[phaedrus]

Deal with each piece of paperwork only once.

What this means is that when paperwork comes into your hands deal with it strait away.

If it is something your will never need again, throw it away. Now.

If it is something you may need for reference later, eg: a bank statement, file it now. That way if you never need it again, you never see it again. However if, two years from now, you need to refer to it you know exactly where it is.

If it is something that needs action on your part, do it now.

[NetPal]

Originally Posted by phaedrus

Deal with each piece of paperwork only once.

I will keep this remembered for ever. Yes, it is very important that we spend time only once for the paper. Either file it or forget about it.

[tater03]

I do this with the mail that comes in right away. My problem is that after I have paid the bills I need to is then getting the bills filed away in case I need to refer to them. So I end up with a pile of old bills I need to put away. I will have to just try to get better at putting them where I want them as soon as I pay them.

[NetPal]

This is problem with me also. But these days I am dealing with the problem by taking off the very old papers and where there is no confusion, so that I am sure these papers are of no use.

[hummingbird42256]

I have the problem of leaving receipts lying around and also mail I think I may want to check out. After they lie around for a week or 2 I end up throwing them out anyway. I am also bad about keeping magazines and never reading them. Then when I get tired of the clutter ,I get disgusted and throw them all away.

[busybeehelpers]

Yes I always intend to deal with mail and paperwork right away but it does not always happen this way.

[phaedrus]

Originally Posted by tater03

I do this with the mail that comes in right away. My problem is that after I have paid the bills I need to is then getting the bills filed away in case I need to refer to them. So I end up with a pile of old bills I need to put away. I will have to just try to get better at putting them where I want them as soon as I pay them.

Make paying and filing the one job. Have a file box where you store old bills. As you pay them place them into the box. Tell yourself that the bill is not paid until it is filled.

[KT!]

Originally Posted by tater03

I do this with the mail that comes in right away. My problem is that after I have paid the bills I need to is then getting the bills filed away in case I need to refer to them. So I end up with a pile of old bills I need to put away. I will have to just try to get better at putting them where I want them as soon as I pay them.

Oh my, I can relate to that!!!! And it wasn't just with bills and receipts. I would get papers in the mail that I "should" keep if I needed to refer to them later, but where to keep them? Not everything is so black and white, cut and dried that I know exactly where to file it. So I would end up with piles on my desk at home.

Solutions:

1. Took steps to eliminate junk mail.

2. Took 12 manila file folders and labeled them with the names of the months.

3. Desk is in kitchen, but file cabinet is in another room.

4. Placed folder for current month in desk drawer. Other 11 folders placed in file cabinet.

5. Pay bill. Place receipt in folder. Place all odd papers in same folder that I think I may need but don't know where to file.

6. First day of new month, take that folder to the file cabinet and retrieve folder for new month.

7. Review contents of folder just retrieved and remove and shred all contents, which are now 1 year old.

8. Papers that do have a file in which to be placed never seem to get there because of location of file cabinet. They are laid on the desk and end up in a pile. So I place those inside the current folder in my desk, but put a paper clip on them and place them on top of the others. Once a month when I take the file to the cabinet, I take out the paper-clipped papers and file them where they belong.

So instead of having piles on my desk, those piles are inside a file. All papers get filed once a month and shredding is done one a month as well. During the month if I have something that needs shredded, I place it inside a red file folder which I also keep in my desk. When the contents of a file are to be shredded, they are placed in that red folder and shredded once a month with whatever else has accumulated there. My shredder is in the basement, not very convenient. I used to have a "shredding" file when I worked. There was only one shredder and it was in another office. Kept it all for one trip.

Other people use this same idea, but they use an accordian type envelope and mark the 12 months on the dividers. It serves the same purpose, but I don't have the room for one. One folder in my drawer works well for me. In the 3 years that I have been using this method, I have needed to retrieve papers on only 2 occasions. Since I knew when the event occurred, it took less than 5 minutes each time to get the correct folder and the paper needed.

The "experts" say that 80% of the contents of a file cabinet will never be needed or looked at again. I feel that by culling my folders every month I am eliminating that 80%. The other 20% are my permanent files which I keep in ABC order: Furnace, Social Security, Telephones, TVs, etc. The folders for objects contain warranties and purchase information.

Hope that helps.