What Are The Top Ten Ideas For Getting Organized?
From http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/organize…
How to get organized
1. Commit yourself to making decisions now about what to do with each piece of paper. Handle paper only once. Ask yourself, “Do I really need it?” If so, file the document at once in the broadcast category to which it refers.
2. Keep close to you only the things you use frequently.
3. Store little-used items farther away. Even on a shelf, keep the least-used items in the back. Keep those items you use frequently in the front, for easy retrieval.
4. When clearing the top of surfaces, start with one stack of papers and sort from the top down. When finished with each stack, you will see a clear work space, and your progress will be easy to monitor. This forces you to decide on each piece of paper and when finished, you will see the top of your desk again.
Making time to clean up clutter
5. Spend 15 minutes twice a day clearing out your in-box. Don’t let it turn into a holding, aging or procrastinating tray. Sort incoming mail into categories by priority or by action.
6. Break the habit of writing things down on numerous scraps of paper. Write notes in the appropriate place the first time; in the client file, onto the calendar or on your to/do list.
7. Be realistic about the amount of information you can read and absorb. Limit the number of subscriptions you take, and copy articles as soon as you read them. Pass the periodical along to someone else, throw it away or recycle it.
8. Make lists regularly. Daily To-Do lists, as well as larger project lists help you get and stay organized. Use checklists to help do routine things more easily and quickly.
9. Say “No” more often. The best way to get off-track is to say “Yes” to every request. Every time you agree to a new demand, you say no to a previous commitment.
Where to put it all
10. Don’t buy anything unless you have a place to put it. To keep excess at bay, if you add an item, you must remove an item.
11. Label everything that contains things: binders, folders, suitcases, etc.
12. Organize bookcases by placing similar materials together.
13. Schedule multiple appointments for the same day instead of spreading them throughout the week. This reduces your travel time and parking hassles.
14. Buy enough greeting cards for special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, get-well and thank-you at one time so that you need not make special trips to the store.
15. Keep two files, one for instruction manuals and one for guarantees. Staple the receipt to the guarantee or warranty page. Then when you need to return an item, all the information is handy. Purge the file periodically for appliances that have worn out, broken, or been sent to charity.
16. Label photos with the date and people’s names as soon as they are developed.
17. Keep a pair of scissors near where you read newspapers and magazines. You can easily clip those articles you wish to save.
18. Keep only one project or file open on your desk at any time. This reduces the likelihood of stray papers becoming attached to the incorrect document and misfiled.
19. When unsure about a what to do with a document, ask yourself, “What would I do if it were one week before vacation?” Act accordingly.
20. Clear the top of your desk at the end of each day. It completes the day’s work, makes a clean space for you to see the next morning and stops paper buildup.
Suggested Reading:
Organizing Your Home & Getting Rid Of Clutter In Just 15 Minutes A Day: The Staying Organized Survival Guide (Home Organization Books)If you already know HOW to get organized but can never STAY organized as clutter just keeps creeping back in, then this quick and easy to follow syste... Read More >
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Comments on What Are The Top Ten Ideas For Getting Organized?
Make a list of the top ten things you want to organize / accomplish and then work through the list.
This one’s easy. You just need to (a) be a slob dat would be me and (b) marry my wife (boy, is she ever organized
While true, that’s not what you wanted to hear. I think organizational mentality is an inherited gene. Either you gots it or you don’t. The way to become organized (and if you’re not then it is an un-natural action for you) is to form habits-you must now realize one thing about the human mind. You can not remove an action from your mind-you must replace it with another action. example: you replace the habit of taking your shoes off and putting them in front of your chest of drawers to removing them and putting them in the closet on the shelf. one habit with another. AND YOU MUST DO THIS WITH EACH FACET OF YOUR LIFE. Then, you must make a conscious decision with each thing you do “where do I put this?/what do I do with this? You usually fall somewhere in the middle and do a sorta half assed job.