organize my paper files

Well, finally I’m getting rid of all the paper clutter. Most of them was trash. Some of them are old exams from college. I separated them in envelop per classes and will give to some friends that didn’t make the class yet. They’ll be very useful to study to the exams. I hope I can do this every end of semester and don’t acumulate so much paper again. The other documents are being filed little by little. I’m happy I can acomplish this goal that are for so long time on my list…

Finally I am taking big steps in this goal.
This Sunday, after the Mother’s Day lunch, I was with so much energy that I sat in front of the montain of paper (it wasn’t a pile anymore) and make divisions: what is trash, what is to file, what is to give to someone at college (some old exams), what could be trash but I can use the other side of the paper to take notes while studying… After less than a hour, I could get rid of the montain I had for months. Every new pile had already each destination. Now I have to organize the papers on my desk, that are more recent and need a better analise.

I don’t know if I can ever get this completed. But I have been trying.

It is getting easier now that I am paying bills online and such. But I still have boxes of papers that I cannot seem to either a) file or b) get rid of.

Sometimes I wish I could just throw the whole mess away and then just deal with the consequences later. But I do also save lots of my kids things….don’t want to get rid of those.

But if anyone has any ideas for sorting or storing that kind of thing please help…....

I usually organize my papers every end of semester. But the last one was so crazy with the job that I didn’t have time. The pile is icreasing in an amazing way and I have to stop it. Now that I quited my job and another semester is already there since the end of January, I have to give some destination to most of the papers (my desk, someone else’s desk or the end). I’ll use these few free days to have everything ok until the exams begin (I already have to start get prepared to them).

I’ve just ordered 5 beautiful linen-covered binders, each in a different bright color. I also ordered tabs, pockets, paper… It was a hefty bill, but a monetary commitment always gives me that extra push. And the fact that I really really love the items ~ they are soooo beautiful ~ I will want to use them! I am so excited about this, I don’t see how it couldn’t help.

Anyway, each binder will represent a different category, probably finances (green), health (red), social (pink), career (black), and home (blue).

This is going to be the perfect way to get all the important stuff in order. It will take a while, but it will look/feel so great. Even just thinking about it feels liberating.

Then, after I have organized everything I need to keep, I will hit the recycle bin and throw out ALL the leftovers. No mercy.

Wow. I don’t have that much, certainly not compared to my father. I have most of my magazine articles and such things shoved into a file cabinet with my stories. It’s vaguely organized as of right now, and I just cleared a lot of it out, but I need to REALLY organize it.

I don’t know if I’m always busy or simply bored but I really really need to put my papers in order and then in their folders. But I’m not good at it I guess. I can work countless hours just dont tell my to organize my files. So, any suggestions are really really welcomed! :)

marking this off. Everything is filed.Everything. I have one paper holder of things that need to get dealt with and there are fewer than 5 pieces of paper in it. Not a single piece is outstanding and we shredded 6 years worth of sensitive info backlog yesterday. I woke up today and the house felt light and I was content.

I should mention also that I finally got it together enough to really go through the filing cabinet in the last 2 months and tossed about 40% of what was in there. I also organized and relabeled some files and eliminated others, while creating some. I didn’t deal with the bank and retirement files, but I will as soon as the rest is gone through as described below.

I just filed a bunch of papers into the filing cabinet. I have stacks left to go through and deal with, but it’s way better than it was this time last year, to say the least.
Husband has been on fire to fix things in the house lately, and he’s dealt with 4 boxes of his papers and either tossed, filed or recycled them all. I’m very proud of him.
Also, demolished a paper bag’s worth of paper stuff from 2006, a plastic container of other stuff from last year and just realized that except for three small piles of papers to deal with and one larger one to file(more to be added later), I am caught up on this. This will be the most organized I’ve been since I went back to school. I feel very accomplished, even with the outstanding stuff left.