10 Easy Maintenance Tips vs Piling on the Chaos

Whether you are in your own business or an employee (or neither) -- if you have a family and a home you are in the business of having a life. I'm betting that none of you went into business to become hot at shuffling papers and reams of e-mail.

Eighty percent of the clutter at work and at home is a result of disorganization, not lack of space! So if it's going to keep coming in and piling up, you've got to have an exit strategy. Regular maintenance is the best way to keep your office tuned up, same as your vehicle.

The key 'success' habit is deciding immediately where each piece of paper or e-mail goes and what's the next action required from you. Setting anything aside in the 'decide later pile' just makes it worse. Every piece of clutter at work and at home is an unmade decision.

Use my Daily, Monthly and Yearly Maintenance tips to keep ahead of all that information --whether it's paper or computer. I guarantee you can manage your information more easily and successfully at work and at home when you do.

DAILY

Unlike some wines, no piece of information improves with age. Set a certain time each day to sort, toss and refile both paper and e-mail. I do mine after lunch while I get through my post meal 'slump'. Daily maintenance, like brushing your teeth, keeps you from collecting build-up in your systems.

Sort all your incoming materials daily; stand over the recycle bins and get rid of all the junk first. Sort into Action categories that make sense to you: to pay, to file, to review, etc. The daily sort is crucial just to keep your filing separate from Action items, and keep the discards moving.

At home, your 'To File' first sort can be separated into personal and business filing (try a combination sorter:vertical for action/ horizontal for filing). At work, separate client or product materials from company administrative files in your first sort. More filing category help under Monthly tips.

Set up magazine files for Reference items (catalogs, magazines). At home, make separate sort places to put receipts that refer to warranties, personal property records, or that you need to reconcile with monthly credit card and bank statements.

Use a compartment, or envelope in your briefcase or purse where you can easily stuff any receipts (especially if you travel). Then, use it. In the office, have a drop box or action file for the day-to- day expensed receipts from your briefcase or pockets.

MONTHLY

Calendar definite times to do Maintenance and stick to them. At home, try doing your paper filing only when you pay bills. As long as you schedule your maintenance every two weeks, you'll never miss a payment and you'll be up on your filing, too. In between bill paying time, simply do your daily sort: tossing, and putting bills, receipts, project materials in your Action area to be filed or paid when the time comes.

At work, try scheduling non-payday Fridays or before/after two different monthly meetings to keep it regular. Here are two suggestions on basic 'To File' systems you can use with your 'file piles' when you do your every day sort. No matter how you schedule it, you can cut your filing time in half by presorting your file piles into separate file trays in the following categories.

Pre-Sorted File Categories:

You can separate current business filing into three domains:

People; clients, staff, teams
Things; projects, programs, products
Administration; the business of doing business (financials, physical office).

You can separate current personal filing into three domains:

Personal/Family
Household
Finances/Insurance

If you don't have a 'business of having a life'filing system, check out the cost-effective Home and Small Business File Kits that I use in my own business, which makes it easy for me to guarantee your satisfaction. (www.organize.com)

YEARLY

Universal Archiving Rule: If they aren't this year's files and you don't use them regularly -- get them out of your office!

I recommend that every private individual and small business do an Office Blitz in April after you've filed taxes. Pull all the old financial, insurance and tax-related files out, and put them in an archive box. Put in a back-up disk of your accounting program and data for that tax year. Pick up a retention schedule from your CPA or the Internal Revenue Service.

I store my archives on shelves in the garage. Just remember to label the paper archive or waterproof plastic file boxes on the front, so you can keep a matching archive list in your file drawer with an index of box contents. Then, if you need something you can retrieve it easily.

For larger companies I recommend an Office Blitz at least twice a year. Plan a Friday afternoon where everyone participates in cleaning out their offices and cubicles. (Order extra dumpsters.) If the finance year runs July to June do your archiving blitz in end July for the prior year.

Archive administrative files, and completed project or program files. Toss records for which you have already been reimbursed, or which you no longer maintain as part of your job. Archive the rest to off-site storage after making an index.

Separate essential records into current or archive storage:

File in current year filing system (by category)
File into archival filing system (by past year)
OR Scan into electronic document storage (both)

Now, that you know how to manage your information more successfully at work and at home Peace of mind is just an Office Blitz plus Daily, Weekly and Monthly Maintenance away!

For more free time-saving tips, see http://www.organize.com

10 Easy Maintenance Tips vs Piling on the Chaos
By Eve Abbott, Excerpted from her new book,
How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain TM

Copyright, Eve Abbott All Rights Reserved.

