My Top 4 Tips to Organize Digital Files

What’s the best way to organize digital files?

When it comes to paperwork, the easiest thing to do is to make sure it never arrives in the first place! Go digital when you can. Not only does it reduce paperwork that takes up physical space in your home, it reduces paper usage in general. Good stuff! At Organize to Excel, we aim to eliminate waste and help the environment wherever possible.

If (when!) you follow my advice about paperwork, you’ll end up with more digital files than paper ones. But if you don’t have a filing system in place on your computer, you’re just swapping paper clutter for digital clutter.

Here are my top 4 tips for digital organizing, keeping your computer files as neat and tidy as your physical ones.

1. Mimic Real Life

Would you throw your mail on the floor as soon as you brought it in the house? Do you file everything as “Important”? If you do, give us a call and we can help you straighten that out!

It doesn’t make sense to do these things, because all you’d get is a big pile of mail on your floor, and tons of time wasted spent searching for that one bill you kinda remember being in this pile…or is it this pile? Eek!

Physical clutter is more obvious than digital clutter because it’s in the way when you try to eat dinner at the table, or a tripping hazard in your hallway. And, you have to physically go through items one at a time. But digital clutter is real, and it’s costing you time and money you don’t need to spend.

Imagine your computer is a tiny filing cabinet. It needs labels, folders, and subfolders. It needs an internal logic, so the folders and subfolders are useful. If you think about digital files like they’re paper, it only makes sense to put them in some sort of order.

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How to File Paperwork, and Find Stuff FAST!

Let’s talk about how to file paperwork so you can find what you need, fast!

The whole point of filing is to find paperwork fast! If your filing system is chaotic, you’re making yourself work harder. I don’t want that for you! Dial down the difficulty when searching for paperwork by using these tips.

File Naming Conventions

Having standardized terminology for your files keeps search time to a minimum, with both digital and physical files. For physical files, use consistent dates and names. You want to make it easy on your eyes to follow along as you look through the files. If you’re looking through the files you have on home maintenance, and most of your files are labeled like “2020 Repair Bills,” and a few are named like, “Housekeeping – 2020,” you’re making your brain do extra work when you search. Keep it consistent, and save your brainpower for something more fun!

To make searching for digital files easier, include multiple search terms in the file name. Think about what you’ll want to know when you’re trying to find it. If you’re looking for a particular bank statement, what search terms would you use to find it? Adding the bank name, the account name, and the statement date means you can find it three different ways!

Paper Files: 5-20 Items Rule of Thumb

"More than 20 items in a file? Split it! Fewer than 5 items in a file? Combine it!"

Use cascading hierarchies when creating your paper files. For instance, you could keep all your insurance paperwork together in one hanging folder, and have paperwork for the individual policies in separate interior folders. This means you only have one place to go to look for anything regarding insurance, and if you know which policy you’re looking for you can narrow it down even further. Instead of flipping through dozens of different pieces of paper, you can go right to what you’re looking for.

It’s hard to find paperwork fast when your files are three inches thick. The best rule of thumb I have for keeping hierarchies neat and easy to use is this: If you have fewer than five items in one category, that’s a sign that you could condense it with another. More than twenty items should be split up into subcategories.

For instance, say you have files relating to places you want to travel to. If you only want to go to New Zealand and visit Lord of the Rings locations, you only need one folder. If you want to go to every state in the US and have paperwork about each state you want to visit, then a folder for each state will be helpful. This helps avoid overstuffed folders that are difficult to look through and avoids having unnecessary folders as well.

Make it even easier on yourself by using labeling, color coding, or different locations for these categories. If you use your labels or colors consistently, soon you’ll be able to see what you’re looking for at a glance.

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Prioritize to Achieve Your Goals!

Now that you’ve reflected on life using the Wheel of Life and made a list of SMART PATH goals, it’s time to set priorities. As impressive as it would be to tackle every problem in your life simultaneously, it’s unrealistic. Not only would it be a whole lot of work, your focus would be everywhere at once!

What do you value most?

Are any of these values at the top of your list?

  • Time with family
  • Forging ahead with your career
  • Serving your community
  • Love
  • Adventure
  • Creating a cozy home
  • Being healthy
  • Creating a life that works

Everyone’s values are unique, and I can’t tell you what you should value most—it’s up to you! But asking yourself the question and finding out what you value most in life is important. It gives you a clearer focus and knowing what your value means you can structure your life to match it.

How do your values show up in your Wheel of Life? Are you allocating your time and energy in a way that matches your values? What is essential to you?

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Top 4 Tips for Organizing Digital Files

When I covered paper filing in the past, one of my top tips was, “The best way to keep track of paperwork is to make sure it never arrives in the first place!” But what about digital organizing?

Go digital when you can. Not only does it reduce paperwork that takes up physical space in your home, it reduces paper usage in general. Good stuff! At Organize to Excel, we aim to eliminate waste and help the environment wherever possible.

If (when!) you follow my advice about paperwork, you’ll end up with more digital files than paper ones. But if you don’t have a filing system in place on your computer, you’re just swapping paper clutter for digital clutter.

Here are my top 4 tips for digital organizing, keeping your computer files as neat and tidy as your physical ones.

1. Mimic Real Life

Would you throw your mail on the floor as soon as you brought it in the house? Do  you file everything as “Important”? If you do, give us a call and we can help you straighten that out!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Calendly-Call-to-Action-1024x1024.png

It doesn’t make sense to do these things, because all you’d get is a big pile of mail on your floor, and tons of time wasted spent searching for that one bill you kinda remember being in this pile…or is it this pile? Eek!

Physical clutter is more obvious than digital clutter because it’s in the way when you try to eat dinner at the table, or a tripping hazard in your hallway. And, you have to physically go through items one at a time. But digital clutter is real, and it’s costing you time and money you don’t need to spend.

Imagine your computer is a tiny filing cabinet. It needs labels, folders, and subfolders. It needs an internal logic, so the folders and subfolders are useful. If you think about digital files like they’re paper, it only makes sense to put them in some sort of order.

(more…)

Getting Settled: How to Unpack in Your New Home

Congratulations! You’ve decluttered, packed, and moved. Now it’s time to put everything in its place in your new home. Here are four things I keep in mind I unpack with someone. Unpacking will be a breeze if you…

Have a staging area for boxes to arrive

Set aside an area for boxes to go when you and your movers (if you have them) arrive at your new home. That way everything is in a central place, and can be divided up into the right room from one location.

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Moving Day: Three Things to Keep in Mind

You’ve decluttered, you’ve packed, and now it’s moving day! Here are three things to keep in mind to make the day go smoothly.

1: Priorities

The top two things you want on the day of your move are: something to eat, and somewhere to sleep by the end of the day.

Something to eat: Make a food plan for the day of. Do you want to cook the first night in your new kitchen? Do you want to order pizza and relax at the end of the day? There’s no wrong answer, just make sure that you know what your plan is before the day comes, so you’re not scrambling to figure out what’s for dinner.

Somewhere to sleep: Plan in advance to get your bed set up and made by the end of the day. Moving is stressful, and a good night’s rest at the end of your move day is a great gift you can give yourself.

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