Paper Clutter

How often have you wished you could walk into your office, and throw a match at all the paper piled on your desk, chairs, and the floor? Great idea? Not!

In no time, the office would revert to its cluttered state, because you have not changed your work habits or your mindset.

So before you burn or toss paper clutter, let’s clear it with two basic guidelines.

Guideline one is what I call the four-pile-plan. This means sort every item into one of four piles.

Pile one contains items you need to deal with quickly. Example, pay your hydro bill, if you do not want it cut off!

Pile number two is the reading pile and includes; magazines, newspapers, articles, and e-mails you printed because they were so long you got a headache reading them on your monitor. This pile gets rid of paper clutter quickly, because removing the magazines from the general chaos seems to make a big visible difference.

Pile three is all the items that require filing, and which later you will sort by subject.

The final pile is garbage. This actually never becomes a pile, because you wisely sort it directly into the nearest green garbage bag.

Guideline two is to further sort your filing pile, which may often require some difficult decisions.

To help make these decisions, ask yourself the following three very important questions, and answer them as honestly as possible.

Question number one: “Is this item going to be of use to me either personally or in business in the future?”
Question number two: “Do I need it?”
Question number three: “Do I want it?”

Ask all three questions because sometimes you may keep things that are neither useful nor needed. However, some aesthetic principle makes you want to have it around. If you look at it or enjoy it from time to time, keep it.

The usual result of these questions is a bigger garbage pile.

Take care of the items in pile one quickly and efficiently. Put pile number two aside to read at your leisure, then retire them to garbage. Once you have further sorted pile three, file what remains into the appropriate places.

If your office is in major paper clutter, just do a little every day. Start small and work up to the difficult areas. Before long, you will discover the joys of having a clear work area.

Follow this system with every item that enters into your office on a daily basis. Determine which pile, then ask the three questions of the filing pile. This will keep your office clear and it will keep you focused.

Delightfully, you can use this system for paper clutter, clothing or any other general household items.

You will grow to love the feeling of filling green garbage bags with items you can actually enjoy throwing out. Love that pile four!

Give it a try, and have a great uncluttered day!