The other day I had some trouble finding my desk. I thought that it might be right where I had left it, but when I went to look for it all I saw was a mountain of paper. Could it be hiding under there? I moved one of the stacks of papers carefully onto the floor, and sure enough there was my desk, right where I had left it. How had it gotten buried under all of that paper? Paper-piling monkeys are not the culprits. Unfortunately, I am the one that was responsible for the disorganized state of affairs in my home office.
I spent quite a few hours sorting, shredding, and filing that afternoon. When I was finished, I realized that I felt a lot better about my work area now that I could actually do work there instead of at the kitchen table. I also realized that I will not have to rummage around for papers when I need them because they are all filed in their proper places. This experience made me think about working at home and how easy it is to slide down the slippery slope from slightly disorganized to totally disorganized when your desk is not subject to public scrutiny. I am sure that I am not the only one who has had to declare a time-out to sort and file stacks and stacks of papers that piled up over time.
If your home business paperwork is threatening to take over your office, your desk, or any part of your home, it’s time to get organized. Get yourself some folders and a file box or cabinet and sort those papers. Set up a filing system that works for you, and for your business and categorize things by year, month, subject, or whatever categories make sense to you. Protect your personal information and that of your clients by shredding documents that you no longer need before recycling them. When tax time comes around, you will have a much easier time preparing your return if you know where all of the information is that you need. However, you won’t have to wait unti tax time to reap the rewards of an orderly home office. You only have to wait until the next time you need to find one of those documents that you have meticulously filed away. No more pawing through stacks of papers and making a mess, you know exactly where to look for the document and you locate it within minutes.