how to organize a pile of papers (and other stuff)

I cleaned off my fridge earlier today, and was left with a pile of photographs, papers and Christmas cards that I needed to put away. While I was at it, I also decided to tackle another pile of stuff that needed filing or organizing.

Check out this Facebook album for photographs which illustrate this entire post. You don't need to be a Facebook member to view the album.*

First I put everything on top of my kitchen table. Professional organizers call this a "staging area". Make sure you have a large, clear space to sort your stuff, or you'll get frustrated much more quickly.

Then (and this is the easiest part), sort everything into smaller piles of similar items.

WARNING: This is where most people stop. They sort their piles, and then - overwhelmed by the work involved in actually doing something with each pile - they simply re-pile everything and call it a day. Do yourself a favour, and move on to the next step in the process.

This part is infinitely more challenging: Take each individual pile and DEAL WTH IT. It will help if you have another large, clear surface on which to do the sub-sorting. (In my case, my (large and normally spotless) desk is just steps from my kitchen table. I live in a bachelor apartment, which sometimes has its advantages.)

My first pile of paper was a bunch of letter-sized paper that needed to be recycled - except that each page was printed on only one side, and so would be great to use for scrap paper in my printer when I'm running off rough drafts of documents.

Luckily I have a spot for this kind of thing - in a magazine box near my printer, where I also store plain white paper and a specialty paper I frequently use.

The second "pile" of stuff was actually just one page - a template I use when cutting out the business cards that I print myself. I have a guillotine paper cutter that gives a professional edge - but I need to know how much to cut off. This page got stored in the magazine box with the printer paper.

The third pile was actually a bunch of piles of stuff that simply needed to be filed away in my filing cabinet. I have places for all of it - I was just lazy about doing the actual filing.

My filing system isn't fancy. I have six deep drawers for files, and I use hanging file folders to keep things neat. Each drawer is sorted roughly by category, and within each drawer the files are organized alphabetically or by subject.

Another pile - of church bulletins - needed filing. I have a bad habit of carrying church bulletins home with me rather than leaving them behind at the church. Most of them are actually headed for the blue box.

Ah, Christmas cards. I actually save Christmas cards - on purpose. I reuse them in handmade cards that I sell for charity each Christmas season. I even encourage other people to give me their old cards.

Cards that I'm going to reuse get their fronts torn away from the backs - I only save the fronts. They go in a file folder in one of my filing cabinets.

Cards that I'm going to save because they have special notes in them go in a keepsake box. I also collect stamps for art projects; they go in another keepsake box. The keepsake boxes (as well as sewing and craft supplies) are kept in a large locker which also stores my t-shirts and sweaters, some shoes, and my yoga mats.

There was a small pile of stuff that belonged in my wallet. I wasn't going to clean out my wallet at this time, but as I went to put a Starbucks gift card in one of the credit card slots, I realized I had a bunch of used-up gift cards and expired membership cards.

It's a good thing I started sorting through my wallet - I also found an expired insurance card for my car. Oops!

The expired cards were cut up, and the rest were sorted and put in their proper slots.

My fridge is often a gallery space for drawings that I or my niece and nephew make. I have a file folder in one of my filing cabinets for small artwork like this.

Dad gave me a Sudoku calendar a year or two ago, and I usually tear off a few puzzles every month or so to stick in my date book or my car to solve when I have some time to kill. The Sudoku pad goes back where it came from, into one of the magazine boxes.

I had a bunch more stuff that needed filing, as well as some papers with phone numbers and other time-sensitive info that I usually put into a spiral-bound notebook that I carry with me everywhere. I date the pages as I write lists or staple scraps of paper into it. It's a great, centralized place to keep all those stray bits of information that I need.

I should have mentioned earlier that, when working on my piles, I chose the easiest ones first and left some of the most challenging (or time-consuming) ones for last. Receipts are the bane of my existence. I have to keep many of them to claim for business expenses on my income tax, and normally I try to keep on top of them so they don't pile up.

This year they've piled up. (Somewhat.)

