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Archive for E-files

Tax Prep in the SOHO

Posted by Carolyn on
 January 19, 2011

Are you staring at a shoe  box of receipts?  Here’s a quick and inexpensive way to get those receipts tamed.  Pick up an accordion folder at the local office supply store with 12 sections, one for each month.  Label the sections.  Start by filing the receipts by date into the appropriate section.

Some people prefer to file by category.  Date or category, it doesn’t matter.  They all have to be accounted for at tax time and how you group them is up to you and based on the volume of receipts.

If it seems overwhelming, consider contacting a local high school student whom you trust and offer to pay the them to file the shoebox of receipts for you according to month.  This is a great opportunity for the student to learn the benefits of organization and practise some basic filing skills.  In addition, what you will need to pay the student is tax deductible and much less than your accountant is likely to charge you to accomplish the same thing.

Office Organizing
Tags : E-files, Finances, SOHO, Taxes

The Wellrich 10 Percent Email Solution

Posted by Carolyn on
 June 24, 2010

As a professional organizer I am frequently asked how I recommend people stay on top of their email.  There are a variety of strategies for managing the actual email when you first open it.  Use folders to file information and flagging action items for example.  When it comes to the emails that have been left in your Inbox too long here is a process I call the 10 percent solution.

  1. Pick a time of day to commit 10 minutes to email management.  Stick to this commitment until that Inbox is under control.
  2. Change the sorting order of the Inbox.  If you normally sort by date, try sorting by sender or subject.  This has the impact of immediately changing the context of the emails.  With a different context sorting is easier.
  3. Check the total number of emails and then identify what 10% would be.  This is your target; the number of emails you are going to file or delete in your designated 10 minutes.  For example, if you have 1000 emails sitting in your Inbox, try and remove 100 at the first sitting.
  4. Quickly scroll through the list and try and delete as many as possible i.e. the easy ones you know are no longer needed.  If you get stuck or bogged down, switch the sort again and keep going.  Try sorting by email topic.  This will sometimes allow you to delete the backlog of emails on one particularly topic and then the last one, with all the accompanying conversation, will be the email to file.

You will be surprised how easy it is to remove 100 emails when you have changed the context.

Office Organizing
Tags : E-files, manage email

Computer Filing Made Easy

Posted by Carolyn on
 June 24, 2010

Keeping track of electronic files can be a challenge even for Professional Organizers.  One solution is to let your computer do all the filing work for you.

Your computer reads files names from the left whether they include numbers or letters.  It will automatically file letters by alphabet.  Alpha filing is great when you have a few files so it is a good solution for folder names.

Consider labelling series of files such as minutes, agendas or regular financial reports by number and let your computer keep track of the order in which they ought to be files.  Try starting a monthly series of files with the numbers 1 through 12.  The beginning of your year – regardless of what month it starts – will always be at the top of our file list.  Using dates can accomplish the same thing.  If you have files that make up a series or are date sensitive, start the file name with the date rather than finishing the file name with the date.  Remember to put the yymmdd format so that the computer will file in chronological order.  Here are some examples:

  • 1 Financial Statements Jan 2010
  • 2 Financial Statements Feb 2010
  • 1 Minutes ABC School Council Jan 23, 2010
  • 2 Agenda ABC School Council Feb 18, 2010
  • 2 Minutes ABC School Council Feb 18, 2010

Let the computer do your filing work for you so you can get on with more important things!

Office Organizing
Tags : Computer, E-files, Email

Client Questions – Why do I get stuck on Email?

Posted by Carolyn on
 June 1, 2009

The electronic age was meant to speed up the way we work and computers promised to make life easier. They have, however, brought with them their own challenges as witnessed by the common frustrations of managing email. If email is soaking up too much of your day, try these tips:

  1. Turn off the email alert on your computer. You know emails arrive constantly. You don’t need your computer to remind you there is more work sitting in your Inbox.
  2. Schedule a routine time to clear new email messages. Do not schedule this first thing in the morning otherwise it may soak up the rest of your day.
  3. Read, respond then delete or file. Keeping loads of email messages in your Inbox is the same as leaving mail sitting on the middle of your desk. Both practices give you the impression you have yet to deal with the messages when in fact, you have responded.
  4. Use your email functionality – rules and alerts – to sort your mail when it arrives. If you have a big project on the go, create a folder for the project. Add the folder to your favourite folders where you can see it easily in the top left (or right) of your screen. Create a rule to have all new mail with the project name in the heading or body go directly to this folder. Your computer will tell you when there is new mail in the folder, don’t worry. It’s like having an assistant sort your mail before putting it in your inbox.
  5. Limit your time for email clearing. If you need two or three scheduled times to clear – so be it but limit the time of each session.
  6. Be short and succinct in your communication. No one else wants to receive long winded emails at their end since they have limited time to review it as well.

