Home
>
Get Organized - Organization
>
10 Easy Maintenance Tips vs Piling on the Chaos

10 Easy Maintenance Tips vs Piling on the Chaos

Whether you are in your own business or an employee (or neither) -- if you have a family and a home you are in the business of having a life. I'm betting that none of you went into business to become hot at shuffling papers and reams of e-mail.

Eighty percent of the clutter at work and at home is a result of disorganization, not lack of space! So if it's going to keep coming in and piling up, you've got to have an exit strategy. Regular maintenance is the best way to keep your office tuned up, same as your vehicle.

The key 'success' habit is deciding immediately where each piece of paper or e-mail goes and what's the next action required from you. Setting anything aside in the 'decide later pile' just makes it worse. Every piece of clutter at work and at home is an unmade decision.

Use my Daily, Monthly and Yearly Maintenance tips to keep ahead of all that information --whether it's paper or computer. I guarantee you can manage your information more easily and successfully at work and at home when you do.

DAILY

Unlike some wines, no piece of information improves with age. Set a certain time each day to sort, toss and refile both paper and e-mail. I do mine after lunch while I get through my post meal 'slump'. Daily maintenance, like brushing your teeth, keeps you from collecting build-up in your systems.

Sort all your incoming materials daily; stand over the recycle bins and get rid of all the junk first. Sort into Action categories that make sense to you: to pay, to file, to review, etc. The daily sort is crucial just to keep your filing separate from Action items, and keep the discards moving.

At home, your 'To File' first sort can be separated into personal and business filing (try a combination sorter:vertical for action/ horizontal for filing). At work, separate client or product materials from company administrative files in your first sort. More filing category help under Monthly tips.

Set up magazine files for Reference items (catalogs, magazines). At home, make separate sort places to put receipts that refer to warranties, personal property records, or that you need to reconcile with monthly credit card and bank statements.

Use a compartment, or envelope in your briefcase or purse where you can easily stuff any receipts (especially if you travel). Then, use it. In the office, have a drop box or action file for the day-to- day expensed receipts from your briefcase or pockets.

MONTHLY

Calendar definite times to do Maintenance and stick to them. At home, try doing your paper filing only when you pay bills. As long as you schedule your maintenance every two weeks, you'll never miss a payment and you'll be up on your filing, too. In between bill paying time, simply do your daily sort: tossing, and putting bills, receipts, project materials in your Action area to be filed or paid when the time comes.

At work, try scheduling non-payday Fridays or before/after two different monthly meetings to keep it regular. Here are two suggestions on basic 'To File' systems you can use with your 'file piles' when you do your every day sort. No matter how you schedule it, you can cut your filing time in half by presorting your file piles into separate file trays in the following categories.

Pre-Sorted File Categories:

You can separate current business filing into three domains:

People; clients, staff, teams
Things; projects, programs, products
Administration; the business of doing business (financials, physical office).

You can separate current personal filing into three domains:

Personal/Family
Household
Finances/Insurance

If you don't have a 'business of having a life'filing system, check out the cost-effective Home and Small Business File Kits that I use in my own business, which makes it easy for me to guarantee your satisfaction. (www.organize.com)

YEARLY

Universal Archiving Rule: If they aren't this year's files and you don't use them regularly -- get them out of your office!

I recommend that every private individual and small business do an Office Blitz in April after you've filed taxes. Pull all the old financial, insurance and tax-related files out, and put them in an archive box. Put in a back-up disk of your accounting program and data for that tax year. Pick up a retention schedule from your CPA or the Internal Revenue Service.

I store my archives on shelves in the garage. Just remember to label the paper archive or waterproof plastic file boxes on the front, so you can keep a matching archive list in your file drawer with an index of box contents. Then, if you need something you can retrieve it easily.

For larger companies I recommend an Office Blitz at least twice a year. Plan a Friday afternoon where everyone participates in cleaning out their offices and cubicles. (Order extra dumpsters.) If the finance year runs July to June do your archiving blitz in end July for the prior year.

Archive administrative files, and completed project or program files. Toss records for which you have already been reimbursed, or which you no longer maintain as part of your job. Archive the rest to off-site storage after making an index.

Separate essential records into current or archive storage:

File in current year filing system (by category)
File into archival filing system (by past year)
OR Scan into electronic document storage (both)

Now, that you know how to manage your information more successfully at work and at home Peace of mind is just an Office Blitz plus Daily, Weekly and Monthly Maintenance away!

For more free time-saving tips, see http://www.organize.com

10 Easy Maintenance Tips vs Piling on the Chaos
By Eve Abbott, Excerpted from her new book,
How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain TM

Eve Abbott's newest book is available online at http://www.organize.com. Remember to sign up for more of the Organizer Extraordinaire's time-saving tips. Enjoy free brain quizzes to help you work at your personal best!

whole house cleaning Deerfield ..

In The News:

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

Google's discontinued Nest thermostats still secretly upload home data to company servers despite losing smart features, raising serious privacy concerns.

New Android malware NGate steals NFC payment codes in real-time, allowing criminals to withdraw cash from ATMs without your card. Learn protection tips.

DoorDash confirms data breach exposing customer names, emails, addresses after social engineering attack. Learn how to protect yourself from scams.

Concerned about Google's AI scanning your Gmail? Learn how to disable Gemini features that access your emails, Drive files and Chat messages for privacy.

Google warns Android users about dangerous fake VPN apps hiding malware that steals passwords, banking details and personal data from phones and tablets.

Apple's digital passport feature lets iPhone users breeze through TSA checkpoints this holiday season using Digital ID technology at 250+ airports.

A new phishing scam targets family photos with fake "Cloud Storage Full" alerts. Criminals steal credit card information through fake sites. Learn protection tips.

South Korean scientists create ultra-thin fabric muscles that turn clothes into robotic assistants, lifting 33 pounds while weighing under half an ounce.

Archer Aviation has acquired Hawthorne Airport for $126M to launch an LA air taxi network ahead of the 2028 Olympics, featuring AI-powered eVTOL operations and next-gen aviation tech.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Fake AI apps disguised as "ChatGPT" and "DALL·E" are flooding app stores with dangerous malware that steals data and monitors users without detection.

Fake buyers demand specific vehicle reports from unknown sites to steal credit card information from car sellers, but warning signs can help identify these scams before paying.

Android users can now manage apps across multiple devices more easily with Google Play Store's updated remote uninstall button in the latest update.

NASA's Perseverance rover discovers shiny metallic rock on Mars that could be a meteorite from an ancient asteroid, containing high levels of iron and nickel.

Holiday scams spike during Black Friday and Cyber Monday as criminals exploit your leaked personal data. Learn how to protect yourself from fake stores and phishing.

Commerce Department proposes TP-Link router ban over Chinese security risks. Learn how this potential prohibition could affect your home network and devices.

Hyundai AutoEver America suffered a data breach affecting 2,000 current and former employees, exposing names, Social Security numbers and driver's license information.

Washington court rules automated license plate reader images are public records, even when stored by vendors like Flock Safety, setting precedent for transparency.

10 Easy Maintenance Tips vs Piling on the Chaos

Get Organized - Organization