I created four new piles: bank slips, and piles of receipts for October, November and December. These piles of receipts also have a home in one of my filing cabinets - categorized by month. Sometime before I do my income tax return I'll sift through them again and weed out the ones that I don't need.

I got two cameras for Christmas - one an inexpensive "accident reporting" kit, the other a more-expensive Kodak. I can't install on my computer the disc for the cheap one, so I need to ask the person who gave it to me what she would prefer I do with it (return it to the store where she bought it, give it away...?)

I tore down the box for the Kodak (it went in my blue box), and collected into one small plastic baggie all the pertinent bits and pieces that I'm keeping. I store electronic stuff like this in a basket on one of my shelves. The other camera got put in my "holding area," where I store stuff before returning it or donating it.

My biggest chore was sorting a bunch of photographs that I've had out all fall. Now that I have a digital camera, I can file these snapshots away. I have a bankers box where I keep all my photos, and it was actually less of a chore than I'd thought to quickly sort all the photos into their proper envelopes, labeling the ones that didn't yet have labels. The bankers box of photos is stored on another one of my shelves.

At the end of the job I had recyclables and garbage left over. I shred anything with my name and address on it, or anything to do with my finances.

My shelves are once again tidy, and ready for the next onslaught of paper clutter...

*Instructions for viewing the album on Facebook: Click on the first photograph to read the description of that photo. To proceed to the next photo in the series, simply click on the current photo, or click on "Next" in top right corner of the page.

e-filing for dummies

I came across a product on the Sympatico homepage today that I'd never heard of before: Organize My Electronic Filing Cabinet for Dummies. Right now they're offering the basic package as a free download, and for $29.99 you can upgrade to the professional version.

I don't own this product, nor am I necessarily endorsing it, but I can imagine that it might be helpful for people who are overwhelmed by their electronic files.

It looks like the Dummies program offers a basic template of file categories, into which you can sort all your personal, household, and business electronic files. It also claims to be customizable, which in my eyes is a good thing. I have never met anyone who could get along with a "standard" organizing template.

How can you create something like this for yourself?

Start by browsing through your electronic documents. Write a list of all the document categories you can think of. My list would include the following:

• Alexander technique
• downloaded program updates
• financial
• images
• music
• POC
• Word documents

Within each of these categories I may have several sub-categories, with documents from a variety of applications (Word, Excel, Finale) in each folder. Under "financial," for example, I have separate folders for all my different businesses, a folder for my personal finances, a folder for resumes and CVs, etc.

Under "personal finances" I have more sub-folders, including bank accounts, budgets, correspondence, gifts, income, income tax, and research on big-ticket items I'd like to purchase.

You can see why it's imperative that a filing system be customizable. No two people are the same, and we all have unique organizing needs.

Once you've come up with your own list of the types of documents you store, divide them into broad categories (like my first list), and subdivide them as necessary. You can choose to keep your lists alphabetical, or in any order that makes sense to you.

When I was reorganizing my e-mail folders in Outlook Express this past winter, for example, I tried a few different categorization systems before settling on something that actually corresponded to the way my mind filed all the categories inside my head.

I started with an alphabetical filing system - in fact, I still use that for my online e-mail accounts. I can quickly transfer new e-mails from my inbox, or access old e-mails by finding and clicking on the alphabetically-filed name.

For Outlook Express, however, I wanted something more structured. I spend most of my e-mailing time in OE, and I refer back to old e-mails all the time. I chose several broad categories:

• Alexander technique
• business
• church stuff
• clients
• computer
• e-newsletters
• friends
• POC
• volunteering

Within each folder (which I always keep in the expanded or "open" position) I have an alphabetical list of the different recipients, and I store all their e-mails (and my responses to them) under the recipients' names. Filing new e-mails is quick and easy - I just drag and drop.

The hard part comes when you have to actually transfer files to the new filing system - especially if they're scattered all over your hard drive. Yes, it can be time-consuming to put everything where it belongs. But the end result will be a filing system that works much more efficiently, and hopefully makes your life easier in the long run.

My biggest challenge as far as e-filing goes is choosing good names for my document files in the first place. Back in the days of DOS, it was a lot trickier - nowadays file names can be much longer, and the file extensions (.doc, .jpg, .xls) are tacked on automatically.