Eve Abbott's newest book is available online at http://www.organize.com. Remember to sign up for more of the Organizer Extraordinaire's time-saving tips. Enjoy free brain quizzes to help you work at your personal best!

---

Give Up Control to Get Control

For some reason, Americans think they have something to prove by doing it all themselves. People say to me all of the time, that someone else just... Read More

The Top 10 Habits of Organized People

Have you ever wondered how some people seem to have "it all together ? all the time," while you struggle with deadlines, misplace items, and run late... Read More

Family Management Tip #3: Getting Ready for the New School Year

Clothes. Check. School supplies. Check. No doubt you've got to have all the physical goods required to carry your child through the school year. But perhaps the... Read More

Clutter Control

Remember when you charged into the office that first day, all primed to make the new year the best ever. You made a New Year's Resolution that... Read More

Ending The Morning Madness

Back-to-school time ? what does that mean to you? For some people, it's shopping for school supplies, gearing up for PTA meetings, and artwork taped to the... Read More

Get Organised and Transform Your Life

It takes effort to get results, and not just any effort, it takes smart effort. You cannot expect to achieve anything without doing something. Unfortunately in our... Read More

9 Simple Strategies for Home Organization

Home organization means being able to find your stuff when you need it, not after an hour or more of searching. But home organization doesn't necessarily mean... Read More

Spring into Spring

Hasn't time flown? Already we're into the last quarter of the year and isn't it perfect timing to clear out the cobwebs of winter and prepare yourself... Read More

Creative Storage Solutions

When the things in your home start crowding in around you and you're short on cash, it's time to come up with some creative storage solutions. Don't... Read More

Control Your Childrens Clutter!!

Ever feel overwhelmed by all the papers, notices, artwork, and other items your kids bring home from school? Don't be a pack rat!! We'll show you how... Read More

Organizing - Time is of the Essence!

What does "time" have to do with getting organized? Everything! Our society today keeps us running and constantly inhaling, seemingly never allowing us to stop and "exhale"!De-cluttering... Read More

Does Your Storage Make Sense?

What do your storage spaces look like? Do you know exactly where to go when you are looking for something? Is your system logical? Designing a meaningful... Read More

10 Myths of Clutter Clearing

1) It's easy to have a good clear out: Not always. For many people, breaking a life-time habit is really hard - everyone has a choice whether... Read More

Are You A Collector?

Collections are the outward manifestation of a deeply-felt principle or emotion, and are quite different than ordinary garden-variety "clutter." One man has a love of photography and... Read More

Compartmentalize

The word "compartmentalize" means to separate into distinct parts. I am intrigued with the fact that the word "mental" is in the word. For me, it illustrates... Read More

Clutters Side Effects: How the State of Your Home Affects Your Life

Each area of your home has a symbolic meaning with which you resonate on a subconscious level. Clutter and untidiness within each of these areas causes constriction... Read More

Feng Shui Guidlines for Storage Spaces

Professional organizers and helpful-hint sources often recommend storage solutions such as shelves above doors and in corners, hooks on the backs of doors, and peg-board or tools... Read More

It?s Spring Cleaning Time? Let?s Make Room For Abundance!

I gathered some things you can do this spring while you take a minute to smell those roses. There are things we need to do to clear... Read More

Have an Ugly Day

"Do something every day that you don't want to-do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain." --Mark TwainHave you... Read More

Get Organized - Stay Organized

My mother is one of the most productive people I know. She is 78 years old and still works full-time as the personal assistant to the CEO... Read More

Clutter Is Natural

Nature loves clutter. Just think of all the stuff that drops from trees, washes in on the tide, or is blown by the wind into your backyard.... Read More

3-Step Clean Sweep Program to Organize

3-Step Clean Sweep Program 1 - Purge2 - Simplify3 - Organize Getting Started Springtime is when many folks give their homes and offices... Read More

Clear Your Clutter and Free Your Life

Whatever your clutter problem the answer is the same: make a decision to clear your clutter and then take action to clear your clutter.Without action, the decision... Read More

Making Life Easier, with NLP Chunking!

You know, in psychology there is a rule, especially within the NLP circles that I work in and the literature that I read, it is quite a... Read More

1-2-3 Sort

Article excerpted from the new book, "How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain" by Eve Abbott1 - 2 - 3-SORT!Every time you start... Read More

Saying Goodbye to Stacks of Paper and Distractions

A daily journal will save you time, reduce stress and make you more productive.Several months ago, I visited the office of a million dollar producer. I was... Read More