2:00 Office Day

Hey there, Thursday is my office day. Around 2:00 or in the afternoon I start office work.

First, go to the mailbox, get mail.

I keep a wicker basket for all mail and papers that come into my house. (Not including kids school papers. That is a whole nuther story) My Honey has a habit of getting the mail and leaving it in different piles around the house. He is starting to get in the habit now which is great. I do think part of the key to this working is all paperwork goes in one room in your house. Every office day I clean out the basket and the office.

First, I set up shop. I pull out my :

• Paper recycling bin.
• Shredder.
• "To file" File
• "To Do" File (this file is for things that need my action)
• "Bills to pay" file
• "Paid Bills" Folders
• "To read" file
• "Honey" File (things that my honey needs to take care of)

Everything in that bin should be able to fit into one of the above places. As I go through my mail and papers everything gets touched once and put in the correct place.

Other supplies I have handy are:

• Calculator
• Checkbook
• Stamps
• Home address labels
• Trash can
• Pen
• Paperclips
• Stapler

Now get a big glass of fresh ice water with lemon or lime or whatever you like. Turn music on! A slow and steady beat is good. Now dig in. Don't get overwhelmed one piece at a time. If you get overwhelmed cause you haven't gone through mail in a long time, I suggest maybe doing it the FlyLady way. Set a timer for 15 minutes. Stop and take a 15 minute break, then try 15 more minutes.

As you go through your mail avoid the mistake I just made. Open anything from St. Jude's Childrens Hospital last. I am a firm supporter financially and through prayer of St Jude. But their mail can stop me in my tracks and slow me down.

Okay about 30 minutes I have gone through all of my mail. In this process I have not paid any bills yet but have placed them in the "to pay" file. I have cut out coupons and filed them. I have three things added to my "to do" file, a survey, a summer camp I want to look into and a reminder to set up a vet appointment for my dog. 90% of my mail went into the recycling bin. I shredded 4 documents, statements I am still getting via paper even though I have access to them electronically.

Now onto paying bills. I do this electronically as much as I can. I end up writing about 5 checks a month. Otherwise everything is paid online. Several things are set up as ongoing monthly payments that I don't even really think about. The mortgage, car payment, insurance. yeah hassle free. No Paper!

My "To file" File is HUGE! So I will probably tackle this beast today. I try to file once a month. But I hate filing!!!! My file cabinet is very organized so I don't know why I hate it. Just so time consuming! We can always do 15 minutes at a time.

Now I just need to put everything away. Files, shredder, recycling bin, etc. And I am done!!

Yeah. Because I do this every Thursday it only takes me about an hour. Now I spend about a half an hour doing any correspondence I need to do. Send B-day Cards, answer e-mails, yada yada yada.

Office Day Done
Joytobe