Enjoy shaking off the email shackles.

Office Organizing
Tags : Client Questions, E-files, Email, manage email, Time Management

Declutter the Feeder

Posted by Carolyn on
 March 12, 2009

Hop on over to my colleague Marcia Francois at Organizing Queen. Tomorrow she will walk you through an online decluttering exercise – like those feeds to which some of us are addicted but really never use. Sound familiar? Lean and clean to be productive and effective.

Organizing Resources
Tags : Accumulation, E-files, managing mess, organize e-files

More on Labelling E-files

Posted by Carolyn on
 March 4, 2009

You have no problem handling file names with dates attached but now you are wondering “How do I label files so that my most frequently used items come to the top of my list when my computer only files by number or alphabet?”

Use letters like numbers to help your computer file by frequency of use. If you use a file often, start the file name label with an A (or AA, AAA depending on the number of files you are labelling). Start the file name of those files used least often with a Z (ZZ or ZZZ etc.)

Your computer will obligingly file alphabetically reading those letter first and your files will be listed according to frequency of use.

Office Organizing
Tags : E-files, manage email, organizing strategies

Labelling Digital Photos

Posted by Carolyn on
 February 24, 2009

Organizing photos on your computer can be a challenge. Many people handle the challenge by using photo management software. If you use such software, here is a tip for labelling your photos.

Computers don’t read or count. They recognized yes or no. When labeling your files, the computer will automatically try and sort either alphabetically or numerically depending on the symbols you have chosen (letters or numbers). If you want a file sorted by it’s name in a date order use a number to represent the date. Use “0” placeholder for single digit months i.e. Jan to Sept otherwise your computer will put October first in the list.

Date sorting is often the easiest and most intuitive sorting method for photos. Depending on your volume of photos, set up a file for each year and then for each month within the year. Use the above number method to label the months. Now you can sort your photos by whichever label you choose within the months.

Photo Organizing
Tags : E-files, Photographs

Label those E-files

Posted by Carolyn on
 February 24, 2009

Enough about organizing paper, I can hear you shouting.

OK, let’s get a grip on all those files on your desktop.

Computers don’t read or count. They recognized yes or no. When labeling your files, the computer will automatically try and sort either alphabetically or numerically depending on the symbols you have chosen (letters or numbers). If you want a file sorted by it’s name in a date order use a number to represent the date. Use “0” placeholder for single digit months i.e. Jan to Sept otherwise your computer will put October first in the list.

Office Organizing
Tags : E-files, labelling, organize e-files

Desktop Disco

Posted by Carolyn on
 February 17, 2009

What’s dancing on your computer desktop? Virtual clutter can be just as bad as the stuff kicking around the floor of your office.

Do you habitually leave documents sitting on your desktop so that you can find them easily the next time you want to work with them?It’s not a bad idea – until there are so many files or shortcuts on your desktop that you can’t find any of them. That’s right; just like the top of your physical desk.

Don’t panic, the solution can be relatively simple. Set up folders as hot files on your desktop to house the material you are currently working on just like the hot files on your desk. Keep them specific and time limited. When the project is over or completed, purge the folders and move them off your desktop. By then there will be other files that need to be moved into hot files.

Office Organizing
Tags : Clearing Clutter, desktop, e-clutter, E-files, managing mess, mess, Paper, SOHO

Desktop Disco

Posted by Carolyn on
 February 17, 2009

What’s dancing on your computer desktop? Virtual clutter can be just as bad as the stuff kicking around the floor of your office.

Do you habitually leave documents sitting on your desktop so that you can find them easily the next time you want to work with them? It’s not a bad idea – until there are so many files or shortcuts on your desktop that you can’t find any of them. That’s right; just like the top of your physical desk.

Don’t panic, the solution can be relatively simple. Set up folders as hot files on your desktop to house the material you are currently working on just like the hot files on your desk. Keep them specific and time limited. When the project is over or completed, purge the folders and move them off your desktop. By then there will be other files that need to be moved into hot files.

Office Organizing
Tags : computer organizing, computers, E-files
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