Category: Professional Organizer

That sounds boring doesn’t it?

But, once you set up your own Paper Process System in your home or office, it will so exciting to know that every piece of paper that enters the home or office has a place and purpose.

Now, does that sound boring?

There are only 4 basis things you can do with a piece of paper:

1. To Do
2. To Pay
3. To Read
4. To File

That’s it – four basis decisions to make about every single piece of paper, magazine, newspaper that comes into your space. If you are dealing with a paper-problem in your home or office, make sure you gather up ALL papers from every room that are stashed on top of dressers, in closets, on top of refrigerators and kitchen counters, magazine rack in bathrooms, bookcases, cabinets. Put all the papers into a huge stack – if your stack is so high it is toppling, grab a big carbon box to put the papers. Once you have collected all of the loose papers and files in one area (one zone) – it’s time to sit down and methodically go through the papers, one piece at a time. Remember the 4 basis decisions of your simple paper process system. Once a piece of paper has been put into – To do, To pay, To read, To file, throw away the rest. This is the boring and tedious part of the process

Here are questions to ask when going through the papers:

To Do

• Do I really need to do this?
• Is it too late to do this?
• Do I really want to do this?
• Does anybody care if I do this?

To Pay

• Has this already been paid?
• Is there a problem with this bill that I need to look into?

To Read

• Is there a sound reason I must read this?
• Do I have time to read this?
• Is this out of date?
• Do I have more than three months’ worth of issues here?

To File

• Remember that 80% of everything you file you will never look at again
• Archival Files – include financial and legal papers that you are required by law to keep for a specific period of time, but that you are not using on a regular basis.
• Current Files – include papers that you might use as a resource on a regular basis, and current financial, legal, and business or clients files.
• Circular File – This file is also known as The Trash.

This paper process system I learned years ago – I took the system and repurposed it to accommodate my office and clients. The difference is I work in Zones – because it was overwhelming for many of my clients to see the big huge pile of papers, they would not want to sit and go through one piece at a time. But, when I redesigned the system to work in zones of the home or office, it was a much more successful process for them.

If you are looking for a Paper Process System for your home or office and you do not know where or how to start, I can help with my organizational coaching, where I am working with you throughout each zone of your home or office. Together we are going to get you excited about how to handle every single paper that comes into your space.

Peace & Harmony ~ Cheryl

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