Have you ever heard of burnout? It’s a term used to describe a mental state, similar to depression, which comes from excess stress over a long period of time. It can lead to decreased motivation at your job, more apathy and neglect in your personal relationships, and even more illness due to a decreased immune …
If you’re like most of us, you’re a little surprised by the amount of paper you have in your house—old tax papers, ATM receipts, business cards, old catalogs, credit card receipts, financial records, medical records, holiday and birthday cards, old calendars, owner manuals, and your children’s artistic masterpieces. How do you manage all these important …
By Carmen Coker In the words of Dave Barry, “It’s income tax time again…time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta.” Filing taxes = huge pain. We all know it. We all go through it once a year. And while there’s no way around …
Whether you’re following along in a work meeting or keeping records at home, you’re going to end up using a lot of paper over the course of a year. Here are some ideas for cutting down (and then cutting up) some of your biggest paper stacks: Old Tax Papers – You generally want to keep …
As a self-employed business owner, aside from working with clients in their homes, I spend a lot of time in my home office. It’s wonderful to get out of the office and network with new people who can help you and your business grow. However, while a lot of networking can help both you and …
By Joshua Zerkel Set up a system that syncs with the lifecycle of paper. No matter how organized the rest of your office may be, it’s easy to feel like things are out of control when your desk is covered with papers. Although you may have heard rumors that the so-called “paperless world” has arrived, you …
Continue reading “Managing Your Papers: Inbox, Outbox, and Everything In Between”
With the start of school, suddenly we have to dig out required documents and paperwork again, searching through our filing systems for birth certificates and immunization records. If your filing system makes this a challenge, start simple. Add some colored file folders to your cabinet, and use a specific color for each category. For example, …
By Joshua Zerkel Virtually every client I have – and every person I talk to – is fed up with dealing with paper. And it’s no surprise, since, like email, we have a constant influx of it that we’re simply forced to deal with. The worst part is that even though we all have paper in …
Continue reading “3 Easy Ways to Get Your Paper Under Control”
By Joshua Zerkel Paper takes a lot of space to store, and especially if you’re used to searching for documents on your computer, rifling through paper piles and digging into file cabinets can seem practically archaic! Many people have been asking me lately to help them go paperless – that is, reduce the amount of paper …
Continue reading “Choosing the Right Tools for Going Paperless”
Being a Certified Professional Organizer, I actually enjoy working with paper – I know, I’m strange! Even so, I don’t want to spend too much time on it; like you, I have many other tasks on my to-do list. One of my big goals for 2012 is to reduce the amount of paper that I have …
Continue reading “4 Ways to Spend Less Time Processing Paper”
During tax season most of us will spend some time digging through our filing cabinets. Most likely, there will be all sorts of documents from past tax years – medical bills, W2s, interest statements, and, frankly, some things that we’re not sure why we’re keeping. This tax season, go through your old documents and throw …
