I remember when I was younger my father used to keep a very unique system for organizing his bills and invoices. He owned his own moving and delivery company and was working many hours on the job and away from his home office. His method was the coat hanger method. He would straighten out a metal coat hanger but leave the hook intact and bend the bottom into a rough knot. As the bills were paid he would thread them onto the coat hanger by piercing a hole through the center. First, he would record the date paid, check number and amount. Whenever he needed to refer back to the particulars of an invoice he would just go to the coat hanger, which was hanging on the wall in the office. Knowing the approximate date it could be found by flipping down through the pages. Nothing ever got misfiled or misplaced. I always admired the creativity of this system, an easy solution for staying organized without spending valuable time on daily tasks such as filing. He may not have had time to set up a conventional system or maybe didn’t know exactly how to go about it, but you have to admire his ingenuity. He must have picked that up during his military days in the Canadian Army.
When you are dancing around as fast as you can and you just can’t find the time to set up a more formal system that will help you become more organized and efficient, then you need to create a temporary one. A system that will stand the test of time or maybe one that is just a temporary patch for the busy season until things slow down. Of course, a file cabinet is the most popular way of keeping your business organized, but the paperless office is also growing in popularity. Virtual filing is a quick and easy way to keep track of all your paperwork. Just scan and save to file folders on your computer. Back this up every day on a disc or memory stick. For safe keeping store the stick somewhere off your property. Somewhere safe and secure. There are also trustworthy places on line that will store your computer files for you.
Resolve to keep your desk cleaned off at the end of each work day. Either put everything in its place or the creative place you may have thought up. All pencils and pens in the little cup. If worse comes to worse, then have an empty desk drawer where you can scoop up all the papers and notebooks on your desk and put them out of site for the night. First thing the next morning, pull everything out of the drawer, review, sort and file what you can. This way all paperwork is secure and out of site until you are ready to deal with it.
Pick a time each day for recording your daily receipts and expenses. Don’t forget to empty your wallet and note your purchases for that day. Make out a tentative schedule for the next day and prioritize by letters (a,b,c) or a numbering system.
No matter what system you come up with as long as you have a system and you stay organized you will be better able to focus on your work and won’t be distracted by searching needlessly for misplaced articles.
When you are dancing around as fast as you can and you just can’t find the time to set up a more formal system that will help you become more organized and efficient, then you need to create a temporary one. A system that will stand the test of time or maybe one that is just a temporary patch for the busy season until things slow down. Of course, a file cabinet is the most popular way of keeping your business organized, but the paperless office is also growing in popularity. Virtual filing is a quick and easy way to keep track of all your paperwork. Just scan and save to file folders on your computer. Back this up every day on a disc or memory stick. For safe keeping store the stick somewhere off your property. Somewhere safe and secure. There are also trustworthy places on line that will store your computer files for you.
Resolve to keep your desk cleaned off at the end of each work day. Either put everything in its place or the creative place you may have thought up. All pencils and pens in the little cup. If worse comes to worse, then have an empty desk drawer where you can scoop up all the papers and notebooks on your desk and put them out of site for the night. First thing the next morning, pull everything out of the drawer, review, sort and file what you can. This way all paperwork is secure and out of site until you are ready to deal with it.
Pick a time each day for recording your daily receipts and expenses. Don’t forget to empty your wallet and note your purchases for that day. Make out a tentative schedule for the next day and prioritize by letters (a,b,c) or a numbering system.
No matter what system you come up with as long as you have a system and you stay organized you will be better able to focus on your work and won’t be distracted by searching needlessly for misplaced articles.
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