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Amber’s Home and Office Organizing Blog index

5 Quick Tips to Keep your Desk Clear

-Set a buzzer on your phone or computer to go off 15 minutes before your work day ends. Spend those 15 minutes clearing off your desk- i.e. filing paper, returning your glass to the kitchen, and pencils back in the pencil cup

-Use your calendar as much as possible. Instead of having piles of paper that pertain to different projects stacked all over, schedule the individual tasks of the project onto your calendar ( to remind you to complete the project) and file away all that paper. Of course make sure the project paper is in labeled hanging folders and store all projects in one file drawer. 

-Purchase a business card & receipt scanner- my favorites are  www.neatreceipts.com or www.cardscan.com. Business cards and receipts can really pile up quickly if not taken care of immediately.  Start tracking business expenses easily and stop wasting lead opportunities for yourself or your business partners by losing track of contact information. 

-Toss your post its & misc. pads of paper out. Instead get yourself a small four by eight inch notebook in a bright color or pattern. Take it with you everywhere and at the start of each new day, date the top of a new clean page. Then throughout that day write down all your missed phone messages, thoughts, ideas, or tasks to do.  This will help you keep track of all the misc. information you take in on a daily basis and cut down on all the napkins you scribble on in restaurants or random scraps of paper in the car that end up getting lost.

-Create an action center or station on your desk. Sort your paper into actions such as – file, pay, shred, scan, fax, call, mail, pending, etc. Then organize your “action papers” into labeled containers such as stackable trays or file folders in tiered slots/wires. Each person will have use different action verbs depending on what their profession is – so use the action verbs that best suit your needs.

 

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