How to Keep Your Paper Organized in Your Home Office
ByYou have five options when it comes to dealing with paper on your desk
- Put it in a stacking bin.
- Act on it.
- Put it in a file.
- Enter it on your “to do” list and file it.
- Rid yourself of it.
Put it in a stacking bin. Stacking bins are a temporary place to put papers you want to read or file. These papers do not require immediate action. Be-fore you put a piece of paper in your “to file” bin, write in the upper right-hand corner the name of the reference file where it should go.
Act on it. Acting on a piece of paper means you take action on it at that moment. That could include sending immediate payment to someone °f writing a response on someone’s note and sending it back (a fast alternative to writing a new letter).
Put it in a file. If you have the time, immediately put papers in the appropriate reference files.
Enter it on your list and file it. For papers that require action soon, make a note of what needs to be done on your “to do” list on the day you are going to take action. Then file the paper in the appropriate current file until you are ready to work on it. If you will need the paper as a backup later but don’t need it to work on the project, put it in your reference files. Some current papers may not require a note on your “to do” list because they go with information you already have. Put a document like this immediately in the correct current file.
Rid yourself of it. This means either recycle it or trash it. The saying “handle paper once” has been used for years. It sounds efficient, but it is frequently not possible. Instead, do something with each piece of paper to move it forward. For example, suppose you receive a bill from your printer. You handle it the first time when you open it, but it’s not bill-paying time yet. So you file the paper in your “bills to pay” file. When you pay the bills, you’ll handle it again. There is absolutely nothing wrong with handling paper this way. What you want to avoid is picking up a piece of paper, wondering what to do with it, then putting it back in a stack on your desk. When this happens, you haven’t done anything to move things forward.
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