Paper Tiger Blog

Your storage area may not look like the picture above, but wherever you store your stuff, closets, garage, the attic, basement or other storage area, maybe it’s time to get things organized! Many homeowners make the mistake of putting boxes of things that need to be sorted in the garage, waiting for a better day when there’s more time. Of course, time never allows for you to do any of that sorting, and before you know it, the garage is one big project that keeps getting pushed back on the to-do list.

What you really need to get your storage area organized is the one thing that can help make the entire task as simple as could be. Make it your goal to implement a plan of action and Paper Tiger Filing System Software to get organized so you can find everything later, not just cleared for the sake of clearing. You can get this task completed, and you’ll not have to worry about finding items again. If you are ready to de-clutter and finally check organizing your storage area off of your to-do list, let this be your guide for getting started.

Be Realistic for an Organized Storage Area

The best way to get started is to realize it is necessary to be realistic and honest, and actually schedule some time to get organized. Then begin by dividing up the clutter into different categories. Choose what goes into the “keep” pile and what goes into the “get rid of” or “give-away” pile. Remember, the more belongings you can cut down on and reduce the amount of clutter, the easier maintaining an organized storage area will be. The items you can part with can be sold at a garage sale or on eBay, or you may choose to donate these items.

You can sort the items you are keeping and index them into your Paper Tiger database, which is an indexing system that gives you a way to catalog all the items you put into a bin or box by adding all relating keywords for each item, and then when you need to find an item later, conduct a keyword search and you’ll know where that item is located quickly and easily. So you would number your storage containers and enter the content information into the keyword section of your database, then later you can search for “Fall decorations” the same way you type keywords to search for intangible items on Google. Your indexing system will bring back search results that tell you what bin number the item is in, and even where the bin is, based on the information you’ve input previously.

Then Maintain Your Organized Storage Area

Once you have your storage area on the path of de-clutter, your indexing system should be set up to keep it this way. Implementing Paper Tiger Filing System Software will make it easier to maintain your organized storage area. Make sure you and anyone who uses the filing system to find and retrieve an item, return the item to where it belongs to maintain your organized system and prevent confusion later. If you add or remove an item, keep your indexing system updated.

Demonstration of Organized Storage Area

Meggin McIntosh, “The Ph.D. of Productivity”™ and a Paper Tiger Expert, demonstrated a great example of an organized storage area in her webinar at Paper Tiger Webinar hosted by Meggin McIntosh. Please view the entire webinar as Meggin demonstrates how she uses Paper Tiger to keep her office and training items organized. Using Paper Tiger is one of the reasons she is so productive, simply because she can find what she needs, when she needs it. The section of the webinar that she shows her storage unit is not her garage, but the same concept would be used in any storage area. If you want to view the storage area only, allow the webinar to load, then click in the webinar duration bar and move the timeline button to about 47 minutes into the webinar.

Example:  Shelves in Garage (or Basement, Attic, or other storage area)

1. You can name a Location in Paper Tiger ‘Basement Shelves’ or ‘Basement Boxes’.
2. Print out labels from the database to be affixed to the boxes or plastic tubs on your shelves. (Labels will be numbered like Basement Shelves 1, Basement Shelves 2, Basement Shelves 3, Basement Shelves 4, etc. The name on the label will depend on what you name the Location, and the number is the item number in the database…the name of your ‘Location’ and sequential item numbers. For example, if you name the Location ‘Basement Boxes’, the labels would be Basement Boxes 1, Basement Boxes 2, Basement Boxes 3, etc.)
3. For box #1, click on ‘Add Item’ in Paper Tiger ‘Basement Shelves’ Location. (when you add an item, Paper Tiger will assign a number to that item, so in this case Basement Shelves 1.)
4. Enter Keywords for all contents in box #1, such as blankets, pink flower cushions, sheet set, shelf 1, 1st row. Going down the shelves, box #2, click Add Item, then add keywords for all contents in box #2, shelf 1, 2nd row. Continue for each box. If you’d also like to assign an item # to things not in a box or tub, you can do that. You can also type in the shelf location for a keyword, such as what I did here: shelf 1, 1st row.
5. Match Label Numbers and Item Names: Make sure the label number you affix to each box (or item not in a box) matches what you input for the Item Name/keywords in Paper Tiger.

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Tags: Declutter, get organized, Organized, paper filing systems, Productivity

2 Responses to “Do You Need to Organize Your Storage Areas?”

1. Cheryl Togashi says:

   September 18, 2012 at 2:32 pm

   I love your article. This is definitely one of the ways that I use the Paper Tiger. I have organized my garage shelves, etc. with this wonderful system. I recently had a stroke and also live with MS. I cannot tell you how fabulous this system is in helping me to find things that I need. My husband is learning to find documents, things in the garage and around the house. I actually have some boxed marked “NEED TO SORT” because I needed the stuff out of my house, but wasn’t able to take the time to go through the boxes just yet. However, at least I know where the boxes are. One day at a time, I will go through the last few boxes and purge or save the contents. Thank you again and again, Paper Tiger!! This is the greatest system.
2. Janet Baker says:

   September 25, 2012 at 4:23 pm

   Cheryl,
   I’m sorry to hear about the stroke you had and your living with MS. We all know how difficult a health crisis can be, but to be unorganized in addition to that just adds more stress to you and your family. It is great to hear however that Paper Tiger is helping you and your husband. It is awesome that you’ve put the software to good use and not just for filing and finding your paper files! Taking one day at a time is all that any of us can handle, so keep up the good work! We wish you a full recovery in your health as well! Thanks again!…Janet