Paper Piles an ADD Nightmare
Do you struggle with paper piles? Do you have paper monsters that multiply like weebles in Starship Enterprise? Is it a challenge you continue to battle or have you found success with strategies you’d like to share with the rest of us?
Sometimes I really suck at this ADD thing. I’ve started more articles that not only haven’t been finished, have found homes on my computer that I’m clueless to. They’ve been abandoned in piles that litter my office, crept into our living room and somehow climbed into the chair we’ve got in the bedroom.
I’ve come up with a variety of paper management strategies with my clients. Until now, I’ve been one that managed okay with piles. Yes, hunting for a note, a bill, even checks not cashed has caused more than occasional grief. Recently though, the joke I’ve made of my piles has hit the wall. The urgency is my cleaning person, who I hired to help me get and stay more organized, can’t stop herself from moving or stacking or – god forbid – boxing my paper piles.
She was supposed to be in today. But, something personal came up so, I’ll see her next week. Good thing too, cause I wasn’t quite done. It’s okay, make fun. No matter how I grump about this woman, She definitely lights a fire under me.
What I’ve done is grabbed all my piles and placed them each in their own drawer in plastic rolling carts. The carts came set up with either 3 large drawers (all drawers fit 8 1/2 x 11 paper easy) or two large drawers and two small drawers. Think just smaller than the typical deep drawer and short drawers on a traditional office desk.
Playing around, I discovered the drawers could be separated and put back together in any combination of large and small. The best combination for my writing is 4 large on the bottom and 8 small on top. I got a bit irritated at how easily the drawers slid out, uninvited. So I fixed that with stick-on Velcro. I’ll be ready for my cleaner, as soon as I push the carts back into my office.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, your strategies. If you’ve battled this yourself or are still battling it, what have you tried? Coming together to help each other is a strong place to come from and go to. A tweak may be all it takes for an idea that seems crazy, or plain doesn’t work, to be successful. Please, share your thoughts in the comments section below. And, if you think someone might benefit or could help us out here, please pass this along.
