Getting organized
For years I’ve been meaning to reorganize my files.
Last time I tried was probably fifteen years ago at least, and even then I should have weeded out a lot more. But now it’s gotten to the point where I have trouble finding things, even though they’re labeled. The labels are frayed and the writing has faded, and the whole enterprise has expanded to the point that I don’t know where to look for the proper folder, or exactly what might be in it anymore even if I were to find it.
Months of wringing my hands and leaving some of my unfiled piles of paper out on the dining room table in order to jump-start my project by shaming me into it had no effect except to make my living space seem even more chaotic. And so I took the unprecedented step (to me, at least) of hiring an organizer.
It’s a time-limited task; she only comes here to help me with my papers. Already it’s borne fruit; about a quarter of my files look like models in an ad photo, neatly color-coded by topic, no papers sticking out to mar their almost-military order, with lovely readable printed labels that are easy to see now that I’ve installed a battery-powered closet light over them (I used to have to take a flashlight to this particular set of files, but no more).
And then last night I decided to start on my taxes. With my new system partly in place it would be easier, right? But when I went to get my 2011 tax returns, which had not been re-organized and should have been in the place where all my tax returns have been happily residing for years, they were nowhere to be found.
It seemed they’d disappeared off the face of the earth, unlikely though that seemed. And where did I finally find them after hours of searching? In the last place I looked—and that’s not a joke, because it turns out that the last place I looked was the very last place I figured they could have been, after looking just about everywhere else. They were in the very rear of the very bottom drawer of a completely different file cabinet on a different floor than where they’d always been.
And why was that? Well, it turns out the organizer had hastily (and temporarily) put them there after clearing out a file drawer upstairs in order to store something else in it. Without telling me.
Well, nobody’s perfect.
Organization of information- either hard copy or electronic – is a constant struggle for me. When several years I became a board member of an HOA that was involved in some lawsuits, the paper trail from the attorneys expanded to where it took over my floor, desk, and tables. Not to mention additional paper from workaday HOA business. It seemed hopeless until I decided that I would work 5-15 minutes a day on the paper mess. Little by little.
I eventually got the papers under control, thanks to file cabinets and paper recycling.
Last year I consolidated two file cabinets into one when I built a bookcase. The choice was straightforward: one file cabinet occupied part of the space where I planned to put the bookcase. More paper to throw out and some to add to the remaining file cabinet.
In the process I also emptied four feet of book shelves and sold the books to a used book store. I got exactly what I predicted: four feet of books netted me $5. Can’t complain, because I have also purchased many good books for $1 from the store, such as hardbound copies of David McCullough’s biographies of Truman and John Adams. And there is no market for old computer books. Who needs a book on XP, which MS will stop updating next year?
I periodically need to clear out my computer desktop.
Organization of information – either electronic or hard copy- is an ongoing process. It never stops.
Glad to find out you found an organization solution. A stranger who looks at your stuff is less likely to be indecisive- which is to me is the biggest problem in organizing stuff. I have helped my sister out in clearing out her paper- you are more ruthless in tossing when you have no emotional investment in the paper.
Color coding sounds like a good idea.
[One cheer for my file cabinet organization: recently I was able to readily locate my copy of a New York Review article by VS Naipaul on Argentina which I had photocopied over twenty years ago. The article was behind a paywall online, so the file cabinet gave me the only ready access to the article.]
I ordered a great book about organizing papers and files from Amazon a year or so ago. I still have yet to implement the system, but it makes a lot of sense to me. What’s holding me back is the boredom involved with the task–well, that, and that, and I am a great procrastinator, as I can always find things I’d rather do every evening and weekend, so I never get very far into any of it. Anyway, here’s a link to the book if you think you might be interested in it. It’s called File… Don’t Pile and it recommends developing an indexing system. It was written in 1986 and doesn’t suggest any digital solutions, though the technique it describes could easily be adapted to work with spreadsheets.
Kurt: the trouble with books about how to organize (and I have purchased quite a few over the years) is that it takes organization to implement them.
The nice thing about hiring an organizer, and what has made it worth the money so far, is that that person jumps you into action.
Congratulations on the getting organized, Neo! I think that papers are the bane of most people’s existance. Some organizers suggest scanning documents and shredding the originals, but I find that far too time-consuming.
Gringo, that’s great! I found that file-boxes on a bookcase work better for me than a filing cabinet. I’m not sure why that is.
Ah, an organizer. Didn’t even know there was such a job title. I need one, but I think I’ll wait until I can’t get over the clutter to my computer. Then I will try to find me an organizer.
MissJean, I used file cabinets by default, as I they were freebies- one from my sister and the other from a former workplace that was being liquidated- file cabinet had also been a freebie for the business. One advantage of file boxes on a bookcase is that they force you to be more disciplined than with a file cabinet- you can’t stuff things away so easily as you can with a file cabinet. Whatever works for you.
My wife is an incredible organizer.
On the flip side, nothing is ever tossed.
And I remember this from the joke page of “Boy’s Life”, circa 1962:
Q: Why is everything always in the last place you look for it?
A: Because when you find it, you stop looking!