Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The Computer!

You don't want to spend an hour looking for a scone recipe—or your résumé—because you're searching through all the stuff on your desktop.

If you can't see the pretty picture on your computer screen because it's full of icons for documents, downloads, and photos, start making folders. Color-code them: The folder for your financial documents can be green, the one for your job search can be blue. Like goes with like—all your résumés in one folder, all photos in another. Label each one clearly. Then put all your folders in "My Documents," a master folder that you have whether you're on a Mac or a PC.

You can save e-mail correspondence, but discard the one that says, "Great, see you at 12 on Thursday!" and save the one with information about what you discussed. By the way, if you're constantly responding to e-mail, you're being pulled away from the things that you need or want to do. Try checking it hourly.


This is an excerpt from Oprah Magazine by Andrew Mellow, a professional organizer. To learn more about Mr. Mellow visit VirgoMan.com

1 comment:

Suzanne said...

Hi Sharon! LOVE the new blog header!
I wanted to comment that another great tip to go along with this it to NAME the folders things that make sense! Don't just name it Job, name it Job search. Same goes for your files. Name your pictures things you'll remember too - especially since they come off the computer with nice generic names like DSC00001. Personally, I make "event" folder for my pictures - Emma 1st day of school - and that's the ONLY thing that goes in there!
Windows allows you to name files and folders using up to 256 characters - USE THEM! :D
OK, that's my IT side coming out! I'm enjoying your organizing tips! Talk to you soon!