Play Region

We are inundated by paper these days — some of us feel like we
are drowning in it — but there are some simple steps you can
take to keep your head above water. Many people are so
overwhelmed with the continuous stream of paper that it gets
dumped in an ever-growing pile, junk mail and all, that is only
hunted through when bills need to be paid or other important
documents need to be found. Intentions are always good; you plan
to sort and file, but that day rarely comes and when it does the
project is incredibly overwhelming.

The bright side is, it doesn’t have to be that way! By
developing a simple routine, you can keep the paper flow under
control and have everything filed for easy retrieval.

Daily Paper Strategies

- Keep a recycle bin in an easily accessible location so you
have no excuse not to toss items in while you are handling them
Remember to shred documents with sensitive information.

- Don’t put the stack of mail down until you have sorted out the
junk and deposited those items directly in the trash or recycle
bin; designate a fixed “home” for other major categories of mail
(bills, to be filed, reading material, requires action, etc.)
and be vigilant about immediately putting items where they
belong. You’ll be amazed by how much time you’ll save with this
tactic alone!

- Open all envelopes immediately, keep only the necessary
contents and toss or recycle the remainder before it can even
hit the counter

- Analyze your newspaper and magazine subscriptions; do you read
everything you subscribe to in a timely manner? If not, consider
canceling some subscriptions and buy the publication
individually when you REALLY want to read it.

- Don’t save entire newspapers or magazine for one or two
articles or recipes; the options are many — tear the page out
on the spot and place in your recipe file or reading stack; if
it’s a long term keeper, consider scanning it into your computer
for later use; also you need to remember that you can find
almost anything on the internet — don’t save unnecessary
information either in paper or electronic format!

- Approach kids’ school papers in an organized manner; have a
storage box for items you want to keep; read and toss flyers on
the spot (have your calendar nearby to write down key dates so
you don’t have to keep the fliers); sign any necessary items
immediately and have your child place in their backpack to
return

Filing System

Most people keep WAY too much in their files! They also keep
their filing systems WAY too detailed. The most important
feature of a filing system is the user’s ability to maintain it.
If you make it complex and cumbersome you are setting yourself
up for failure.

- Before designing your filing system, you should consult your
tax advisor or IRS Publication 552 (www.irs.gov). Determine
which items you need to keep and for how long. This may sound
like a pain, but it will save you hours in the long run.

- Analyze your need to access items you have saved for the past
few years. If you haven’t needed to refer back to those utility
bills and you don’t use them for tax deductions, why are you
keeping them? In today’s digital age most information can be
obtained on the internet or requested from the original source.

- Justify every piece of paper you keep! A simple filing method
that works for many people is the “rolling 12-month” method.
Instead of filing “short term” records by vendor or topic, file
them by month. You keep 12 files, one for each month, and each
month dump the contests of the oldest month and slip in your new
items. You will have additional files for items that require
longer retention — place these in alphabetical order behind the
monthly folders. Remember to keep these categories as general as
possible to make filing and retrieval simple.

- Make sure your “keep forever” documents are safely stored in
your Safe Deposit Box or at least a fireproof file box.

-Make the transition from a current filing system gradual and
painless. Pick one or two files a day and get rid of anything
outdated or no longer applicable to your life. If the records
need to be kept for legal purposes, but are not something you
need to access regularly, move them to the back of the filing
cabinet in a permanent file section

Catching Up

Finally, you need to address the accumulated piles from “before”
you got organized. Don’t despair! You’ll probably find that most
of it can be tossed using your new filing guidelines.

- Make a quick pass through the piles, sorting into “toss”,
“long-term” and “short-term” piles. Hopefully there aren’t any
action items hidden in the pile!

- Shred or recycle the “toss” pile. File the (hopefully) very
small “long-term” pile.

- Sort the “short-term” pile by month and drop in the
appropriate folder. - If your filing was too far behind, make
this a 15 minute a day task maybe while you do something
relaxing like watch TV.

Gaining the upper hand on paper requires a minimal but
consistent time commitment. At first you will need to
consciously make this a part of your daily routine. Before you
know it, those mountainous stacks of paper are gone and have
been replaced by neat files.

©2004 Bridget Messino