How to Save Time, Money and Your Sanity

How to Save Time, Money and Your Sanity

A Simple Low Cost Solution for Business Owners

by Rosemarie Zera

How would you like to Save Time, Money and Stress with a Simple Idea that won't cost an arm and a leg.

I know you're a Busy Business Owner, you don't need any more stress and a Smart Business Owner is always looking for low cost solutions, so...

What is it?

It's A Simple Filing System! Now before you groan and stop reading, answer this:

Do you ever waste time searching through mountains of papers or drawers of jumbled records for a receipt or document?

Do you ever have to pay late fees because a bill was misplaced?

If this is a constant occurrence, you need a Simple Filing System.

A big misconception about FILING is that its main purpose is to "store" or "hide" things and how or where things are filed is unimportant.

WRONG!!

The whole purpose of a Filing system is to be able to retrieve something when it's needed. So much time and money is lost by the inability to retrieve necessary information, not to mention the stress it causes.

Here is A SIMPLE FILING SYSTEM to get you going:

First - Let’s deal with the "Pending/Due" file [for unfinished work, bills to pay, and correspondence to answer]

You'll need: either a Box of folders (31) or an Accordion File with 31 slots

Number the folders 1 - 31.

Begin sorting by "Due Date" and put items in the folder/slot with the number prior to the corresponding date it will be processed.

Each day you will check the folder/slot with the number corresponding to the date.

Process these items or refile for later.

Once processed, these will be filed into:

Second - this is the "Completed" file

You'll need: another Box (or filing cabinet) with Folders these can be multi colored to distinguish Categories.

One Color should be for Customers Receipts (Should be kept in Alphabetic Order) as this section increases, you may want to have a folder per Letter or even per Customer.

Here are some standard Categories you can start with - Have a Folder for each:

Correspondence

Assets Purchased [Large items that you will be keeping for some time -and may require service]

Bank Statements

Credit Card Statements

Automobile Expenses

Insurance

Telephone/Internet Bills

Utility Bills

Tax Reports/Payments

Miscellaneous [This tends to catch a lot - so you should separate A - M & N - Z]

In fact, if you know you constantly use another category - set it up now - this is only an example of some common categories.

Third - At the end of the year - you will want to empty these folders into a Storage file - or just Store these folders and Start the New Year with New Folders. That way you are working with current records.

Be sure to Mark the YEAR on the Storage folders before storing them for retrieval later.

This may seem like a tedious chore when first starting out, but once set up is easy to maintain.

And just think of the relief you'll feel knowing you can find anything when you need it.

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