Home Sweet Home Office

Today I have made great use of my home office. I have paid bills online, shopped for supplies and presents (some for me) and updated my various blogs. It is cold outside so I am glad to be here in my nice warm space. The one thing that I have not taken care of is organizing my desk.

I talk a lot about organization because it is one of the most important tasks that should to be done on a regular basis. I like to say, “once you are organized most of your work will never need repeating”. Eighty percent of everything that we file or put away will not be touched again. That seems extreme but it is true. So you can see that if we are only dealing with twenty percent of the stuff in the office it should not take much time to sort through it.

This year I have been so busy that some of my normal procedures have not been kept up to date. For example, I like to scan my papers and then once everything is backed up I shred the paper. That is my biggest hang up to date. How have I dealt with the situation?

I file the paperwork in an alphabetized sorting file (desktop file sorter). If I need to put my hands on anything in particular – it is right there. All is safe and organized until the day that I have several extra hours to catch up. If I squeeze in some scanning I drop those papers into a box and save them until I have time to roll out my industrial size shredder.

I am writing this both to make myself feel better about the state of my home office and to show you that there is a way to hold the line on total chaos. After all doing paperwork very seldom earns us a dime. The fastest most efficient way to get through it is the way to go.

Come back and read how I am dealing with my behind status. I would love to hear how you keep up with tasks in your home office.