It is essential to have an organized way to keep the papers you must retain. Even with having much of what you need on your computer, there are invariably papers needed and they should be filed away properly. There are files that you should have for your personal papers as well as for your household, so here are my recommendations:

1.    Have a suitable filing cabinet. It makes little sense to have various crates and caddies holding your papers, which can tend to make it difficult to file and retrieve papers easily and quickly. Most filing cabinets have either two or four drawers, are vertical with about 25” deep drawers, and can hold a lot of papers.  Get what will allow you to put all your papers away with a little room to grow.

2.    Files should be put into hanging files with tabs that denote what each contains. If you simply shove your papers into manila folders and then put those into a drawer in alphabetical order, you haven’t made a logical system. This concept only ends up getting papers put away, but are not very accessible later on.

3.    Use categories. There are various categories of record-keeping that are standard, and many of these could end up being in your computer, versus hard-copy, but the same general rule of organization applies. Here is a list of the most common ones (for a complete description check out www.getordernow.com for my eBook on this):

Bookkeeping
Computer Info.
Data Entry
Insurance
Legal/License
Manuals
Memberships
Receipts
Resources
Seminars
Travel
Vehicle

Make categories that make sense for your needs and adjust accordingly as your business and life changes.

***Coach Juli is a Professional Certified Coach with a specialty in Productivity specifically those with ADHD. She works with individuals at any stage of life who find themselves stuck and wish assistance and skills to better organize their lives both in the workplace and at home. For more information and tips how to decrease stress and increase efficiency go to www.coachjuli.com

Decrease Stress with Increased Organization by Coach Juli