Hi everyone. I’m Alejandra from Alejandra.tv and in this video, I’m going to show you
how to organize and sort papers that you have in drawers, on the floor, wherever your stacks
of paper are. We’re going to go through one stack and I’m going to show you how
easy it is to go through, sort things out and feel more in control of your paperwork.
But first, if this is your first time watching any of my videos and you are just getting
started with organizing, you can check out my free video series on three tasks to do
tonight to wake up feeling more organized tomorrow. There’s a link below.
All right. So when it comes to piles of paperwork, it can be daunting to go through and figure
out what is what, especially if paper has been accumulating for weeks, months or even
years. Whatever the reason why you have so many piles, we’re just going to go through
one pile and just address it and I’m going to show you that it’s really easy to do.
So you can stop procrastinating, feel less overwhelmed and feel like you have a place
to start.
So I have a drawer right here and we are going to – it’s filled with papers and we’re
just going to take one stack of paper and we’re just going to get started.
So your job, if you have a stack of papers, just go through. Grab one stack. Pause this
video, grab the stack, come back, hit Play and then we will just do this together.
All right. So I have a stack right here and what we’re going to do to show you that
this is really easy and this is manageable and you can do this tonight, we’re going
to set a timer and instead of seeing how long this takes us, what we’re going to do is
we are going to count down from five minutes. I don’t think it’s going to take longer
than five minutes. But we’re going to set a timer for five minutes and we’re going
to race against the clock to keep us accountable to just staying focused to this pile right here.
All right. So I’m going to hit Play in a second. Take your stack and what we’re going
to do is we’re going to sort like with like. I don’t know what the categories are right
now but once we start creating piles, if we start to get confused, we’re going to take
a sticky note, take a marker and label our pile with whatever the category is.
If you don’t want to waste a sticky note, grab a scrap paper from the recycling bin
and do the same thing. All right. So ready, set, go.
So just look at the first thing. Figure out what it is and then put it in the pile. Then
as we make progress, we’re going to label our piles, if we feel like we’re getting
confused on what goes where.
So all these different piles I’m creating are all different categories. This goes with
this pile. This goes with this pile. This goes with this pile. So the most important
pile that you are going to create is your action pile. Your action pile is anything
that requires you to do something. So it’s like a bill to pay, someone to call, something
to cancel, something to apply for, something to submit, something that requires you to
do something. So this is an actionable thing. So that’s my action pile. This is actionable.
So we have already made so much progress and it has only been one minute. This is so great
and as you begin to – you know, you’re sorting piles. You’re seeing your big stack
of papers go down and this is like instant accomplishment or instant gratification because
it’s like wow, we’re making so much progress. This is easy. I can’t believe I’ve been
procrastinating this for so long and it just makes you just feel good and productive.
All right. This is all actionable stuff. OK. It has been almost two minutes and – where
And, where does this go? This goes right here. All right. So that took not even two minutes to do and
I sorted a whole stack of papers. That was not the whole drawer. There’s still more
stuff in here. But it’s progress. It’s all about making progress. It’s not about
trying to start and finish everything in one organizing session. It’s about making progress,
whether it’s baby steps or tackling everything. It’s about making progress.
All right. So everything is sorted here and like I said, if you get confused or you start
to get confused when you’re sorting, take a sticky note or a piece of scrap paper and
write down the name of your category. So right here, I just wrote “fridge”. So I’m
sorting a bunch of warranties and manuals for a new house and so there are things for
the fridge. So I would just take this and I will put that on the fridge category right
there.
So when I’m sorting, I can see what pile is what because it starts to get confusing
the more piles you have. All right. So that was that. Your most important pile like I
said is your action pile, so anything that requires you to take action and do something.
It’s your most important pile. In the next video, I’m going to show you how to set
up a system for all your actionable documents because those are your important things.
Everything is important but these require you to do something. So that’s in an upcoming
video. Again, this is not the whole organizing process. But this is the first step to sorting
out paperwork if you have a lot of piles. I hope you found this video helpful. Again,
if you feel overwhelmed, grab a small pile. Get started. Do this tonight. Do it while
you’re watching TV. Put music on. Just get started. It doesn’t matter how far behind
you are. What matters most is how fast you can pick yourself back up and get back on
track.
So I hope you found this video helpful. If this is your first time watching any of my
videos, you can subscribe for more videos on getting organized or check out my website
Alejandra.tv for more tools and training on living a more organized and productive life.
Thanks for watching and I will see you soon. Bye.