Never Touch a Piece of Paper More than Once?

You may have heard the tip that you should never touch a piece of paper more than once.  This suggests immediate action, open a bill and pay it, record information on your calendar, file a page for reference.

Although this is a lovely, useful tip, it is one that I've never managed.  As I mentioned the other day, an in/out box is a fantastic solution to gathering in one place the papers that you know require a second step. 

The next important step is to have a place to put those papers after you've handled the task associated with them.  In some cases, the next step is to toss the paper in the recycling bin.

However, if it is your home owner's policy or a receipt you need for your taxes, then you need a file dedicated to those papers.

If you need to get your hands on a piece of paper in the future, then you need a place to file it so you can get to it quickly and without a lot of stress because you don't know where it is.

Setting up a file system can take more time than you think it should.  Going through and tossing unnecessary papers is the easy part.  Organizing your papers, so they aren't clutter but accessible files, can take two-to-six hours, depending on what (if any) system you have. 

So, more about how to create a filing system another day ... along with the one file label you want to avoid.