Tidy Tips Archives FOR OFFICE

All-important document archiving

The boring jobs seldom get done (and backing up your documents is one of those jobs). Regardless of its lack of appeal, it is essential to do electronic back-ups, so make it part of your routine. Choose a day of the month to do this and keep to it. There is nothing worse than losing all your work!

Make a decision then & there...

We are all inundated with mail (snail mail or email) and we generally leave it to pile up until it is spilling out all over the place. This can be avoided if you make an immediate decision about what you need to do with each piece of paper or email.

When you get the post, open the envelopes immediately, toss the ads you don't want in a recycling bin and place the accounts to pay in a designated spot.

For emails, delete as you go and move them into folders per the subjects (especially important if you work from home and have personal emails as well).

Back-up & back-up some more...

I was the unfortunate victim of cellphone theft recently when I was with a client in PMB. Basically, even though the offices have security, someone managed to get in and they proceeded to steal my cellphone from under my nose! No kidding!

I am so lucky that I had all my numbers stored on another phone that I had recently been given with a contract (but didn't want to use) AND I have most of my numbers on my laptop. So despite the fact that I was hugely annoyed and disappointed that a day after the elections I had been robbed, I am so grateful that I had a back-up.

So learn from my experience and back-up, back-up & back-up some more. The time spent doing it will save you oodles of time in the future.

Tidy up with a timer

I have often read the recommendation of professional organisers to use a timer when tidying up. Although I understood the philosophy behind the suggestion, I wanted to put it to the test so I used it with my kids this week-end.

I told them before I even began, that I wanted to set the timer to ONLY 5 minutes to tidy up their desk and throw away used paper and 'stuff' lying around collecting dust.

So we duly set the timer and off we went with the tic-tic-tic in the background a constant reminder of the task at hand. AND IT WORKED!

Normally they roll their eyes at me but because it was only a 5 minute period that required their attention, they didn't fight the suggestion, they just got on with it. I also think it was key that I didn't push them beyond the 5 minutes I had requested.

Give it a try for you or your kids and the principle applies to any space - remember those baby steps!

Get a label maker

I have made labels for years on my computer - thus being dubbed the 'label queen'. My family jokes that if they stand in one place long enough they'll be labeled.

What is the big deal you may ask? Well if you label something you know where things are and where they belong. Labels will 'jump' out at you and remind you to put things back where you found them.

SO, if you haven't got one yet, do yourself a favour and get one! Having a label maker makes a world of difference when you are tidying up a space and organising it.

Get rid of unwanted or unnecessary paper straight away!

Paper is present everywhere - be it newspapers that you receive daily, mail, flyers, newsletters and notices. Leaving this unchecked can quickly add up to a lot of paper. You should immediately upon reading it, decide if you're going to:
•    toss it in the bin;
•    keep it for future referral (only if you really need to);
•    recycle (either by dropping off at a depot or throwing it into a compost heap); or
•    shred it (one of the best buys I ever made was buying a shredder because it gets rid of the paper quickly and effectively).