Two weeks ago, after discussing ways to file your reference papers, I left you working on getting that file cabinet organized. I hope you've made progress. I'd like to share a couple tips with you to help ease some of the organizing burden.

First, when you put a tab on the hanging folder, make sure you put it on the front edge instead of the back edge. Doing this will ease your filing process a bit by allowing you to grab the tab and insert the paper you're filing into the front of the file. This will keep your most current documents in front and will save a bit of motion when filing a lot of papers.

Second, don't feel like you have to catch up on all your filing in one attempt. Progress is the important thing here. If you have a few spare moments, grab a small stack of papers and file them. If you use your available time in this manner, you'll quickly see progress and will feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment as your paper piles start to diminish.

Third, make a filing goal and stick with it. Your goal might be that by the end of each week you want all "to be filed" documents filed. If you set a goal that is attainable, you can gradually work toward accomplishing that goal. Better yet, write down the goal on a Post-it ® note and put it on your computer monitor so you can be regularly reminded of the goal you've set.

Fourth, if you have a piece of paper in your hand and you know exactly where it goes, sometimes it's quicker to just file it right then. Don't worry about the other papers in the "to be filed" area; it's okay to sneak in a document once in a while so you don't have to look at it again.

Fifth, remember that you really don't need to keep every document that comes into your house. When you're deciding the destination for a piece of paper, give it a critical analysis and decide if you're going to need it for legal or tax purposes, or if you can just throw it away.

Sixth, if you receive meeting announcements, try to enter them into your calendar system right away and throw away the piece of paper. Make sure to capture the important elements, e.g. date, time, place, directions to get there, and point of contact and phone number. By making the effort to enter these items right away, you've done yourself several favors. You've eliminated a piece of paper, you've put the information in the proper place, and you've ultimately saved yourself time in hunting for the document when you need it.

Seventh, in your filing system, don't use the term "Miscellaneous." Your files need to be specific enough for you to be able to retrieve paper when you need it. The word miscellaneous is not descriptive enough to help you with anything other than collecting papers that will never be looked at again. Do yourself a favor and stay away from such an ambiguous category.

Now it's time to do some more filing. Next week I'll talk specifically about filing your genealogical documents.