What Does "Organized" Mean?

Julie Morgenstern, organizing and time management expert, defines organization as how a space functions rather than how it looks. If you can find what you need when you need it and you are comfortable with the way your space looks, then you're organized!

I once told a client that I stored my weekly grocery store circulars on top of my microwave. She exclaimed, "You mean you don't have them organized?" I replied that they were, indeed, organized. They were current (new circulars replaced old ones, which were recycled) and I could find them when I needed them. Just because they were in sight didn't mean that they weren't organized. She breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. She already had a great system for her mail (all outgoing mail was propped against the TV and was placed in the mailbox when she went out the door each morning) but thought that since the mail was out in plain view that it wasn't "organized". It is, in fact, a great system for tracking incoming and outgoing mail, as long as she doesn't mind looking at it, which she doesn't.

Being organized doesn't mean that your home looks like Martha Stewart's or the inside of a Container Store catalog. Homes are for living and offices are for working. If they're never messy and out of order, you're probably not living or working! The secret is to have systems and processes in place that allow you to find what you need when you need it and easily return it when you're finished using it. Anything beyond that (pretty baskets, decorative file cabinets, etc.) is just icing on the cake.

And speaking of cake, I think I'll go dirty a knife, fork and plate and enjoy a slice, comfortable in the knowledge that I have a system to wash, dry and return them to their homes when I'm finished! After that, of course, it's 30 minutes on the treadmill :-) which I can find because it's not buried under two weeks worth of dirty laundry! More on that later!

Organizing Mail

So, you're ready to fix dinner but the kitchen counter is covered in paper - newspaper, magazines, kids' schoolwork, and the mail! So you gather it up and move it to the table with all the other paper. But when it's time to eat...the papers get relocated again. Before you know it you've missed a credit card payment or an important event because the bill or invitation got lost. Sound familiar (no, I haven't been peeking in your window!)?

Organizing paper is an ongoing challenge for most people. The concept of a paperless society eludes many of us, as we continue to receive paper copies of banks and investment statements, utility bills, and loan payments. Add to that the plethora of credit card applications ("Congratulations! You've been approved!"), direct mail advertisements, and catalogs and it's easy to see how our homes have become overrun with paper. It's time to take control of your paper.

Below is an easy to follow system for keeping the mail under control. While the system itself is simple, there are a couple of rules.

1. You must do this every day; that's right, EVERY DAY! You wouldn't wait until the end of the week (or month) to brush your teeth or wash the dishes, would you? So don't wait to do the mail either. Make it a regular part of every day.
2. You must learn to make quick decisions. Failure to make decisions is the number one cause of clutter. Some even define clutter as postponed decisions.

Here's the system.

• Designate one place for mail. Think of where you regularly drop the mail now and put a container there (basket, shoe box, plastic tray... something to hold the mail temporarily).
• At some point every day (it doesn't have to be as soon as you get home) process the mail. Notice that I didn't say "Go through the mail". That's what most people do; they go through the mail, pull out the "good stuff" and toss the rest back on the table. In order to process the mail, you'll need a system. I recommend that you open and look at every piece of mail. Sort into four piles - Act, Shred, Recycle, and Trash.
• ACT: these are items that require action on your part; they need to be read, paid, filed, forwarded to someone else, etc.
• SHRED: these are items with personal information (account numbers, social security numbers, etc.); I put a little tear in these docs so they don't accidentally end up in recycle or trash.
• RECYCLE: items that can be recycled, such as envelopes, flyers, postcards, and communications that do not contain sensitive information (check with your city for details on what can and cannot be recycled)
• TRASH: anything that does not require action, does not need to be shredded and cannot be recycled. My trash pile is usually very small or nonexistent.
• Now, throw the trash in the trash can, the recycling in the recycle bin and shred the shred docs. I don't believe you will need a "To Be Shredded" box, as it only takes about one minute to shred mail each day, if you keep up with it.
• All that remains are the docs that need action. Watch for a future post on how to track action items. In the mean time, tackle right away the ones that you can do in less than two minutes. Place the rest in a location where you can locate them later when you're ready to finish processing them.

If you use this system, let me know how it works for you! You can find me on Twitter (@themarydonovan) or comment on this blog.