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Getting Organised > Paper paper everywhere!
By Louise D’Allura
August 10, 2010

Do you feel like the only person in the world with a disorganised office? Paperwork challenges the best of us (yes Professional Organisers included)!

I spent last month working with a successful and busy woman find their way out of years of paperwork in their busy home office. My client realized she couldn't tackle this big job on her own - and she was right - her paper situation was incredibly complex! For her, dealing with the bare essentials was the only way to survive. Creating order helped my fabulous client stop feeling stressed and overwhelmed, and reclaim her office from under the piles of paper!


So, how did we help her get on top of her paperwork? We started with these 3 tips:
1. When paper arrives ask what you need to do with it.  
Do you need to:  Act; Refer or Toss that piece of paper? Asking questions helps you work out where it needs to go on its journey!

2.  Act on it!
Are you finding common themes?  Pay bills; claims to make;  school notes to sign? Create a spot to deal with this incoming paper and have the tools near by so you can write on it what you need to do with it.  Don't waste your energy re-reading every time you pick it up!  

Do you have some projects on the go?  This might be organising a birthday party, getting a fence built.  Create a file to keep your 'project' paperwork together.  Once you've acted on it - you might need to refer to it later, or if you're lucky enough, can you toss it?

What are your peak times?  Do you need to tackle your paperwork when you are feeling energetic?  Take a look at how often you perform paperwork tasks - is it daily, weekly, twice a month, or once a month? Setting aside regular times to act on it is important because if we waited until we felt like it, we'd never do it!!  
 
3. Refer - Everything needs a home
If you need to refer back to a piece of paper, you need to set up a system that works for you.   There are lots of different ways to organise your files - the categories don't matter, as long as you can find them.  If you work from home, keep business and home filing separate.   Don't forget it is said that we only refer to 20% of what we file - while we don't look at the other 80%!

The best thing is my client can now find what she is looking for without the frustrations she used to experience. She now has free time to do some of the things she loves (guilt free)!

 

Louise D'Allura is Home Economist/ Nutritionist and Professional Organiser from Brisbane based Revamp Professional Organisers Pty Ltd who help busy people get organised at home, at the office and for healthy eating. Visit www.TheRevampExperience.com.au for more information or sign up for a Newsletter

 

 
 
 
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