July 2011

Jul 29

Overcoming Work Filing Problems

By Sherry Borsheim Business Organizing, Home Office Organization, Organizing Paper Files, Quick Organizing Tips No Comments

Many people struggle with how to be organized at work. A great deal of frustration, stress, and lost time surrounds bad filing habits. Or for that matter no filing habits! Filing is a low priority for a lot of people. It is a common struggle that the papers piling up around you simply don’t have an assigned home. This can be a big problem at the end of the year when it comes time to condense and archive your work files or complete your shredding for the year. There are two main components to the filing problem.

The first is that people don’t know how to set up a system. When learning how to be organized at work it is important to know you need a filing system! But you don’t know where to begin. You don’t know how to put together a system that will be effective and work for you. So you do nothing. Your papers are not in their homes because you haven’t given them homes! You are not the only one.

Think about how you would like to both file and retrieve your information. What are your preferences? People are afraid if they file their paperwork they will forget where it is. Or forget it exists at all. These out of sight, out of mind fears stop people from filing paperwork at all! Use color to make your filings system easy and fun. People in general are very visual that is why I use orange or yellow hanging files for bill pay files. The moment you open your drawer these files will jump out at you. So put aside fears of losing bill pay files by using color!

So to solve your first problem on your path of learning how to be organized at work use color, keep it simple, spend time thinking about and deciding on your preferences about filing and retrieving information, and then customize a system just for you.

The second common filing issue, most people keep their bills in separate file folders. A file folder is created for each paid bill by supplier. This takes up so much of your time! You have to go through the process of setting up the files each year and then having to file one paid bill into the respective folder. If you are like most people you hate to file. So you will start collecting these single sheets of paper until you get around to it. Unfortunately most people don’t ever actually make time for it. Before you know it twelve months have passed. Your file cabinet is empty, but you have stacks and stacks of paper everywhere! Your desk, the top of your file cabinet, every surface in your office has a mountain of paper on it. There are receipts, statements, and paid bills scattered far and wide.

The solution? Simplify. Use an expanding plastic hanging file labeled for each month from January to December. This way when you pay your bill you can file all your paid bills for the month behind that months tab. At the end of the year it is a simple one step process. Pull out your plastic hanging file and put it in your archive box. Then restart by labeling a new plastic hanging file for the next year. This system is straightforward and easy to maintain for twelve months. Eliminate the unruly stacks of paper.

Many people struggle with how to be organized at work. Creating a simple functional filing system will help you immensely. Remember you are not alone in your struggles. Take the first steps in winning the paper battle today!

Want to learn more about how to create filing systems for work or home? Click here.

Jul 24

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The Secrets to Organizing Microsoft Outlook- Rules Wizard

By Sherry Borsheim Business Organizing, Home Office Organization, Organizing Microsoft Outlook, Quick Organizing Tips No Comments

Microsoft Outlook can be an extremely useful productivity tool when it comes to prioritizing the time you spend on email. However if you are unfamiliar with Outlook’s functions you may not be getting any of the benefits it has to offer to you. This article is part of a series of articles that will help you as begin organizing your Microsoft Outlook.

Email should be used as a tool to help manage and process the projects that are important for your life and work. But with the hundreds or even thousands of emails coming into your mailbox it’s difficult at times to effectively use and process email. Microsoft Outlook Rules Wizard helps you manage your incoming emails. You can use Rules to automatically sort, prioritize, and reduce the flow of your email.

Why you should use rules when organizing Microsoft Outlook

If you have a ton of email to go through using Rules Wizard can be like having a personal assistant to help you organize Microsoft Outlook. There are a number of different ways to use the Rules Wizard. You can use it to have emails sorted into different folders based on who sent the email, the type of message or subject line, even whether you are CC’d or the primary recipient on the email. You can flag messages that come in from certain people or have an alert set for when you receive an email from a specific person. Use it to plan ahead with a function that can even delay the sending of a message.

I suggest this super helpful way using Rules. If you are receiving multiple e-newsletters, direct all of your e-newsletters into a folder to be read. Create an Action folder titled “.Read” and then follow the instructions below to create your rule that will direct your newsletters there. This will help reduce the flow of email in your inbox. It is important to schedule a time each week to go through this folder and read what has come in. The goal of this folder is to help you organize your time and inbox, not to create a place for emails to pile up and collect cyber dust! If you find you receive an e-newsletter that you don’t read over and over again consider unsubscribing. Being honest with yourself about what email you do and don’t need will help you while organizing Microsoft Outlook. Don’t waste time glancing at and a deleting an email every week or month that isn’t pertinent to you if you don’t have to!

How to use Microsoft Outlook rules

Creating a rule:

Before you begin create the folder you will be directing your email into, or confirm that it already exists.

1. Select Tools, then Rules and Alerts, and then New Rule

2. Select Start From a Blank Rule

3. Highlight, Check Messages after Sending, and then click Next

4. Check off with specific words in the subject. Next click on specific words and choose a unique keyword for your rule, for example “newsletter”. Click Add, OK, Next.’’

5. Uncheck move a copy to the specified folder. Then click on specified folder and choose from the list. Click Finish.

A quick tip

There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Don’t abuse the Rule Wizard. If you overuse the Wizard by creating a ton of folders this tool will become a hindrance. Instead of being a helpful personal assistant your Rules will become a time waster!

Organizing Microsoft Outlook by creating rules to better sort and filter your email today means less wasted time, energy, and money tomorrow!

Jul 16

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Business Organizing Tip – Sharing Reference Files Increases Morale and Efficiency

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Business Organizing No Comments

Sometimes filing can seem like an overwhelming job. Many people find it complicated and time consuming to find a home for all their files. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Once you establish a filing system, filing can become nearly automatic, almost effortless.
Did you know that in actuality there are only three types of files you’ll ever need? That’s right, in all effective filing systems there are only three types of files: action, reference and archive.

Action files
Projects that you are currently working on – projects that you access frequently. For many people, the information in these files might be something they would pile on their desk out of a fear of misfiling and misplacing, but once you establish an effective filing system you will not have to worry about misfiling ever again.

Reference Files
These are files that you access less frequently. It is information that you want to have on hand and are not ready to archive or toss at this time.

Archive Files
These are exactly what they sound like – archives! These files include all paper based materials that you are required to keep but do not need on a regular basis. An example of archived files might be previous year’s tax records that you only keep in case of an audit.

Although all three file types play a crucial role in your business, the focus of this article is the often forgotten reference files:

Reference files make up the backbone of your company’s resource library. Imagine how much more information would be available if each individual had easily accessible reference files. Files that they could actually share with the entire office! How much more efficient would your office be if everyone shared access to key reference materials?

Sharing reference files not only increases efficiency, but it also unites offices. Suddenly there are no longer individual “camps” within the office, but rather an interconnected office that shares resources in order to benefit every member of the team.

If you are ready to pool your office reference files, there are several ways to get started. Choose a system that works best with your corporate climate and current workspace needs.

For example, since these files are accessed less frequently than action files, one option may be to create a general reference area within the office. This makes it easy for every member of the office to access files, without interrupting the flow of an individual’s workspace. By keeping everything together and indexed with a filing system, it is a simple job to find much needed files in only a few seconds.

Better yet, take a team approach to the situation and have a business organizing brainstorming session on the best way to access everyone’s reference files within the office. If some people within the group don’t know how to use the filing system you chose, have a brief training session. Once they see how easy it is to use, they’ll use it constantly and finally make use of important reference files.