Don’t pack away that bag of New Year's Eve confetti yet — it’s National Get Organized Month!

Come to think of it, do put away the confetti. It’s messy and very hard to sort. But you can still wear a party hat, because if you’re like most of us, getting organized is one of your top 10 New Year’s resolutions! Yay!

Right?

Anyway, the question is, what does it really mean to be organized? Here’s a quiz: Which side in the photo above is organized? A or B?

a. A
b. B
c. Both A and B
d. Neither A nor B

(Answer later in the blog.)

When it comes down to it, being organized means being able to find what you want when you want it. Not knowing where things are creates enormous stress at home and on the job. It’s also a time and money waster.

According to a recent survey by Brother International, disorganization in the workplace costs American companies roughly 178 billion dollars per year. An average office worker wastes 76 hours per year looking for lost items or files.

That’s nine and a half work days wandering around looking for stuff.

True, it takes a lot of time to organize a space — especially when paper and documents are involved. But if you can set up a system and stick with it, that time is well spent.

The phrase “get organized” is kind of a misnomer, because it sounds like a goal you achieve. Period. Get organized. Then go quit smoking, or whatever your next resolution is. But the truth is, getting organized doesn’t do much good if you don’t stay organized.

Oh, before I go on, here’s the answer to the quiz above: it depends.

(I know. Don’t you hate answers like that?)

But it really does depend on whose stuff it is and whether or not they can find what they want right away, either in the messy pile of papers or in the tidy plastic organizers.

OK, I admit, right off the bat, the messy pile has a couple strikes against it. One, it’s hard to look through papers that are on top of each other, especially in a tall Dagwood Sandwich-y stack. Two, the papers don’t appear to be grouped together, like with like, in any way. I don’t see a single paperclip.

However, the proof is in the pudding, as it were. If the person who owns the stack…
1. needs something;
2. knows it’s in that stack;
3. finds the exact thing s/he needs right away; and
4. can do this repeatedly with any document or paper in the pile…
… that’s about as organized as it gets. My hat (and I do know where it is) would be off to the proprietor of the pile.

OK — back to staying organized. It’s kind of like when you buy groceries. You come home and put them away, where they belong. Then you pull them out, as needed, for cooking, then put them back and throw away things as they go bad.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

I never could fool you… So, say you bought a file cabinet and have created files for all your paperwork. Now you have to use the system you created. As paper comes into your life, and it surely will, you have to deal with it.

Here are some tips on how to manage paperwork:

* When you bring in your daily mail, immediately divide into three piles (yes, I know, I said piles, but it’s just for a few seconds): Bills, reading material and junk mail. Reading material is anything you might want to look at later. Shred any sensitive junk and recycle the rest.

* Put the reading material near where you do most of your reading. In bed? Then put it on your bedside table. After you’ve read it, discard it or file it.

* Place the bills in a basket or container where you normally do your bills. Put them in the order of the date they’re due, and check the basket daily (when going through the mail is a good time) to make sure they’re paid on time.

* File the stubs from the bills in your filing cabinet, where you’ve, of course, labeled file folders, one for each company that bills you. Naturally, these are in alphabetical order, so you can easily find the folder you need.

* Many of our clients think they need to save the envelopes the bills came in. You will never need that envelope. Get rid of it!

* Keep extra folders in your file cabinet so you can easily create a new file for new bills.

* The most common filing method is to place the most recent item in the front, so that at the back of the folder is the oldest material.

* Every month or two, remove anything from the back of each folder that is more than a year old.

Don’t have room for a file cabinet? There are ottomans that double as file cabinets! Also, any office supply store sells folders with multiple file slots. If the largest one doesn’t have enough slots, buy more than one. There is no excuse anymore!

It is truly a calming feeling when you know where your stuff is. Why? Because the stress is gone. You might not even realize how much stress disorganization causes until it goes away. I think that’s because it creeps up on us gradually. Becoming disorganized is not dramatic. Getting organized is. May your New Year stay organized and stress-free!

You can blow your noisemakers now.

By the way, I’ll be doing extra blogs in honor of the month. Included will be a two-part blog with great info from Josh, our computer expert.

Judy DiForte is a professional organizer for The Betty Brigade, a full-service personal assistance and concierge company based in Ann Arbor. Email her at Judy@BettyBrigade.com.