Clutter hinders the productivity of business, but professionals now can increase efficiency by turning piles into files during April 17-22, National Organize Your Files Week. “The average executive spends six weeks a year looking for misplaced information according to a Wall Street Journal report” states Chris McKenry, owner of Get It Together LA!, a professional organizing firm, and President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers. “We log more hours at work than ever before and computers have made it easier to accomplish more work with fewer people.” Most businesses are generating more work in less space than a few years ago due to the high cost of real estate. All this makes it difficult to find time to for correcting ineffective systems.

There are three simple steps in getting paperwork organized:

1. Identify clutter and the means in which clutter accumulates. Do not wait to make decisions on the mail or paper in the office. In her book, Taming the Paper Tiger, Barbara Hemphill states “clutter is postponed decisions.” By waiting to make a decision, paper quickly piles up on the desk.

2. Remove the obstacles in the office and keep items where they are used. Is there a box that must be moved every time a drawer is accessed? Do you have active files within arms reach of your desk chair? The goal of being organized is performing a task in only one motion. If there is not a convenient place for items to go, then they are likely not to be put away.

3. Set up simple systems that everyone in the office understands. Filing systems are not complicated unless we make them that way. Make files, not piles. Keep only current projects at the desk. Then reference materials should be kept centrally located for the office. By keeping the year’s expenses together, all tax related information is in one place. Do not waste “prime real estate” on old information that should be archived or destroyed. After filing taxes, remove that year’s expenses to your archive files. (A records retention schedule is availabe at GetItTogetherLA.com to help determine when information is no longer needed.)

Case Study: A Los Angeles advertising firm kept ten years of samples in two different offices, but most were stacked on shelves in a storage cabinet. Pulling samples for new clients proved difficult. Professional Organizer Chris McKenry created a simple filing system for archiving all the samples in one place. A file was created for each client, utilizing straight line filing (all right position tabs) in alphabetical order. By using box bottom hanging files, two inches of material could easily be stored in one file. Now items are easily retrieved and it is simple to create a file when new projects are to be archived.

The 2005 tax season is nearing an end, but now is the time to get organized so filing income taxes for 2006 will be an easy process. Being organized is easy when your system meets your needs and is not changed, but maintained.