drowing in paper piles

[pianistimo]

the day after taxes i always say 'next year i'm going to be more organized.'  the problem is that usually the day after taxes -i'm tired and i just stack everything.  it seems that to be really organized you can't have these piles ofpapers around.  at least once or twice a week i go through it all and throw the unnecessary items or out-of-date - but now i'm serious about a filing system.  had problems with mine because i didn't have 'main' category and then 'sub-category' as this website shows:  www.thriftyfun.com/tf629058.tip.html  so i had to go through ALL the categories to the find the one i wanted (as they are not in alphabetical order- due to lack of time).  now i have time - once and for all i want to get organized.  found another site:  www.getorganizednow.com   and a forum to go with it:

www.getorganizednow.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi 

if anyone has any organization tips - i'm all ears.  am in the midst of attempting to figure out what to do besides getting these main categories down.  am thinking of main categories right now.  INSURANCE, FINANCIAL, SCHOOL... is there someplace that gives you the main categories and then, under that, the subheadings that maybe i haven't thought of?  where can i find this on the net?  everything usually goes into the first and is combined with everything else.

[pianistimo]

did you know theres another category for people who don't like to throw anything away.  it's called 'disposaphobia.'  you can find out more at www.disposaphobia.com 

finally, it's become easier for me to throw out that ugly piece of artwork that is one of five that your child brings home.  am realizing it is impossible to save everything and still have a place to live.

ps these people are crazier than i am.  obsessive/compulsive that i am with other things - this lady claims to be a 'mysterious mistress of motivation and proprietress and royal pusher of postponed projects.'  i think this will be my new assumed name.

ok.  thal.  another lost thread due to disinterest.  but, you never know! 

[ahinton]

One useful policy to adopt is to keep all - or at least as many as possible - of the fles concerned on the computer rather than on paper. Now that may initially strike some readers as an odd suggestion coming as it does from someone who does not scan and upload music files, but the reasons and objects of the exercise are quite different.

I have no doubt that anyone with the intelligence that I assume you to have will need any help from software packages or internet searches just to organise your various domestic filing requirements and disciplines. All you have to do is decide on the categories and sub-categories, set them up on the computer as directories and sub-directories; then you file anything that you yourself generate in the appropriate places therein and likewise scan and file anything that you receive. Also, it's best to try to persuade everyone that sends you anything that you need to file to do so by e-mail wherever possible, or by fax if that is not possible for any reason, rather than as hard copies by snail-mail; this makes filing easier and reduces or obviates altogether the need to spend time scanning.

Once all this is in place, I have no doubt that you'll find more time available for piano practice!

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

yes.  that is a very good idea!!  i need to adopt this scanning idea and wouldn't care if i had to pay for the software to get it going.  have been thinking of doing this with recipies too.  someday, i will live in the luxury of knowing that when i cleaned up this half of the house, the other half didn't get stuck with the boxes.

[ahinton]

did you know theres another category for people who don't like to throw anything away.  it's called 'disposaphobia.'  you can find out more at www.disposaphobia.com

where all you find is someone trying (and doubtless also succeeding) in making money out of peole's apparent hoarding instincts. As with the filing thing, just apply common sense in liberal quantities - it's an awful lot cheaper and avoids lining the pockets of people cynical enough to consider it worthwhile creating websites for the purpose of extracting funds from large numbers of unsuspectingly helpless hoarders. In UK, they even ran a TV series on this kind of things a while ago; six entire half-hour programmes presented by self-styled domestic tidiness gurus whose every minute was sickeningly filled to bursting with much the same kind of rubbish of which their victims were portrayed as so loath to dispose unaided; one may presume that the victims were paid for their trouble and be sure that the gurus made a fortune out of it. Quite who would have been entertained by any of it is a question I'd almost prefer not to ask, let alone have answered...

this lady claims to be a 'mysterious mistress of motivation and proprietress and royal pusher of postponed projects.'  i think this will be my new assumed name.

I for one sincerely hope not - even if only because it's infinitely more clumsy than "pianistimo"...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

victims and gurus.  yes.  you may be right.  just common sense and as my mother says 'always clean up right after you make the mess.'  'a place for everything.'  i'm really trying hard now.  plastic containers for this and that.  sometimes - it's just the idea that an attempt was made.