Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Addressing My Sliding Filing Mountain

Spring is in the air and many of us want to throw open the windows, let in the fresh air and start the organizing and cleaning frenzy. Before we can start, yes, I make it a family effort, we have to cull the clutter and get rid of lots of stuff. I know at our house, despite my best efforts to manage the paper clutter, it does pile up - unread magazines, newspapers, school projects (got to love those 3-dimensional projects), pictures, coupons and on and on.

If we are all working the systems that are set up, the paper can be managed effectively. We have a homework zone for supplies and school papers to be kept for studying purposes. We don't keep memory type school work and art in the homework zone; that goes in each child's memory box in the top of their closet. We do have a hanging file for restaurant coupons and menus and a drawer for bills. We have 2-3 magazine baskets and a recycling basket, but still, if the paper isn't processed regularly, it will pile up.

Since I manage clutter for a living, I am usually on top of things, but one area that inevitably gets neglected is the filing. Who likes to file anyway? I always think of the organizing fact that 85% of what we file, we never retrieve again. So, as I look at the mountainous pile of papers in my office that are in the "to be filed" box I vow yet again, to not let it stack up so high. I will be ruthless to discard the paper that I don't need, shred what needs to be shredded and only file those papers that I may truly need.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there will be many spring community shreds and recycling events planned. So be on the look out and check out one that I'm aware of coming up soon on April 9th in Arlington.

Happy filing and shredding!

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