Whoever said we were moving to a paperless environment was way off base! Some days it seems like there’s more paper than ever filling up our desks and offices, and to be productive we need to find ways to organize paper clutter.
Here are some tips for organizing the paper clutter in your office:
Catch it as it arrives. When the mail pops through your door, don’t immediately pick it up and dump it all on your desk. Leave it there on the floor until you have time to deal with it properly. Do your first sort standing over the garbage, dropping useless junk mail straight into it without even opening. Reading stuff like this can eat into your work time, even if you know it’s not something you’d ever buy, so just dump it.
Decide what to do with it. Each piece of paper that comes across your desk should fall into one of these categories: deal with it, delegate it to someone else, put it in follow-up, file it or dump it. Piling it on your desktop is not an option!
File regularly. OK, filing is not the sexiest job in the world, but if you don’t do it you’re just creating a bigger headache you’ll eventually be forced to deal with. Keep a tray on your desk, place anything to be filed in it and clear it once a week.
Use a well organized filing cabinet. No matter how small your business is, you’ll still have paper you need to keep. Filing cabinets are available in different sizes and styles, so choose one that suits your needs and fits in your space — and use it!
Don’t let magazines pile up. If you subscribe to business-related publications such as trade magazines, print newsletters, etc., use magazine boxes to keep them in order (one per publication), so that you can put your hand on them easily when you are ready to read them. Keep them only as long as necessary — information goes out of date and won’t be of much use to you down the road. You can usually get more current information on the Internet anyway, so you don’t need all that paper clutter.
Keep receipts in one place. You need to keep business-related receipts for accounting and tax purposes. Don’t leave them in pockets or purses, or drop them in different places as they arrive. An alphabetized expansion folder is ideal for this purpose. As each receipt arrives, place it under the appropriate letter of the alphabet for ease of retrieval. Keep the folder in your closet and it won’t add to the clutter.
Organizing paper clutter not only creates a more pleasant working environment, but it also makes you more productive.