I used to be quite messy but I'm a bit of an organizing queen now. For papers, I have several filing drawers. i have one that is just for product info. When I buy something and it comes with a manual, I file it here. If some art supplies come with a big color chart on everything they make, I file it here. I have files for electronics, camera, computer, personal care, art supplies, miscellaneous, and some others.
I have another filing drawer that is one I access most often. I have a file for my car, one for bills (after they're paid), one for health insurance, one for graduate school research, another for articles on business, one of contracts I have with clients, and one labeled "important stuff" for a few miscellaneous things like passport, voter registration, my late cat's birthday, etc.
Then I have another file drawer for things I don't access often. Old essays and class notes (organized by class title and year), notes from friends back in junior high, aspergers articles, and any other topics of interest I have collected papers on. Actually, the stuff from back when I was in school is in a file still at my parent's house. I'm nostalgic but I have no need to access those papers regularly.
So that's my filing system. Oh, I also have on my desk a small plastic expandable folio that I keep necessary receipts in, such as items that are tax deductible, or expenses that later need to be split with my boyfriend. Then I have a business card folio. It is not alphabetized because I don't care.
When I get new papers, like mail, I immediately recycle things I don't need like the envelopes or junk mail. If something needs immediate action, like a bill, I'll put it on the fridge, the bulletin board, or, if my desk is clean, in a prominent location next to my day-timer or keyboard. If its something I want to keep but not immediately read, such as a coupon booklet, it will usually go on the little desk (not the main desk) in my office. Sometimes the pile gets taken care of every day, and sometimes it builds up for a month and fills the whole desk. I try. As soon as the paper is used, expired, or no longer relevant, I recycle it. If Something new, (paper or otherwise) comes into my home, and I find I have no place for it, I have to create a new place for it and possibly other things like it.
I also try to use my fancy day-timer and write things on the calendar pages and the daily pages, which I also use as a daily check-list. I still screw up appointments and things and often forget to look at the day-timer altogether. I haven't written a daily checklist in months. Mostly my activities each day consist of painting and some sort of housework. On a bad day I may have to make a phone call or go to the grocery store. Ugh.
Alex is in LA right now at a speaking engagement, but I'll tell you what he does. For appointments, he puts a reminder in his cell phone. This works for him because he always has it and he never looks at paper anyway. For papers, they collect all over our house, mixing the trash and the trivial with the important and time-sensitive until I go mad and collect them all and place them in his "storage room", i mean, office.
I don't know how he manages life like that, but he does. I think its because he processes information almost exclusively on the computer. He doesn't have much need for paper. Then again, he doesn't seem to ever throw it away . . .
I used to be like that, hoarding every little scrap. Then I realized I can collect more cool stuff that I really like if I get rid of the stuff I don't really care about, like 3 year old junk mail, special dunkin donuts napkins, 5th grade math homework, or the delia's catalog from 1997. (the 1st and 3rd are Alex, 2nd and 4th are me). My parents tried to tell me that when I was younger, like get rid of some old toys and you can have room for new ones, but it never really sunk in until I went to college and had to live in a miniature apartment.
I get a great satisfaction in knowing where all my things are, and finding a place for every new thing that comes in. It's calming to me. Everything is just right. I'm more productive when my environment is organised. Still, sometimes the system fails and I need to spend a day or two organising random things and papers in my office. The system also fails if you can't get any work done unless everything is in its place. This can be difficult if you are a human, and even more difficult if you live with another human.
27 May 2008, 8:14 pm
