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POSTED: 02.22.2011
Five File Folders Save the Day!
TOPICS: Get Organized!, PaperworkFive File Folders will clean up any mail piles from scattering across your kitchen countertop. A portable file holder is a key ingredient to set up a “Personal Organizing Center” along with a supply drawer. Every home needs one.
Each day an average of fifteen pieces of mail arrive in your mailbox. If you flip through and deal with only ten of the fifteen pieces, you are left with five dangling pieces a day to be dealt with “later.” That’s why stacks of mail can appear from out of nowhere. At the rate of five pieces of mail per day, that means 150 pieces a month or 1,565 pieces a year—sixteen inches of guilt piled on your desk or countertops.
Remember, loose papers represent undone actions. They drain emotional energy and take away your peace of mind.
Five File Folders to Handle Mail:
1. Calendar
2. To Do
3. To Decide
4. To Pay
5. Your Name
File Folder #1 CALENDAR.
Put an item in the CALENDAR file only after putting it on your monthly calendar. This cleans up “refrigerator clutter” and includes invitations, schedules, & upcoming events.
File Folder #2 TO DO.
Only if an item takes more than 5 minutes to do AND you’ve listed it on a Master List on the countertop can you put it in this file. Assign it to the 3 days you can most control: Today, Tomorrow, or the next day.
File Folder #3 TO DECIDE.
Place items that you are thinking about doing, ordering, or following up on in here. Then when you decide to do it, you know right where to find it! The last day of the month, toss the unused items for a fresh start next month.
File Folder #4 TO PAY.
If you don’t have one place by your checkbook to pay bills, keep them in a desginated file folder so they don’t get lost. Important!
File Folder #5 YOUR NAME.
Keep anything of interest just for you in there.
Now add a File Folder with each person in your family. Explain that no longer will there be visible paper clutter on the counter, and it needs to be emptied daily or by Saturday noon on the weekend.
Two Paperwork Goals
As you process your time and paper activities, remember the following goals:
Goal 1: Take action on the papers that you need or want. Toss the rest!
Goal 2: Work until the counter is clear. Keep working the papers until they’re done, filed, or tossed.
My big problem is not knowing what to do with stuff, so this folder would probably become another big box of papers that have no home.
Good point! When you put a paper in “To Decide,” make a mental note that the last weekend of the month you go through the file and toss it. This allows you to have time to think about whether you really want to act on it. If you don’t act on something in a month, let it go. If you want to save the paper as inspiration, put it in a notebook. But clean the 5 File Folders out at the end of the month – and enjoy clear counter space every day.
The picture alone attracted me to your article. I’m going to try to put this to use and clear my desk of “to decide” papers! Thank you for making this so simple!
I used this picture setup on the Fox 5 TV Interview. I bought the black desktop holder from Target ($6.99), Gerber Daisy flowers from Target ($9.99), pink file folders (office supply store), and Brother P-Touch Labelmaker(Office Depot) for file tabs. Thie 5 File Folder makes you want to stay organized!
Thanks Marcia for helping me out even when you were not feeling well. My desk space feels so freeing now and it seems like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders and…I can think more clearly!
You’re the BEST!!!
Marcia . . . these ideas are fabulous! I’m pretty well-organized already, but still have some cluttery spots that need attention. Thanks for the ideas–way to get my brain jump-started!!!
I am just having a tough time. I hate the mail. It reminds me of all the bills I have to pay and the money we do not have. I just let it sit there until my husband says something. I have a filing sysyem in place of things that I should keep. The problem is when I do I find the time to put the mail in the folders. As soon as I get home I have a baby in the carrier wiggling to get out and an eight year old trying to figure out where is his t shirt for football pratice and I wil not mention the husband who can not find anything either.
Dotb, I am in the same boat with you. This system for me would end up being another “pile” for me.