It's already the third week of April. I can't believe how quickly the year is going. We are all anxiously awaiting spring to stay. The weather has been all over the place. It's been up and down and around and around. The flowers are blooming, birds are building their nests and laying eggs, and Mr. Wonderful has already mowed our lawn several times (our neighbors are retired and mow all. the. time. which makes him need to mow as well). Sometimes the weather isn't so nice, like today, which is a great time to do indoor activities. Like binge watch Netflix, hang out with friends, read the paper, file. FILE?? Well, I guess now is a good time as any.
Since the third week of April is officially "Organize Your Files Week," I wanted to pass on some helpful information this week. While filing is probably not a top activity on everyone's favorite things to do, at least we can make it easy so you keep up with it. Neglecting filing it and letting it pile up isn't fun and it just nags at you in the back of your head. That's not fun either. I think I'd rather file for a little while than have it keep looming over me like those dark storm clouds.
Whether you have a full inbox, numerous piles on your desk, or a room full of papers, you can tackle it step-by-step without getting overwhelmed. Let's start with a biggie - a room full of papers. Let's say you have a home office. Let's say filing is not your thing so you don't do it. Let's say you've had an epiphany and just now determined that you are getting control of it. Yay! Go grab your laundry basket, several empty boxes (donations, stuff going to other rooms), some garbage bags, roll up your sleeves and let's go! We will get your papers under control in the shortest amount of time as possible (it may take 1 day, it may take 1 week but you will get it done if you stick to it).
First, put ALL of your paper filing in your laundry basket. Yep, all of it. Have more filing that that? All those stacks? In the basket. Go grab another basket (or a box) and fill that up too if you need to. Put anything that is trash in the trash bag. Put everything that belongs in another room in a box and label it ELSEWHERE and put it by the door. Anything that is not trash but you are not keeping can go into the donate box to bless someone else. Now grab another empty box, go through the rest of the house and gather all the paper that are in different rooms but needs to be filed too (check the kitchen, bathroom, vehicles, entry etc), and bring the box back to where you are filing. The goal is to put all likes with likes and sort/gather your items together. Everything that you put into the Elsewhere box can be brought to it's room. Bring the donate box to your vehicle. Now congratulate yourself because you are done for today! If you are feeling really gun-ho about it, you can also take the time to continue sorting your basket full of papers. Otherwise, save it for the next day. We can talk about what to do next tomorrow.