Having you been staring at a pile of clothes in your closet or stack of paperwork in your office? As daunting as it may seem to tackle this organizing project you may just be rewarded by jumping in and giving it your best shot. Take a few moments to look through the paperwork or hang up your clothes. It is possible that you may even find a lost treasure. Some of the most common items we find organizing homes and offices are gift certificates, important documents and clothes we have forgotten.

Do you think you can find an important document in one of the stacks of paper in your office? Could you do it in 10 seconds? Most likely its going to take a long time to sift through each piece of paper. The problem with stacks of paper is you can only see what is on top and there are no categories. Older paperwork just waits patiently on the bottom for an action. The unfortunate part about the older paperwork is it could be a very important like a bill that needs to be paid or a timely response. Be sure to always separate your paperwork immediately after it has been viewed. Decide if it requires and action, such as paying or responding (Bills, invitations, doctors appointments). Ask yourself if you need it for reference? (warranties, receipts, statements). If you dont have a filing system set one up and save your important documents where they can be easily accessed.

Dont spend a lot of money on tissue paper to fill your holiday gift boxes. Instead use the unwanted shredded paper from your shredder basket. First you have to do some organizing with your home or office paperwork. Shred unwanted documents and reuse the shredded paper as you would tissue paper. If you want to get creative, toss a few sheets of colored paper in to brighten it up.

Keeping track of holiday spending can be a challenge, especially all those gift receipts. Its critical to keep this paperwork in a safe place. A folder, envelope or box will work as long as its easy for you to manage. You will need these receipts to check against your bank or credit card statements after the holidays. You will also want to keep a copy of the original receipt for any returns. Be sure to get gift receipts whenever possible or a duplicate receipt to include with gifts. And make a master list of all gifts and recipients.