Posted by Julie Signore on July 20, 1998 at 16:14:26:
In Reply to: Residential Files posted by Lisa on July 17, 1998 at 19:49:16:
: Hi!
: I live in New Zealand. I have Attention Deficit Disorder and the
: main symptom of women with ADD is an disorgansiation. When it comes to filing
: I can think of so many different catogorises and ways to file things and organise things
: that I become completely confused. Could someone give me a simple list of essential file names to store important documents under
: My systems overlap ridiculously and at present I don't even have names on my files.
Aloha Lisa!
As far as the titles for files are concerned, what you need to understand *most* is that *you* are the one who will have to locate the papers. I don't really have a *canned* shpeel for creating files. I know this may sound odd because many manufactores sell pre-printed tabs. The irony is that no one's life/business is the identical & after the hundreds of file systems I have setup...I can honestlt tell you "no 2 are the same!"
So, where does this leave you?
When working on a office organizing project I tell my clients from the get go ...that by the time we are through, we will have touched EVERY paper! They don't believe me at first -- then it only takes our first session for them to REALLY understand I am very serious!
What I do is help them decide first of all if they need it. The next step is to find out HOW you will find it if you do need it. My clients make up all their own titles without realizing it at first, because I am listening intently to the first word out of their mouth when asked: "What does this paper mean to you" or How will you find it if you need it?" or "How will you use this paper?"
Yes, some things are obvious like auto insurance or homeowners insurance & even banking. Beyond that much is created with my client's interests, business needs, hobbies, family (if a residential office) resource/reference material etc....
This answer may sound vague at first...yet give it a shot! I use pencil when initially creating files (some get merged if there are too few papers in them) Ask yourself some of the above questions....then come back here & tell me how you did, and we can proceed from there w/the next stage.
Oh, one last thing...check out the Business BBS -- there are several threads at the bottom for your reference. Many are conversations amogst professional organizers involved in the WFH Forum on Cserve which I have been granted permission to upload into the bbs. Beware though, just as clients are different PO's are different too -- so take what you need & leave the rest!
Look forward to hearing your progress! ;)
Much Aloha,
Julie Signore -CEO
1,2,3 SORT IT - Organizing Solutions - Innovative Tools