Time To Get Organized: Challenge #10

Saving one of the worst,
most dreaded organizing tasks out there
for the last of our organizing challenge series.

Though it must be done.

And, if you can come up with a system, you will save a TON of time.

Today's organizing project:
Your paper filing system

Sort & Purge those files

Reward: Tell the kids they can have cookies for breakfast
if they let you sleep in.

Organizing paper is very tedious and time consuming. It is likely that as you begin, every paper needs to be glanced at to figure out "why am I keeping this?" Once you get on a roll, hopefully the papers will begin to fly into the recycling bin or shredder.

Not sure what you need to keep? Check out this post from last year:
"Do I Really Need My Last 5 Years of Electric Bills?"

If you're computer savy, toss the majority of manuals because they are available on-line. Think about your Federal and State tax line items, perhaps set up a folder for each one this year. Saving a big of time and effort rather than sorting a wad of receipts at the end of the year.

Think about how paper moves in and out of your home. Set up your filing system to work with it. For all the great filing systems out there, they will not work unless you use them.

Here's a list of our 2010 organizing challenges:
#1 Organizing Your Inbox
#2 Organizing Your Medicine Cabinet
#3 Organizing Your Pantry
#4 Organizing Your Work Area
#5 Organizing Your Magazines
#6 Organizing Your Car
#7 Organizing Scavenger Hunt
#8 Organizing Your Linen Closet
#9 Organizing Your Sock Drawer

My hope was to give you a starting point to becoming more organized in the new year. Perhaps from time to time I will add a little challenge here and there to keep you on track. Please keep us posted on how you're doing.

What is the oldest manual you had filed away?