Helpful Media

These notes refer to any project that has to do with organizing, specifically but not limited to:

- Paper organizing

- Organizing and cleaning an office space

- Organizing a garage, workshop, attic, shed, etc.

Section A

What are your goals with organizing your documents/items? Here are some that I strive for:

- Have every document I keep in a place that is easily accessible, this means I am able to find it in 1 minute and can put it back in just as little time

- Spend as little time organizing my documents as possible

- Having my documents take up as little space as possible in my home

- Have a file drawer in the kitchen desk with an inbox where we put "to file" papers

- Have a space in the garage where we keep translucent file boxes full of papers to take in an emergency

Section B

Simplification is key with organizing your documents (or organizing anything in general for that matter). When a document or item enters your home (such as a piece of mail) you need to decide right away what to do with it, here is an example of how I deal with documents when they enter my home:

When I pick up the mail and bring it home I deal with it right away by putting them into 1 of 6 places:

1)”Trash/recycling” (anything that I don't want to keep that doesn't have my name or address on)

2) “To shred” box/bag (anything that has my name or address on that can be recycled)

3) A "To take care of today" tray (anything that needs to be taken care of before being filed/thrown-away but isn't urgent. It's best to take care of these actionable items at the end of the day, or once a day when you have some free time)

4) An "Urgent" pile (this is stuff you need to take care of right now like bills, etc)

5) A "To File" tray (this is where everything goes that will be filed in your filing cabinet)

6) A “Sunday Box” (Stuff that can wait to be sorted on Sunday when you have 1-2 hours to sort everything, maybe with a nice beverage)

Section C

After you have put your documents into 1 of these 6 places you can take care of all of the items in your 4)Urgent pile first, i.e. pay your bills right away.

Section D

Once a day, take care of the documents in the 3)To take care of today tray. Once you have completed the needed task for this document then go back to Section B and decide where the document needs to go 1) Trash/recycling, 2) To shred, 5) To File, or 6) Sunday Box and put it there. Now you have all your documents either out of the way or in a tray/box.

Section E

I usually take care of my 5) To File and 6) Sunday Box once a week, I put some music on (something that helps me concentrate) and file all of my documents into our file cabinet or any other action necessary. The way that our filing cabinet is organized has been dependent on our own life experiences and what has been important for us to save and archive. Here is an example of how we organize our documents:

Main category - Bills (Large hanging file folder)

Sub category - Charter Internet (Small hanging file folder)

Sub-sub category - Year (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, etc) (Small folder)

I wouldn't have more than 3 layers of filing (shown above). If one of your sub categories gets really full I would turn that into a main category. For example "Finances" is one of our main categories and "Bills" could be a sub category of "Finances" but because it is too large we have made “Bills” into a main category.

I suggest writing out how you want to organize your filing system for right now and start with that, while at the same time being ready to change and adjust your categories depending on what documents you are needing to file in the future.

Section F

Now that you have your system down it's time to tackle all of your paperwork and every item you have that isn’t put away, and I mean everything. This is going to take some time but it will definitely be worth it. What you'll be doing is going back to Section B above and changing out the word "mail" with "documents/items" and deciding where all of your documents/items need to go. Are they urgent? Do they need to be taken care of before they get filed? Should they be filed? Do they need to be shredded? Can they be thrown away or recycled?

I would recommend starting in areas that have less paperwork/items and you want to declutter first then moving to areas with more. For example, your car would be a good place to start because it doesn't have a lot of stuff in it and you would want it to be free from clutter. Then I would move to the bedroom, kitchen/dining room, living room, study, garage, and finally the attic. Of course, it would be best to do this in an order that is motivating to you and brings you more joy and relaxation.

Section G

You can use this system to organize anything you want really. Decide where it needs to go:

1) Recycling

2) Trash

3) Give away

4) Sell

5) Document (photograph/scan) then get rid of it

6) If it has a place to go and you want to keep it, simply put it in it's place