The week in between Christmas and New Year’s for me is either spent traveling or organizing my office for the new year. I absolutely hate to file things, so inevitably I have client folders, brand inspiration pieces and creative books in several piles around my office at the end of the year.
I find it very therapeutic to dive into these piles. During the year, I am usually working at a fast pace on 10+ projects at a time and it is nice to have this moment to reflect on what I have accomplished. I share the following article, because I start this big feat every year end exactly where she suggests…Happy New Year!
Guest Post by Kacy Paide
“I just don’t know where to start” is something I hear each week. Usually by the time I show up, a client has already been spinning their wheels for months or years. Recently I realized that as far as paper sorting goes, I always start in the same place: finances.
You may have too many books, piles of catalogs on the floor, stacked file bins, and an ugly desk, but you have to zero in one and only one place to start. I find that the walls of paper could literally be falling down around us and I nearly always start by bundling statements and paid bills.
This actually has nothing to do with the significance of an organized financial life, but more to do with the practice it gives one in putting like with like. Putting like with like is not always as obvious as it sounds, so we have to get some practice with the easy stuff. Your statements and bills right now may be on the shelf, under the chair, in your bag, and partially filed. If so, here’s what you do:
- Ignore everything else in the office and give yourself permission to just master your financial papers.
- Go on a scavenger hunt through all the nooks and crannies and create 1 (huge, unruly) pile for bills and statements.
- Break it out into type of statement and bill. (ie: Bank of America, Verizon, Gas)
- Further break out the statements by account and year – one account per folder and one year per folder.
- Further break out the bills by year (ie: Verizon 2011, Verizon 2012)
This will give you a quick sense of accomplishment, even if the piles are still falling down around you. Inevitably, you will also come across lots of trash in the process. One more thing: envelopes are not allowed in your folders! Open your mail!
Kacy Paide, Office Organizing Expert, transforms messy offices into creative work-havens. She works best with creative entrepreneurs who hate filing and are out-of-sight-out-of-mind. To get your FREE list of “!00 Ways To Organize Your Office” and to receive her weekly articles on creative ways to organize and inspire your office, visit www.theinspiredoffice.com.
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