Tips for home office organization

culled from:http://mynorthwest.com/
How many of you have filed a paper and never returned to reference it? According to the National Association of Professional Organizers, the average employee spends 400 hours per year searching for paper documents.
Are there a lot of disorganized people in your office? Brother International Corporation conducted a study in 2010 finding that 86 percent of survey respondents felt that a disorganized, or cluttered workspace is considered "unprofessional." Eighty percent also agreed that someone who is disorganized "hurts the productivity of the whole office."
One can avoid becoming another statistic with a little organization. Here are some tips to follow that will be covered in this week's episode of Home Matters:
Set up your desk to create a Flow of Paper

Inbox on one side and Outbox on the other side

Use paper trays to set up multiple In and Out boxes

Make it easy for others to leave you messages or papers

Use magazine files for items to read later

Place items you use often within easy reach

Identify zones for filing paper: Active, Reference, Archive

Create an Action File

Create one file for each month of the year

Create 31 individual files to correspond to the days of the month

Enter task oriented papers into each daily file

Schedule time each day to process the daily tasks

Commit to maintaining your Action Files daily

Keep your desk top clear of clutter and think paperless

Set up a personal scanner

Start using virtual notebooks

Post important items on a bulletin board within view

Use your walls and store items vertically using shelves or hooks

Email organizing tips

Use the "two minute rule" and make quick decisions to filter emails

Create a folder for "End of Day" and "End of Week" emails to prioritize your responses

Write emails to help others respond to you quickly

Move appointments and tasks from emails to your calendar right away

Remove yourself from mailing lists you don't need

Don't let yourself get caught in an unorganized day-to-day grind. It's never too late to create structure and a zen work flow. Special guest Elizabeth Bowman of Innovatively Organized joined this week's edition of Home Matters where she talked about how to organize home office spaces.