filing

My annual filing project and a lovely little e-book for you

Well, it’s a bit later than we originally planned but Trisha (my virtual assistant) and I finally got it all done.

The new e-book is out – all 44 pages!!

It’s only $1,99 (less than R20) at the moment – happy shopping 🙂

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Now I want to talk about my annual filing.

Sadly, I’m not even joking 🙂

I have a very lazy way of organising – I simply pile up the papers and when it annoys me, I file. Usually my filing threshold is about every 4 – 6 months.

However, I’ve been going more and more paperless so this time I could go for nearly a whole year.

This little memo is from 2011 and 30 Oct 2011 was the last time I filed til the day these photos were taken – 7 Sept 2012.

I have one metal basket where I put all paper. This is the folder with all my file-able papers.

As you can see, not a lot at all. My rule is that everything doesn’t have to be filed so I only file things I know I may reference in the future plus all Jhb Connect invoices and communication. Our city’s billing department has always been in a shambles so it’s best to keep everything.

My filing process is as follows:

Make piles of paper for the different files.
Label the piles as you go.

As you can see, my SheSpeaks folder also needed to be attended to.

Punch and file

The whole process took about 30 minutes. It’s that quick because I don’t keep piles of junk and my systems are already set up.

I do keep a clear plastic folder vertically on my desk called “deadline projects”. This folder is for Groupon-type paper, invitations to RSVP, forms to fill in, etc. I probably should take some pics and show you the contents and how I organise those papers but there are never more than 10 sheets at a time.

How often do you file your papers?

The most important thing to remember about filing is…

Did you know the two most common questions I get are about paper and email?

Personally, I hate filing.

I’m not quite sure why people are surprised to hear this? 😉

The way I deal with my filing issues is to keep very little paper.

Brilliant idea, right?

The most important thing to remember about filing is that the more you keep, the more you have to file.

And we all know we only ever access less than 20% of the filed paper ever again.

Let’s show you how I do my filing…

I toss the papers I really want to keep in this basket in a far corner of my study. It’s about 5 cm deep (2 inches).

this is a view from the top – I spread it out a bit so you can get an idea….

I tossed a good number of those items.

The thing is that with the passage of time, so our intense need to hang onto things diminishes. Or at least for me it does.

I found I could toss the older things that had since been resolved.

E.g. We pay our telephone account every month. When I get the statement, I check to see if my payment is reflecting. If it is, I toss the old statement.

Look at this note.