Does your home office look like this?
Image from La Dolce Vita
Or this?
Image from BHG
Neither does mine. It looks a little more like this…
Image from Amber’s Organizing
Scary, isn’t it?! But if you’re in the same boat as me…not to worry!
Next week is officially “National Organize Your Files Week!” Thank goodness! Whenever else would we all find the time? Although it may be a little late to rearrange your schedules to include organizing files, maybe next week could be a good time to start thinking about what you need to get done and make a plan. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of extra motivation. Hopefully (if those first couple of beautiful offices weren’t enough), I can provide you with some. Personally, I think something like organizing is not much different than exercising. Those cute new workout clothes can get me out of bed to go run, so maybe some cute new files folders and office accessories could do the trick for the endless piles of paper madness? I’m going to try it and see if it works. I wonder if my husband will be as inspired?
There is a great guideline of how to organize files at Home Organizing Ideas. This website lays out how to conquer the mail and then how to know what to keep and where to keep it. Be sure to check the link on what to keep. That’s definitely a hard one for me!
The website suggests going through the mail immediately each day and having a plan for what to do with it. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but thanks to my mother’s “encouragement,” I’ve been doing this. I put all flyers, junk mail and magazines I don’t want to keep directly into the recycling. This technique is definitely cutting down on the paper that needs to be dealt with.
And since it’s something that needs to be done EVERYDAY, why not have a great receptacle for that recycling? Maybe something like these baskets from West Elm…
You can keep the lid on top when not in use and no one will know what you’re hiding in there!
I’ve also been putting the bills directly into a sorter like this one at Amazon.
That way the bills are all ready to go- visible and sorted by date.
And, if there’s no time to deal immediately with the rest of the mail or paperwork that has come home with the kids, consider keeping it tidy in a basket like this one until you can get to it…
Basket at C.S. Post
The website above goes through different types of filing. Some things work better in a binder (those things that you may want to look at sitting in a chair or elsewhere in the house), some need to be left close by such as paperwork that needs to be read and returned and some papers need to go straight into the cabinet.
If you’re in need of a file cabinet, there are MANY out there. But here’s a cheery one from CB2…
For files that need to remain visible, try a sorter that can sit on the desktop…
Or if desk space is at a premium, try an organizer that hangs on the wall…
And of course you’re going to need new files. This file folder set is not only adorable, it contains both regular and hanging file folders and labels…
Ok, one last thing. Although it doesn’t relate directly to the files, it definitely has to do with the clutter. Kid stuff! When it comes to paper, especially papers that come home from school and activities, for me it is definitely “out of sight, out of mind.” When so many things come home, from permission slips to birthday invitations to order forms, it’s hard to keep it all straight. And in the event we’re having guests or I decide I just can’t take the mess anymore and I swoop through and scoop everything up- it’s pretty much a guarantee we’ll never see those papers again. So for kid related paperwork, I’m trying a separate organizer. Lately I’ve been using a magazine file like this one from the Container Store…
I can keep this on the counter right by the back door so I notice it every time I walk by. It doesn’t take up too much room and since it’s standing up, you can’t really cover it up with anything! If I want to tidy up, I can easily put it in a cabinet. I may have to increase to one for each child, but for now, one works for the papers that need to be signed and returned or read/shown to dad or whatever in the immediate future.
As for the cute stories written by my 7 year old, the artwork, the baseball pictures, the soccer pictures, the first 20 times my four year old wrote his name, mother’s day cards from the last 4 years, the Valentine’s no one can part with, the creation made out of sticks and the “amazing” rocks that we found outside (just the rocks from yesterday-nevermind the last 10 year’s worth)- someone needs to tell me what to do with that- because that’s where I really get stuck!
Happy Organizing!
I’m really excited about my weekend organization project: covering a wall in the laundry/mud room with lauan, then attaching cork for a giant bulletin board and family information hub. Hanging baskets for mail, hooks for the Babe’s school bag and raincoat, a giant family wall calendar for all of our activities. Plus, plenty of space to leave little love notes and post amazing Third Grade Art. Thanks for the added inspiration!