Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD, 3rd Edition: Tips and Tools to Help You Take Charge of Your Life and Get Organized

by Susan C. Pinsky

Here are some additional file labeling tips: The files within the drawer should be arranged in alphabetical order, except for your most frequently used file, let’s say “Taxes 20--,” which then goes to the front of the drawer. Throw out the label maker—it values beauty over effort. Use a black felt-tipped marker to label tabbed folders in LARGE black letters. Throw out most of the plastic tabs on hanging folders. They are a huge expense of effort! Occasionally I will put one on a blank hanging folder to give a file drawer two categories—the back half of the drawer might be tax materials or office supplies. Avoid general labels like “Legal Docs,” “Urgent Papers,” or “Current Taxes” because they don’t tell us anything. Files labeled “Easement Lawsuit,” “Hurricane Boris Flood Insurance Claim,” and “Taxes 2019” will tell us everything we need to know immediately and will never date. It is better to have fewer files that are fuller, but within those files, staple or clip together papers that are one category. While we might have an insurance file with five policies, each with many papers, there will only be five items as all the papers for any individual policy will be stapled or clipped together. Put the colorful tabbed folder in a hanging folder of the same color. It will be easy to return that blue file (finishing task), because we can target the empty but matching blue hanging folder at the back of the drawer. Put only one tabbed file folder in each hanging folder. When crea...