Thanks to our love of retaining documents in hard copy and taking printouts most of us have to wade through tons of paperwork on a regular basis. Here are a few tips on how to tackle paperwork and get your life in order.
Try to organize your paperwork as much as possible. Use folders, boxes, trays or whatever else you can to sort out your papers. Label each folder or box, for example have separate folders for invoices, accounts, tax information etc. When you receive any mail sort it out and place it in the right folder or box there and then. Do not wait for all your mail to pile up before sorting through it.
For paperwork that needs immediate action, tackle it as soon as you can. If you feel this category is too broad, separate these items into further folders and deal with each folder one at a time.
If you decide to categorize your reading material, you may want to divide your papers into 'leisure', 'business' etc and allot a time in the week to read these. Carry some pending reading material with you at all times so that you can go through it when you are waiting for someone or find some free time. If you find that you cannot make time to read any particular magazine, cancel your subscription for it.
You do not need to go through items like receipts on a regular basis or even tackle them immediately. You can file them and set them aside so that you can refer to them while doing your accounts.
Discard junk mail such as flyers the minute you get them. You may want to store them in a box and recycle them for future use.
You should clear your 'action' items or those that need immediate attention at the end of each day.
If you already have a large pile of paperwork that you need to deal with, set some time aside over the weekend or in the evening to clear this. Place the pile of paper in a large work area such as in the kitchen and sort each item into the right folders or trays. Discard whatever you find useless immediately. If you haven't read through most of the items in a long while, the chances of you needing them now are minuscule. Try and get rid of as much redundant material as you can. Try and handle as much paperwork as possible electronically so that it doesn't pile up.
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