Piles of debris

John had a pile of papers, envelopes, bills, receipts, legal documents and other stuff stacked up at least 36 inches high as an average depth on his table.

He couldn't find anything anymore and some of his bills were going unpaid--not because he didn't have the money, but because he couldn't find them.

I helped him get organized.

Getting Started

When you have five years of stuff covering your dining room table, it's a pretty daunting task to even know where to begin and procrastination sets in.

There's no use even starting if you don't have a place to put all the junk.

If you have a big enough stack, you have incentive, and you will need several things before you start:

1. A file cabinet [legal size is best but letter size will work]

2. Accompanying hanging file folders [which will fit in the file cabinet]

3. Regular file folders

4. Insert labels for hanging file folders [may come with hanging file folders]

File cabinets can be in many different styles and types, so here are just a few from which to pick:

Two drawer	File Box	Lateral

There are also wire types and plastic boxes; choose the type and size which will fit the plan and your budget--looking around in a store like the Office Depot may help.

Hanging folders can be found in several retail outlets, including office supplies stores and stores such as the Office Depot.

Standard manila file folders can be found at many different retail outlets.

The basic plan

You will need to create major categories for your hanging folders first.

For example, one category may be "Credit Cards", so you would choose a hanging folder and create an insert label for it.

Once you have your hanging folder, put it in your file cabinet.

As you create each category, be sure to put a hanging folder in some easily accessed order, such as alphabetic order.

Next, mark your standard manila file folders as needed and put them in the appropriate hanging folder.

For example, you get your bill from MNBA, so write "MNBA" on the tab for a manila folder and put the folder in the hanging folder marked "Credit Cards".

You can do much the same for your utility bills: Have a hanging folder for "Utilities" and make manila folders for "Telephone", "Electricity", "Water", "Garbage", "Sewer" and so forth.

You can create the folders as you go, but you should have a basic plan which will cover most of the categories you will need to employ.

Also useful is a set up time dependent folders:

Some things may require a "tickler" file, so in order to accommodate these items, you may want to establish twelve monthly folders, and in some cases have a set of 31 hanging folders for each day of the month.

This may not be necessary in your case, but it can be helpful, particularly if you have business items which much be addressed at different times of the year, such as Income Tax.

Attacking the beast

Once you have yourself fairly well organized and have a framework for your plan, the next thing is to actually begin taking the chaotically strewn items and putting them in the order which will be useful for them.

You may start by sorting through the items and separating them into different stacks.

You may find one convenient pile for your junk mail so you can deal with it later.

You may want to have a pile for your current bills which have been building up.

You can then have piles and piles and subpiles sorted for quick management.

You can also take a pile of bills destined for "Utilities" and separate them into the various specific utilities.

Then you can begin shuffling them into the various manila folders in the hanging folders in the file cabinet.

In a surprisingly little while, you will have everything organized.

With John, we had already set up the folders and had done some filing already.

It took us 3.5 hours that day, July 3, 1998, but when we finished, we could see the top of the table again after 5 years of accumulation, and it was completely bare.

Common Sense

It sounds easy, and it is.

Once done, you must keep at it.

And periodically, you must have a mechanism to "retire" files and get rid of them.

Consider getting a shredder because you should not allow other people who may sift through your garbage later to get such things as your social security number and your account numbers.

With few simple materials and a little effort, you can get your life organized again by having a place for everything and everything in its place.