Category: Organization

Yesterday, I ordered a filing cabinet (black) from my local Office Depot. Originally, I was going to order them from Amazon but… I decided to check to see if I could find them cheaper at a local store, and… I did. This filing system was on sale for $59.99, originally priced at $99.99. Score! I did have a filing cabinet that was a bit smaller, but last year I got rid of it because it wouldn’t close all the way. I held off purchasing a replacement long enough. Now, with the addition of the filing cabinet, I can easily put away hard copy documents that I need to keep on hand.

We print a lot of paper in our house, easily 300 sheets weekly, no it’s not something we can cut down on either since my having physical copies is a requirement for what I do and for my daughter’s homeschooling.

Of course… I’ve thought about making digital copies of the documents that I keep in my filing cabinet. To be fair, at least one piece of each document that is stored has some part scanned electronically. I just haven’t convinced myself to scan it all. That would be a lot of extra busy work. Hmm, perhaps set up a proposal and see if my daughter would be interested in picking up a side job? She has her chores, but this.. yes, I’d pay her to scan those documents.

Currently, I’m researching laser printers, with the amount of printing we are doing weekly, my Epson Workforce 3640 is running through the ink. In addition, I’m researching shredders. I’ll need one eventually for some sensitive documents that I have. When I do finally decide on a shredder, it will be a cross-cut shredder.

Organization? What’s not to love! I easily find whatever I’m looking for because I keep documents stored away in order. Yes, sometimes, I don’t want to take the time to set things up, but the benefits make this step worthwhile. Flying by the seat of my clothes when it comes to organization? If I know about it in advance, that’s not going to happen. I’m teaching my daughter the same thing.

When it comes to work, just as with my budgeting habits I try to stay on top of things since I’ve found being efficient is much better than “flying by the seat of my pants.” A few days ago, I stumbled upon a new to me software titled, Harvest. I must say the title appealed to me since I do enjoy growing things in our garden. It makes me think of all the efforts that go into the finished produce and the pride that I feel as I pick the produce to turn it into something awesome or share with others.

Since I cannot share my administrative tasks with others, at least not yet, I’ve been thinking about a more efficient way to get this accomplished without at much effort from myself. While I’ve used Quicken in the past, I’m not overly fond with it and I’m more than eager to give Harvest a try. Since it’s free for 30 days, I’ll sign up within the next few days and put the software through it’s paces. Perhaps, it’ll be love at first entry, just like YNAB. We’ll see! With my freelance work, I’m thrilled to say that I’ve never missed a deadline so even though I might jump through extra hoops to get things accomplished, I’ve been able to stay on top of things.

Although I have a good memory, I do write my appointments/deadlines down in a notebook or planner. I like planners that are refillable. I recently purchased this refillable planner, it should arrive soon. Naturally a refillable planner appeals to the frugal part of me, that wants to hang onto an item for a long time.

So of course you know a monthly calendar/whiteboard is perfect for someone like myself. I love that I can see what’s happening for the entire month. With all the ways that I cover the bases for freelance work, I should never have an excuse for not getting my assignments completed on time and this is important because next month, my freelance workload is going to hit a new record. The beauty of that is, I work around my schedule and from home with the occasional on site audit.