There are some very important keys to keeping your space organized once it is how you like it. The number one thing is to change your habits. Someone like me can come in all the time and fix what has been done but if you don’t change the way you handle your things it will go right back to the way it was.
Let me give you an example. If mail is your problem, it is stacked up all over your desk and falling onto the floor. Bills and important documents get lost in the pile and late fees are eating up your spending money. Sound like you? The problem is in the piles.
Mail should be sorted as soon as you receive it. Use these steps to make your mail experience much less of a burden. All mail should be divided into one of three categories: Trash, Action Required, and To Review.
Trash: Flyers, circulars and general junk and unwanted mail should be placed into this category. Trash also includes Recycling. Sort these items out immediately and get them out of your way.
Action Required: Includes statements that need to be paid or filed, invitations requiring an RSVP, reminders for doctor’s appointments and any items that actually require action on your part.
To Review: Includes items that you would like to take the time to consider before placing into one of the previous categories. An example that I typically have is catalogs. I love them! I look through them and recycle the ones I won’t be buying from this time around. If I want something then it becomes an Action Required (ordering the item).
Allowing the To Review group to pile up can easily become a mess so schedule yourself a time every day to look through them. Allowing it to be part of your evening routine: look through them on the commercials of your favorite television show or the news or look through them as a transition from work life to home life. However you do it doesn’t matter as long as you do.
Goodbye Mail Woes!
Jennifer
