Last week, I had a reminder about the continuing need to work on organizing my paperwork.
I was getting ready to teach my blogging class and noticed that the document listing the blogs my students had set up in past wasn’t complete. Apparently, I hadn’t saved the latest edition or something else happened.
The way I’ve organizing the information from my classes is to make a file for each class by date and put in it the packet of information I give the students, a copy of the roster, copies of the evaluations, a list of the blogs my students have set up, and the community college booklet announcing the class.
So, at 10 p.m., instead of getting ready for bed so I could get up at 6:30 a.m. to get to my class early to set things up, I was looking through a dozen files to find the names of my students’ blogs.
To add to the problem, I hadn’t filed the information from my last two classes. Fortunately, I knew where they were.
The class was successful.
But, when I got home, I made copies of the roster and evaluations and reorganized my files. Now, I have a separate file for all the rosters, evaluations, handouts, lists of students’ blogs, and community college brochures.
Removing the folders for each class saved me a lot of room.
The project reminded me of one of the top things I’ve learned about organizing paperwork: When you get the item, do something with it. If it’s an announcement about an event, put the event in your calendar and recycle the paper. If it’s important, file it.
My other top paperwork tips include:
- Clean out your files regularly. I complained to a professional organizer once that I’d interviewed over the years that my five files of consumer information were full and I needed to buy some new ones. She said, no. Five file cabinets are enough. Sort out the files and get rid of stuff, she said.
- File your papers often. If you don’t, you’ll get papers piling up in stacks, making it difficult to find things.
- Make sure important papers are filed right away and are easy to locate. My bills go in the bill paying area. When any documents arrive related to income tax, they're filled immediately. Since I have a small business, it takes time to do my taxes. Hunting around for documents would make it worse.
- Never put your papers all in one basket. When I went to a community college, an instructor put all the final projects for our class in the wastebasket. That was her method for filing them until she could get to them. Unfortunately, a student janitor came to her office and threw them all out. It’s good to have To Do, To Pay, To File, and To Read baskets.
- Avoid making piles of papers. If you throw them in a box when company comes, you may have problems finding the papers you need.
- Buy a big box of file folders. If you always have the right materials, your papers won’t stack up.
Good luck getting organized. It’s something I continue to work on.
For more information, here are some articles I’ve written on organization.
“A Solution for Clutter Problems? Keep Working on It”
“How To You Get Rid of All That Stuff”
