MaryAnne Bennie - Organise Your Paperwork: From Paper Mess To Paperless

About the authors

MaryAnne Bennie is an organising expert, speaker and director of in8 home office and life organising. As a busy working woman, with a husband, three adult children and four grandchildren, MaryAnne understands the struggle of the juggle of home, office and life. In 2002 she created the Paper Flow system and has since introduced thousands of people to the system through numerous workshops and private consultations. She is a former university lecturer and holds a Bachelor of Education and a Master of Business. In order for this book to come alive, MaryAnne joined forces with author Brigitte Hinneberg and this book is the result of their combined strengths.

Brigitte Hinneberg is an author, presenter and business coach with a passion for helping busy people achieve work-life balance by encouraging order. Brigittes first book, Did You Remember The Milk? , is the essential home organiser for very busy people. Brigitte is a certified lifestyle coach with a degree in Economics and Commerce. After a successful 12 year marketing career, Brigitte founded Momentum Coaching and Consulting, a coaching practice helping executives and private individuals save time, money and stress. Brigitte lives in Brisbane, Australia with her husband and three children who provide plenty of inspiration for her books and organisational resources.

Introduction

Go with the flow

Marcus Aurelius

Paper flows through our lives. It maps our journeys, showing where and when we were born, our progress through school, where we travel and where we choose to call home. Paper celebrates our life achievements through school reports, diplomas, degrees and work contracts. We accumulate permission documents such as licences, accreditations and endorsements. Marriage and birth certificates are evidence that we loved and we left living legacies. Invoices, account summaries and receipts show what we exchanged our hard-earned money for, be it electricity, lounge suites, houses or holidays.

We begin life with a single piece of paper the birth certificate is the wellspring and we gather more and more simply by living. At times the paper flows like a torrent, and just like any river, it is a great servant but a poor master. When the river bank breaks and paper floods our lives, all we can do is try to keep our heads above it all and hope that we dont get snagged by a lost tax receipt, misplaced warranty or unpaid insurance reminder. This can put enormous stress on relationships, as well as create serious consequences downstream.

Every person is unique, in their lifestyle, personal history, needs and goals for the future. In this book, we use the Paper Flow strategy to demonstrate how to create a simple, personalised system for managing the paper that flows into your home and office. We will show you how to make sure your paper buoys, rather than drowns you.

You can start to save yourself from the paper deluge by acknowledging some truths about paper:

1 Paper needs to earn the right to take up your space .

Paper will fill the space made available for it. We have an infinite capacity to bring paper into our lives, but we have a finite space in which to store it. Consider your storage space when deciding what to keep. Everything in your home and office is competing for precious space, so make sure your paperwork is earning its right to be there.

2 Look after the 20 per cent .

Most paper is unnecessary. Only 20 per cent of the paper we keep is ever actually referred to again. A whopping 80 per cent of it is never going to be looked at again, ever! Look after the 20 per cent you need and release the rest.

3 Its always urgent when you cant find it .

When paper is needed, its needed now! You never know when youre going to need that important document, but when you do, its almost always in a hurry. These unexpected deadlines send you into a spin as you madly search through your paper jungle. The person who can quickly and easily find that document when they need it, wins.

4 Paper likes to be with its friends .

Your paper wants to be with paper just like it. It wants to be with similar types of information and with similar shapes and sizes. When the important documents are mixed in with the sentimental, and the sentimental is mingling too closely with the nice to read but not really necessary to keep, you get paper friction. When large receipts are mixed together with small dockets, neither is happy with the others storage solution because of their different shapes and sizes. When paper is disorganised, you feel disorganised too. Its contagious.

5 Your paper will tell you how it wants to be stored .

It really is that simple. Many people get sidetracked by frustrating questions, such as: Does my home insurance information get a file of its own, or should I file it under House? Do management reports go under Company Reports or by subject file? The possibilities seem endless. You just need to listen to your paper, it will tell you what it needs.

6 Storage is a tool, not a solution .

Storage is not the answer to disorganised paperwork. Storage containers, files, and stationery are merely tools, and a tool without a system is just clutter. People buy all sorts of tools to contain their mess, only to have it add further chaos as they shift the piles into suspension files, then folders, then boxes and back to suspension files. Its like the outfit you bought in a hurry that doesnt quite fit; no matter how hard you try, its not going to look or feel good. Paper Flow creates the right system which then determines your storage needs, not the other way around.