How to Prevent Long Term Paperwork Build Up
Have a paper sorting zone., Make an immediate decision upon receipt of paperwork., File actionable paperwork immediately., Clean your files out regularly., Enjoy paperwork clearing as therapy., Recycle.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Have a paper sorting zone.
This is very important.
Avoid paper pile-ups all over the office or house; this confuses the issue even more and distracts you from dealing with it. -
Step 2: Make an immediate decision upon receipt of paperwork.
If the paperwork is does not need actioning but is useful information, file it straight away.
If the paperwork is irrelevant, advertising, never going to be of use, throw it away now.
Get into the habit of asking yourself: "Do I need to keep this? No, then throw.
Yes, then file to stop mess."
Have a good filing system in place at home.
At work, this should be in place already.
Use it.
File actionable items in the relevant file for working on as required.
That way, you will always know where it is and you can work on it at any later stage without the stress of wondering about its location.
Always use clear labels that can be seen when opening your filing drawer or other filing system. , It may be actionable today, tomorrow and even for the next month, but there comes a point at which it ceases to be a current item and it becomes the stuff of archiving.
There are several possible approaches to this, depending on what suits you best:
Clean out a file a day.
Every working day, clean one file.
Even if all you toss is one irrelevant thing, that is better than ignoring it.
Ring a regular monthly calendar date and clean out all the files on this date.
Any longer than monthly and it will seem an impossible and undesirable chore, so this is probably the longest to leave it.
Set aside some time and toss what is no longer actionable, and pin together things that have to be kept for records management purposes to be placed in "deeper storage".
Avoid using this deeper storage as an excuse not to face things; only tax receipts etc. should be kept this way. , If it has been bothering you, this is because it is piling up.
Treat these cleaning out occasions as therapy sessions in which you unburden the concerns in proportion to the decreasing paperwork piles. , Be sure to reuse or recycle all that paperwork that is no longer needed.
Shredded confidential information can be used on gardens.
Scrap paper can be used for children's drawings, shopping lists and art projects.
The rest should go into a recycling bin for another go at being nice, new paper to start the cycle again. -
Step 3: File actionable paperwork immediately.
-
Step 4: Clean your files out regularly.
-
Step 5: Enjoy paperwork clearing as therapy.
-
Step 6: Recycle.
Detailed Guide
This is very important.
Avoid paper pile-ups all over the office or house; this confuses the issue even more and distracts you from dealing with it.
If the paperwork is does not need actioning but is useful information, file it straight away.
If the paperwork is irrelevant, advertising, never going to be of use, throw it away now.
Get into the habit of asking yourself: "Do I need to keep this? No, then throw.
Yes, then file to stop mess."
Have a good filing system in place at home.
At work, this should be in place already.
Use it.
File actionable items in the relevant file for working on as required.
That way, you will always know where it is and you can work on it at any later stage without the stress of wondering about its location.
Always use clear labels that can be seen when opening your filing drawer or other filing system. , It may be actionable today, tomorrow and even for the next month, but there comes a point at which it ceases to be a current item and it becomes the stuff of archiving.
There are several possible approaches to this, depending on what suits you best:
Clean out a file a day.
Every working day, clean one file.
Even if all you toss is one irrelevant thing, that is better than ignoring it.
Ring a regular monthly calendar date and clean out all the files on this date.
Any longer than monthly and it will seem an impossible and undesirable chore, so this is probably the longest to leave it.
Set aside some time and toss what is no longer actionable, and pin together things that have to be kept for records management purposes to be placed in "deeper storage".
Avoid using this deeper storage as an excuse not to face things; only tax receipts etc. should be kept this way. , If it has been bothering you, this is because it is piling up.
Treat these cleaning out occasions as therapy sessions in which you unburden the concerns in proportion to the decreasing paperwork piles. , Be sure to reuse or recycle all that paperwork that is no longer needed.
Shredded confidential information can be used on gardens.
Scrap paper can be used for children's drawings, shopping lists and art projects.
The rest should go into a recycling bin for another go at being nice, new paper to start the cycle again.
About the Author
Paul Burns
Experienced content creator specializing in organization guides and tutorials.
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