Table of Contents
* January – “Celebrate” National Clean off Your Desk Day!
I. Quick Organizing Tips
II. Article: National Clean Off Your Desk Day!
III. Resources You Can Use
IV. Shameless Marketing Tip
V. Contact Info / Reprint Permission

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* January – “Celebrate” National Clean off Your Desk Day!

Sort-It-Out will be in the cover story of the business section of the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel on Monday, January 6, 2003. Be sure and look for it! If you don’t currently subscribe to the Sun Sentinel, call 954-356-4000 and reserve your January 6th issue now!

I. Quick Organizing Tips

Here are five quick tips for organizing your desk and desk area.

1. Purchase a 6-pack of white letter/legal boxes to use for sorting. Label the box based on where the items came from (ex: papers from under the keyboard) (papers from the left 1/3 stack on the credenza).

2. Start clearing your desk from the left to the right. Use an imaginary 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 line. When the left 1/3 of the desk is clear, don’t allow any more paper or items to touch it, use your other surfaces. Keep clearing 1/3 at a time until the entire desk is clear. Do this with every surface in your office.

3. Everything you touch should have a destination, or allow the box to becomes its destination. When you finish, you may have lots of boxes, but you will have a neat clean starting point. (Note – it is easier to “think” when it is clear.)

4. Go through one box a day. Put any non-paper items away (or in another box), and stack papers based on size or type. Make a small stack of 8.5x11 papers, a stack of unopened envelopes, a stack of card-sized papers, and a stack of little scribbled notes. Go through each small stack at the same time. You will find this is MUCH easier (and MUCH faster) than just going through a box of papers.
5. Write on the upper right hand corner where each piece of paper should be filed. Create a folder for business cards, names, addresses, and phone numbers that need to be added into your database. File all of your papers at another setting.

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II. Article – National Clean off Your Desk Day! January 2002

The National Association of Professional Organizers has declared a special “holiday” for everyone who really wants to clean off their desks… once and for all, called “National Clean off Your Desk Day.” We hope you will use this day to focus on your office / home office surroundings and make some changes.

Your desk should be functional. It should be a WORK surface, not a storage surface. If you find that your desk is piled up with papers and loaded with nick knacks, or if you only have 3” of work space on your desk, or you are putting your keyboard on top of papers (or worse, on your lap) just to type, you need to re-think how you are using your desk.

If you have lots of stacks on your desk and you find yourself defensively saying, “I know where everything is,” your desk is not functional. If your desk is turned the wrong way and you have to reach around, or back and forth from the desk drawer to the credenza to the counters to the other drawers just to pull together a client package, your desk is not functional.

If the road to recovery for your desk is paved with good intentions, or notes about how to get organized, or pictures of clean offices, then this article is for you. Today we will go step by step with help for your messy desk… and you can clean yours off once and (hopefully) for all.

First, think of your desk as simply another surface. Remember, when you look at a magazine picture of an office, you are simply looking at different cleared off surfaces. If you think about your office one surface at a time, it is not so overwhelming.

Next I want you to create a plan for what your office will look like when it is perfect. Draw a simple schematic. Note where the computer will sit on your desk. Note where your credenza is and what items will remain on it. Note where your file drawers are. Note where your in-box will sit.

Now we will begin the process of removing all of the wrong things. Put papers to be sorted and filed in one box, magazines, periodicals, and journals in another box, and non-paper items in a different box. Use the remaining boxes for things that belong to others and things that are leaving the office.

When you begin to sort your papers, remember to sort them into the 5 categories (To Do / To File / Pending (papers tied to a date such as tickets and invitations) / Things For Others / and Financial). When you begin to file your papers, be sure you have a “system” for filing before you just dive in. At Sort-It-Out we use two systems. The SIMS ® manual system that we teach in our all-day workshops (see the “Resources” section below for the next workshop date), and The Paper Tiger system which we highly recommend (and is available for a one-time discount. Call: 305-628-0075, or send an e-mail for details on the discount to marshasims@aol.com). Whichever system you choose to use, be sure you create a “master list” that goes along with your filing system, so that you can quickly find anything you’ve filed.

Some people say they want a cleaned off desk, but refuse to practice it. Beware that you are not one of them! Here’s how you can tell. If you have pens, staplers, post-its, papers, note cards, index cards, pictures, plants, decorations, and what-nots on your desk, then you are not practicing the clean desk philosophy. If you really want a clean desk, use your drawers to store the items you now have on your desk.

Depending on your desk configuration, draw a schematic listing which item types should be in each drawer. Group “like” items together. Put your writing instruments together in one drawer. Use another drawer for “stickies” (things that stick things together – ex: tape, glue, stapler and staples, paper clips). Use a different drawer for note cards, index cards, and post-its. Once you have decided what each drawer will hold, remove the wrong things. Arrange the drawers neatly.

Now that your desk is clean, clear and clutter free it is time to sit back, reflect, and start to use your desk for what it is meant to be used for… WORK!

Have a productive, happy, and peaceful New Year!

If you have a question that you want answered, or feedback you want to share, please send it to me at: marshasims@aol.com.

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III. Resources You Can Use

1. PAPER TIGER DISCOUNT… call for information (305-628-0075).

2. WORKSHOP. Our next all-day, hands-on, activity packed, FUN workshop ... focused on teaching you how to file and find every paper in your world, will be held on Sunday, January 26, 2002 in Deerfield Beach from 9:30 am - 3:30 pm.

What do participants like best about the workshop? (Actual comments)

“I liked that we filed with actual documents, papers and clutter.”

“I liked the interaction, and the freedom to ask questions and have them answered.”

“I liked creating a filing system that works.”

“The class was an invaluable wake-up call for me to stop letting papers choke me.”

3. If you have access to a training room, or if you live in a condo with a conference room and you would like to HOST an all-day workshop in the South Florida area, please let me know. As a host you can attend the workshop, and get the workbook for FREE.

4. If you prefer to receive this newsletter via “snail mail,” or if you want someone who doesn’t have email to benefit from this newsletter, there is a $10.00 “ink, paper and postage fee” per year. (Ink costs more than paper or postage.) Simply send $10.00 to: Sort-It-Out, Inc., PO Box 5713, Miami Lakes, FL 33014. Write “newsletter” on the envelope.

5. Do you belong to an organization that needs speakers? If you do, please let me know. As part of my community outreach for the new year, I am trying to speak to as many groups as possible. Please let me know: 305-628-0075.

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IV. Shameless Marketing Tip

Please ask about our maintenance program. It’s a GREAT way to make sure you don’t lose momentum. At Sort-It-Out, we’re here for you. We are successful when you don’t need us anymore. Our maintenance program is designed to help you stay on track. Call for more information: 305-628-0075.

Have you been thinking about getting organized… once and for all? Let the professional organizers at Sort-It-Out, Inc. make your dreams come true! We have lots of new programs, and one might be just right for you! Not in South Florida? Call and we can refer you to an organizer in your area. Sort-It-Out, Inc., 305-628-0075.

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V. Contact Info / Reprint Permission

Copyright 2002 by Marsha Sims, all rights reserved.

You may copy or distribute this newsletter in whole or in part, as long as the following information is included: “Marsha Sims is president of Sort-It-Out, Inc., a professional organizing company in South Florida. She can be reached at 305-628-0075, marshasims@aol.com, or visit her website: www.SortItOut.net