Things You'll Need:
- Trash can
- Files
- Filing Cabinet of File Box
- Colored Markers
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Step 1
The first step to clearing your paper clutter, is to sort your papers into piles. You will want to throw away all papers that are old, outdated or no longer needed. Another pile will be for papers that need action - bills to pay, letters to mail, etc.. The third and final pile will be for papers that need to be filed. These papers will be further sorted into sub sub-categories such as bills, credit card statements, insurance documents, bank statements, articles to keep and taxes.
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Step 2
Color coded file system.Once you have the papers sorted into categories, create a file for each category and place the papers into them. If you want to take your organization one step further, you can color-code your files. For example - all financial papers will be color coded red, and put into red folders. Here you will create folders to hold bank statements, credit card statements, taxes, and other financial documents. Continuing on, you could use blue folders to hold all papers related to your children. In these folders you will file school papers and report cards, pictures that children have drawn and wish to save and any additional information about your children that you wish to save.
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Step 3
I label the outside of my file cabinet for quick reference.Some additional categories to consider are:
*Household (Documents, warranties and product instructions, utility bills)
*Auto (Auto titles, maintenance records, Auto insurance, copies of registration)
*Financial (Taxes, credit card statements, bank statements, loan information)
*Business (Papers related to a business or home-based business)
Comments
anakahashi said
on 11/4/2009 I'm not good at keeping it organized in a timely basis but when I do it I just pick a pile and sort it piece by piece making the new folder (if needed) on the spot. I read it in House Works This method makes it so there isn't another pile to sort at the end.
efficientceo said
on 11/3/2009 If you want to take the work out of paperwork check out www.Quikforms.com
This solution will rid you of paper clutter and increase your efficiency at the same time.
packlestax said
on 7/22/2009 Thank you, thank you. I will start tomorrow. I have 8 file cabinets full. Also some from my parents who are deceased. Also some from their parents. What a mountain of work. Hope to climb out of it soon. Connie
brensullivan said
on 7/22/2009 oops... I didnt realize there's a word limit to these comments, so my last one got cut off -- just wanted to add that two excellent organizational books are Organizing from the Inside Out (how to get past your inner confusion or resistance) and ADD Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life, good whether you have ADD or not.
brensullivan said
on 7/22/2009 These are nice and simple tips - another good one is to take any large piles of paper and turn them upside-down and start sorting from the bottom... chances are these are pretty old and will be easier to make a decision about... another helpful hint when trying to decide whether to keep or toss, ask yourself "Can I get this information again later, if I need it?" - so much of what we save is available on the Internet. I'd also like to recommend a book called File, Don't Pile. This is sort of a graduate course in organization - her system is based on the one used to organize books in libraries - it's numerical. One of its plusses is that it is easy to remove, replace, re-order and cross-index files. In a nutshell, you assign a number to a category -- for example, Finances - 100, and within that category you assign numbers to related papers, i.e. Bank Statements - 101, IRS forms - 102,...