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paper management:
If you are the person who has to shuffle through a slurry of papers every time you need to find something...you are not in the minority! It is actually not that unusual considering the amount of paperwork that crosses your desk on a daily basis. Between the mail, the junk mail, bills, receipts, advertisements, magazines, catalogs, business cards and all the daily paperwork required for you to do your job, it's no wonder your desk is covered.

Although cluttered desks have become the norm, that does not mean they are acceptable and it surely does not mean you should have one! Cluttered desks create a cluttered state-of-mind which can affect your level of productivity...which ultimately could affect your job status. Now we do not want to imply that a cluttered desk could cost you your job, we merely want to point out that a cluttered desk and a cluttered office could produce greater problems than a misplaced report!

If you are committed to clearing the clutter from your work space and improving your productivity, we have several tips that will help. Keep reading to learn more!

filing systems 101:
first things first...if you don't have any type of filing system, you MUST create one! It can be a simple system but you have to have somewhere that papers can be stored in such a way that they will be easy to find when needed.
Here are some ideas of how to organize your filing system:
- make an alphabetized list of all your major categories: (credit cards, directories, finances, insurance, manuals, medical, personal, pets, receipts, taxes, utilities, vehicles, etc.)
- divide all of your paper into these major categories and label hanging files with these categories
- look at each major category (credit cards) and divide it into sub categories (names of each individual card). Label manila folders with these categories
- it is helpful to keep all the hanging file tabs on one side (left or right) and put the manila folder tabs down the center

It really doesn't matter how you set up your system, just as long as you have a system and know where everything is when you need to find it again. Also, you might find that you need to set up several different filing systems to meet your needs.

one-touch rule:
each time a piece of paper crosses your desk, do your best to deal with it the first time you pick it up instead of putting it down to deal with later. This will take some practice but once you get in the habit of dealing with it (either filing it, taking appropriate action or tossing it) immediately, you will save ample desk space and tons of your very valuable time.

Ask yourself, "what do I need to do with this piece of paper?" You answer should fall into one of the 5 categories below:
1. something to do (date to mark on calendar, appointment to schedule, meeting to arrange)
2. something that is pending for later
3. something to file (bill, statement, tax info, medical record)
4. something to give to someone else (school papers, a recipe, article)
5. trashcreate a place to file or store each of the above categories and your paper problems will be solved in no time!

more questions to ask yourself:
- do i really NEED it?
- do I really WANT it?
- will it BENEFIT me?
- do i see a USE for it?
- is it QUALITY?
- is it ACCURATE / RELIABLE?
- is it RELEVANT to today's culture?
- is it EASY TO UNDERSTAND?

For more paper management tips, visit our 365 day organizer blog
Click here for tips on how to organize your electronic paper (e-mail computer files)