments, & practical success tools mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Certified as a Success Coach, "Four Agreements" Facilitator, & Tele-Course leader We help you communicate powerfully, reduce stress, Strategically Attract success, & increase your financial well-being.