Old Chinese Wisdom on Paper Management

In a novel I was reading recently about a Feng Shui detective in Hong Kong, the Feng Shui Master walked into a client’s very messy office.  There were piles of very dusty papers everywhere.  The Master said to the Client “There are two types of people.  Those who put their papers in files and put the files in cabinets, and those who put their papers into piles.”  The Client asked “Which is better, the one who files or the one who piles?”  The Master replied “The one who throws things away.”

I am always amazed at people’s resistance to throwing things away.  When most folks have a new piece of paper in their hand they ask themselves “Where should I put this?”  I, on the other hand, ask “How can I get rid of this?”  Since we have created more written information in the past 30 years then had been created in the previous 5,000 years, we need to think differently about paper.  Our goal should not be elaborate, detailed filing systems but instead clean, Zen-like, empty spaces that contain only what we ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY NEED.

Of all the things you keep, even if you are very discriminating, studies show you will only refer back to about 5% of them (1 in 20), and that is if you keep ONLY the right things.  If you keep everything (like some folks I know) you will only refer back to about .05% or 1 in 2,000.  That means you will file, pile or otherwise clutter you space with 1999 things you will NEVER use.  We fear the “what if I need it and don’t have it” scenario.  We never consider the “what if I save it and never use it” scenario.

Human beings are amazingly inventive.  If you need something you threw away, you’ll come up with another solution.  Remember, the disorganized aren’t really disorganized.  What they really are is creative geniuses with a whole lot of stuff.  So rely on that creative genius more and the piles of crap less!  Remember, if you don’t know you have something, or don’t know where it is, you don’t really have it, now do you?

Think about it.  When you have something new in your hand there are only a very few uses for it.

  1. It may be something that belongs in a client/project/subject file.  If it is, put it there!
  2. It may be something you need to do now or later, therefore you either do it now or write in your calendar when you will do it and put the paper where you will find it when you need it.
  3. It needs to go to someone else/someplace else, so get it out of here, or
  4. And this is by far the largest category, it is TRASH!!!!!  THROW IT AWAY!!!!!  No, you won’t pick it back up later and read it, not matter HOW interesting it looks.  No, you won’t maybe need it for something later but you don’t know what just now.  No you won’t get around to taking up that interesting hobby/project/wild hare when you have the time.  It is TRASH!!!!!  THROW IT AWAY!!!!!

So, when you first have that new something in your hand ask “How can I get rid of   this?”  It will keep you from surrounding yourself with 1999 things you’ll never use!  If you are not saying at least once a week “Damn, I wish I hadn’t thrown THAT away” then you aren’t throwing enough away!

Become the wise man who is “The one who throws things away.”

Liz Davenport
The author of “Order from Chaos: A 6 Step Plan for Organizing Yourself, Your Office & Your Life” available at www.orderfromchaos.com.

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Simple Business Accounting System

Most of us who are disorganized keep trying to be organized, wanting to be organized and pretending to be organized, but often fail dismally.  One of our most challenging areas is money and all the record keeping that goes along with it.

Being aware of this, the first thing I did when I started my business was to hire a professional money person (accountant/CPA) because I KNOW I’m not good at that part.  She wanted to make things too complicated; I wanted to take too many shortcuts.  So, for those of you with your own businesses, here is the system she and I worked out that is both detailed enough for her needs and simple enough that I will actually maintain it.

You will need 4 tools to implement this project.  You will need an accordion file with blank tabs you can label (~15 tabs is usually sufficient for most small businesses), one of those bill paying caddies with 31 divisions, one for each day of the month, your checkbook and register, and finally a pretty vase.

First, what to do with the accordion file.  Work with your money person.  Have them set up the categories you are allowed to use.  What drives money people crazy about we the disorganized is the wacky categories we come up with.  Your money person can work with anything, as long as it is in categories she can recognize and that there is a line for on a tax return.

My categories are:

  • marketing,
  • utilities,
  • credit cards,
  • office supplies,
  • products,
  • banking,
  • postage,
  • meals,
  • education,
  • consulting fees,
  • taxes,
  • membership/dues,
  • travel,
  • gifts
  • charity

I don’t get to make any up or have a “miscellaneous” category either.  If you have something that simply does not fit in the system the two of you designed, then maybe it isn’t really a deduction, or perhaps you are thinking too specifically and your money person can widen your definition.   Keep this accordion file in your office cockpit so you can EASILY put receipts into it as soon as they come in.

Most small business folks have money that trickles in and therefore needs to trickle out.  I don’t get a check every first and fifteenth, but I still need to pay my bills on time.  Here is the technique I use, or, what to do with the bill-paying caddy.  Again, this goes into your cockpit office where it is within easy reach and VISIBLE.  Now, as your bills come in, put them in the date for when you will pay them, NOT when they are due.

For example, I pay credit cards 10 days before the due date so as to not receive late charges.  Some bills go on the due date (like utility bills) because they carry not late charges.  Then, once a week (usually on Sunday evening) I pay bills, plucking out of the caddy everything due before the next bill paying session (i.e. next Sunday evening).

I use my check register as a primary bookkeeping tool.  By taking an extra few seconds to record in detail what a given check is for, or where a particular deposit came from and weather it is taxed or not, I have a very clear in/out record of my money.  I calculate my gross receipts straight from my checkbook register.  If I buy office supplies at Walgreen’s (an unusual place for that) I’ll write in my check register “Walgreen’s – off.sup.” so I don’t have to try to figure out what that check was for.  Also, the receipt goes in the accordion file under “office supplies.”

By the way, I don’t re-record the information in a computer.  Yes, I know there are lots of computer systems out there to “help” you accomplish these tasks, but my experience has been that they are far more effort than they are worth, usually require double entry (you already wrote the check, charge slip, etc.) and most of us who are disorganized just never quite get around to it in a timely manner.  Once the data entry job has fallen behind and become too big, we just stop doing it (even though we NEVER stop feeling guilty about it).

Finally, the pretty vase.  That is my accounts receivable system.  Whenever I invoice someone, I print two copies.  One goes to the client; the second goes in the vase.  When I receive payment, I take their invoice out of the vase and put it in the “to enter in the database” file for my database person.  That’s it.  Incredibly simple and very effective.

If you set up these four simple tools you can manage the record keeping for both incoming as well as outgoing with a minimum of effort on your part, and still in a system your money person can live with.  At the end of the year, all you need to do is hand them your accordion file and your check register.  Yes, you will have to pay a little extra for her to do the data entry, but since it is all clearly categorized, all she has to do is key in the totals (something she can do WAY faster than you can).

Happy Accounting the disorganized person’s way!

Liz Davenport

Liz Davenport is the author of “Order from Chaos: A 6 Step Plan for Organizing Yourself, Your Office & Your Life” available at www.orderfromchaos.com.

Liz was just selected as New Mexico’s Home-Based Business Advocate of the Year by the SBA.

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