Should you file by date or alphabetically, though? Or a combination of both? I need to do a major sort of my own Word files - I have too many documents mis-labelled with the date before the subject (i.e. letter.20070721.mom, rather than letter.mom.20070721). In this case, it's more important for me to have similar files grouped together by subject rather than date.

I can't emphasize enough: Organize your files in a way that makes sense to you. Only you know how your mind works. Only you can decide the best system for your own needs.

more tax tips

Why do we hate income tax season so much?

I was visiting my hometown on the weekend, and it just so happened that a friend of mine has also been working on her income tax. She moaned about how much she disliked it, so I pumped her with questions, trying to figure out why. Since she's self-employed like I am, I figured she might also have strategies I wasn't aware of.

I discovered that she's already pretty organized: She files her receipts regularly, and keeps them in an order that makes submitting everything to her accountant pretty straightforward. After some probing I realized that what she hates is the amount of time it takes to find, sort, and itemize everything. What's surprising is that she's already doing everything possible to keep the information she needs sorted and in one place.

She uses a well-labeled accordion file for her receipts, and each year she simply has to itemize them. Sometimes she (or her husband) periodically itemizes things during the year, so it's not so much of a chore at tax time.

(Yet she still hates it.)

I love her idea of using the accordion file, and I think I'm going to try it myself this coming year. The system she uses is portable, but you can also find expanding files that will fit in your filing cabinet drawer. Check out staples.ca for details.

Her labels are alphabetical - an older version of the Statement of Business Activities list I mentioned in my previous post. She got it from a past copy of Personal Tax Planning, which is published by the Certified General Accountants Association of Ontario. (It's also available online.) Needless to say, this will only help you if you file income tax in Ontario.

It's a good idea to read through publications like this every now and then - my friend told me she discovered an eligible deduction this year that's going to save her a bit more money.

I don't recommend you do what I do, which is file your own return without an accountant's input. I like the control and challenge of doing it myself, but I may be costing myself money in unclaimed deductions. Get a professional's opinion!

copyright 2007, Michelle Lynne Goodfellow

it's tax time

For too many weeks now, I've been putting off the inevitable. I need to start working on my 2006 income tax return.

(Yes, even organizers can procrastinate - although you will notice it's still only the middle of March. Some procrastination, eh?)

For me (and others who are self-employed), the biggest chore is keeping track of my expenses. I have no trouble saving receipts - everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) gets cleaned out of my wallet every day or two, and stashed in a file in one of my filing cabinets. If the purchases on individual receipts are not clearly itemized, I try to make notes directly on the receipts before I put things away, so that I'll remember the purchases later.

Periodically (ideally once a month, when I reconcile my bank statements), I weed through the receipts and pull out anything that pertains to my businesses. I then sort them by category, intentionally mirroring Revenue Canada's Statement of Business Activities. This makes it easier to fill out the form at tax time.

As I mentioned above, I put everything in a file in a filing cabinet. I know people who have also had a lot of success with a memo spike (see the image at the beginning of this post) - it keeps the receipts in reverse chronological order, and prevents them from slipping and sliding around.

And don't laugh, but the proverbial shoe box is also a great alternative, especially if you have a lot of receipts that would take up too much room in a file. There are plenty of organizing boxes on the market - pretty photo or video storage boxes, or various plastic boxes with lids. You might even want to keep two boxes: one for receipts as you get them, and another for receipts that have already been itemized.

At tax time, I double-check each receipt against its expense list (I keep a separate spreadsheet for each category), and then tabulate them all in another spreadsheet I've created that's laid out exactly like the Statement of Business Activities.

Am I too organized for my own good, or what?

So why do I procrastinate? It's still a chore. And sometimes life intervenes, and I don't get the spreadsheets completed every month. That means inputting several months' receipts all at once, which can take a couple of hours.

(And then yesterday night the mouse on my old computer, where I keep all my financial records, froze. I'm starting to input everything into the new computer - which is another several hours' work.

Need I say more?)

copyright 2007, Michelle Lynne Goodfellow