Two steps to the best organizing system ever!

Throughout my corporate career, and now with working from home, there has always been that ongoing struggle of where to properly sort, direct, file, etc. both paper and electronic files !



As you know, you often need to hold on to items until they are determined "trash" or "file" (those are the easy ones) but what about the period of time BEFORE you get to that point? Well, most of these need "action" of some degree, and therefore begins the "where do I put this?"


There are SO many options for organizing, and trust me when I say that I have tried MANY of them, but it still seemed to be a lot of effort on designing various folders, color coding, etc.....and then when I had a piece of paper that needed SOMETHING, it just didn't seem to give me the ease that I wanted.


So, get ready, this is SO very basic, but has worked for me - and my sister (professional organizer) has used this with many of her clients to organize them as well. Here it is....TWO steps:

1. Create manual bins, or electronic files
2. Label them in THREE categories:

• Waiting on me: Place items in this bin that YOU need to do something

• Waiting on others: Place items in this bin that you are waiting for SOMEONE ELSE to do something

• Need to file - Self explanatory !

I can honestly say, that this simple system has enabled me to keep track of things in a simple, yet effective way. Often times, something needs my action, I pull in from the bin (or file), DO what I need to do and then it requires action/response by someone else.....so this goes from "waiting on me" to "waiting on others" (and may even go back and forth, but eventually will become "Need to file" or TRASH !!)


I would love to hear your thoughts, and if you can envision this system working in your world.....