For the next six day we will be in the realm of the element of Metal. The Metal element is expressed in two areas of the bagua map: Creativity and Children and Helpful People, which we will talk more about when we place Metal Element Enhancements. The main thing to think about with the Metal element is that it is related to letting go: of old hurts, grief, a sense of loss, limiting ideas, regrets – of those things in our life that no longer serve us.
Which is why we are working on paperwork. I’ve been told that by professional organizers that paper is by far the biggest problem they see: magazines and newspapers, newspaper clippings, old bills and receipts, books we are finished with, brochures and pamphlets, take out menus, announcements, invitations, old greeting cards and envelopes, junk mail…you see even with the best of intentions, the potential for paper overwhelm is constantly around us. Paper can also represent the biggest time drain on our resources because when we are responsible for storing and organizing so much that is irrelevant, really important papers can get lost in the mix.
The last time my husband and I went to renew our passports, he needed an important document and it wasn’t where he thought it was. We spent days searching the whole house, turning out every file folder and looking in every envelope. We had given up the search and had begun to make enquiries about replacing the paper (very difficult!). As a last desperate measure, I opened an envelope which contains our marriage license and other valuable papers. I had already looked in the envelope but was looking one more time, just to be sure. The document he was looking for fell out.
Since that close call with the important paperwork, the first thing we did was photocopy it (and all other valuable, hard to replace documents and filed them properly. Secondly, we bought a shredder. Many people get these to protect against identify theft, but it works wonders for keeping paper under control because we can make decisions about what to do with paper on the spot. Junk mail gets shredded immediately.
I wish I could say we learned our lesson and now have perfect paper manners, but we are neither paper neat freaks, nor as unorganized as we once were. We still shred all non essential papers or recycle them.
Today’s activity will be a clearing session focused on paperwork. The other thing about paper work is that it is, like other kinds of clutter, noisy. Every year or so I go through my files to see what I am still holding on to. In my files I find ideas I never followed up on, things I meant to do, somehow, someday, information I am keeping ‘just in case’. You can bet that the mind chatter is there as I review these items.
And don’t forget your computer. It is a good thing we do not need to keep paper copies of everything stored on our computer, but on the other hand, when is the last time you backed up your files? Or have you ever backed up your computer? The computer wisdom is that it is not a matter of if you will have a hard drive crash and lose all your data and photographs, but when.
Exercise
Unless you have a whole day to devote to this project, choose one area to focus on, but make a plan to continue the progress until your paper work is in order. You might want to start with your purse, wallet or brief case.
I used organizational tips from Sue Kay’s “No More Clutter” to help you decide what to do with each piece of paper.
- Action: important, with a deadline that requires action: bills, appointments, applications and correspondence. I have a file called my “hot folder” for important items that require action.
- Trash or shred: unsolicited mail and old papers. A shredder helps me live by the “deal with paper only once rule”. Once it is shredded it is gone for good. If you don’t have and don’t want a shredder, Kay recommends tearing up receipts into strips and mix with other garbage.
- Delete junk mail on your computer. Remove yourself from mailing lists you no longer want to receive.
- File important documents: files need de-cluttering and weeding out because information accumulates quickly (also becomes obsolete quickly). If your files are so full that you can’t find anything when you need it, it isn’t really a filing system.
- Scrap book it or memory box it: What to do with papers that bring back happy memories such as letters, cards, children’s artwork? Make a scrap book or keep a memory box.
- Archive: we know to archive tax returns related receipts, but what other documents do you need to keep? Consider whether you will ever need them or read it again, or whether they can be discarded.
- Make a reading pile: in here goes non-essential but potentially interesting reading material, but give it a ‘read-by’ date. Otherwise you will just keep adding to a pile which never shrinks.
- If you are running out of bookshelf space, why not give away books you’ll never read again rather than getting more bookshelves or stacking books?
© Deborah Redfern 2010. All rights reserved.
I did a fairly big paper clear last year but have not really looked at the files I kept since, so I want to go through those papers again.
And I need to organize my 2009 receipts. I don’t like doing it and often don’t until the end of January. A good reminder for me today.
I finished my 2009 receipts! Not just organizing them — I mean preparing my income and expense statements. I usually don’t get this done until tax time.