Taming the Paper

My home office is in chaos.  There is paper everywhere.  I am too embarrassed to post a photo of the office and I am forever closing the door to hide the clutter.  Well I can't turn a disaster zone into a perfect setting overnight, so I will take baby steps.  Step 1 - Create an 'In Box'.

The problem with a paper tray is that you continue to pile papers on top of each other until the bill you were meaning to pay is now at the bottom of the pile and is 2 weeks overdue.  The key is to file the papers vertically so you can see them easily and there is no top or bottom to the pile.

So I grabbed a desktop file box and some pretty coloured files.

I think they are beautiful and the were from Woolworths (supermarket).

Home Manager sounded like a good name for the file box rather than In Tray.

I made labels for the suspension files - Contacts, To Do, Follow Up, Shopping, School, Bills, Receipts and File.  Then I went through the mountain of paper on my desk, in the kitchen, beside the lounge, and on the floor and sorted each piece into one of the folders or into the rubbish bin.  I paid the overdue bills, completed school forms, and marked dates on the calendar.  I think it's a good start.