Have you ever had a pile of papers that defied being labeled? Or perhaps you're worried that if you do file that important piece of paper, you'll never find it again in your cavernous filing system. Yet some people seem to be able to put their hands on any piece of paper they are looking for within seconds. So what are their secrets?

Have you ever wondered why we get and keep all the paper that we do?  I do all the time. What are we afraid of if we don't have it? Are we missing out on something? Will something bad happen if we don't have it? Will you be able to find it again if you file it?
There are three things to keep in mind when you need to file your paperwork. If you have piles and piles and you don't know where anything is, consider these concepts.

 

 

Here are three things that we see holding our clients back all the time and a tip to overcome those hurdles and help you get organized in your office

1. Get your paperwork under control. The number one thing that clients call us for is paper. Paper piles, mail, to-do lists, business cards, ideas for projects, and on and on! To clear a back log, FAR your paperwork and make 3 piles: File, Action, Recycle. File the things you need for reference, or you need to keep for the IRS or some other government department. Get tough with your action pile – if it’s something that might happen, someday, maybe, put it in the recycle pile and forget about it – you most likely would have forgotten about it anyway.

 

Is the paperless office just a fantasy for you? Do you struggle to find files on your computer like in the ""real"" world? How can you organize your computer?

One of the goals for any organizing project is to make it easy to find things when you need them. Thankfully computers have great search capabilities and by keeping a few tips in mind, it can be a snap to find any file within a few minutes, if not seconds.

Once you have decided what you want to use your garage for, you may find there are items that need to be removed from the garage. If you are keeping them, find a new home for them that makes sense. If you are not keeping them, remember to reuse and recycle.

If you are not going to reuse the items, allow other people to reuse by selling items or giving them away. Options for selling items include:

• Yard Sale
• Craigslist
• eBay - advice from a local eBay seller, Amy Weintraub of Shop It LA , suggests only selling something on eBay if it is worth over $100 - otherwise you spend a lot of time posting on line, packaging and posting the items for not much return.

Consider donating directly to charities in your area, but give them a call first to find out if they need them. Some great places to donate to in the Los Angeles area are:

 

The first thing to do when organizing your garage, or any space for that matter, is to decide what you want to use the space for.

The garage used to be the place to park your car, but more and more frequently, the car is being parked in the driveway and the garage has become essentially another room of the house.  Garages are turned into playrooms, entertainment rooms, exercise rooms, or just a place for storage.  Some people use their garage for a hybrid of uses - parking their car, storage and a kids craft area for instance.

However you use your garage, you do want it to be functional and not just a catch-all area for stuff you can't decide what to do with or will never actually use.

Is paper a problem in your life?  Does it end up all over the house?  Are there piles on your desk? Let's identify the problem and then look at some solutions.

First, the problem. Paper comes into your house or your office.  You have other things to attend to right away, so you drop your mail on the nearest horizontal surface on the way to your task. What happens is that over time, piles are distributed everywhere.  There is no semblance of order.  You don't know what mail is oldest and which is newest.  Time sensitive mail, such as bills, are mixed in with junk mail.  There is no method to the madness.  You are overwhelmed with the clutter.

Contrast this with the ideal situation.  You bring your mail in and deal with it immediately, each day.  It doesn't even reach a surface because it is dealt with immediately.  There are no piles, no overwhelming paper clutter. You can access any piece of information within 30 seconds.  Your bills and correspondence are up to date.

It is difficult to change our habits overnight, but there are steps we can take to move towards our ideal.

Control your mail - FAR your mail: File, Action, Recycle.

Do you have more paper than you know what to do with? Can you find a specific piece of paper when you need it? How do you manage the information contained in all the paper you have?

If you have piles of paper, try doing a pre-sort first. It's easier to keep only a few categories in mind to start with. I use the FAR method, adapted from Julie Morgenstern's FAT method. She uses File, Act, Trash. I take her trash and put it in the recycling. Now we're going FAR with our mail! This initial pre-sort can be done very quickly into two piles and the recycling bin.

The File pile consists of papers the you want to keep for reference or that you are required to keep for legal or tax reasons, or possibly that is memorabilia. These papers can be immediately put into your filing system, whether it is paper or electronic. Do not mix your filing with your action papers.