• Tailoring to your space- they can be tiered and stacked in different arrangements
• Mounting them on the wall to take advantage of vertical space
• Taking advantage of the depth of your cabinet space and maximizing the amount of stuff you can fit in your storage cabinet
• Accommodating different types of items, from binder clips to letter size sheets of paper; yet the consistency of material keeps it looking organized
• Labeling them!

Cost: $13 - $55

Available at: The Container Store

Abilities:

• Creates incoming and outgoing paper flow
• Stackable
• Papers lay flat, so they do not distort
• Can add labels
  

Great for: Anyone who needs to create paper flow, a mail center, or inbox system within an existing space but wants it to look nice for a very reasonable price.  Anyone can use these, they’re very versatile!

Available at: our Amazon store

You’ll love it for:

• No longer requiring plastic tabs.
• Its larger tabs (they’re larger than plastic tabs, which is good for people with vision trouble).
• Its 10% recycled content.
• Its availability in either a single position (right) or assorted positions.
• Creating a fairly simple file structure.

Just keep in mind:

• If you ever want to change what the label says, you can’t just take the plastic tab off and reuse the folder.  You’re stuck with what you have labeled it.
• Although it is available in both single position and assorted positions, we like the customizability of standard plastic tab labels.

Available at: Find nearby dealers on Smead.com

Great for:

• Making your files portable or easily moved around
• Stacking file boxes to optimize vertical space
• Creating an action file for your desktop

Available at: our Amazon store

You’ll love it for:

• Storing related business cards in the pocket.
• Keeping CDs paired up with the matching paper documents.
• Being green - it’s 100% recycled content, 30% post-consumer; this is a great way to store files you have to keep and have less of an impact on the environment.
• It’s variety of colors - available in a standard file folder beige, but also comes in two fun colors, teal and blue.

Just keep in mind:

• Using a product like this will take you one step closer to being green, but ultimately reducing your paper use and going “paperless” will have a bigger impact.

Available at: Find nearby dealers on Smead.com

-  Sort through your inbox and tackle actionable items
-  Create an Action File
-  Purge your file drawers and clear out past projects
-  Make sure your file labels are all up-to-date
-  Set a schedule for filing maintenance in the future and add it to your calendar

Take advantage of this week and finally gain some control over those files!  For more information on how to create an action file, download our Paper Management webinar recording for a step-by-step guide.

You’ll love it for:

• Storing important business cards in the pocket.
• Presenting information to clients.  As soon as the client receives it, they can then file it away in their file cabinet and label the tab, keeping it in line with the rest of their left tab file folders.
• Transferring from a presentation folder to a file folder.
• Keeping brochures standing straight up, using the slit on the inside right pocket.
• Preventing papers from falling out the side when placed in a file cabinet with open sides, thanks to the top flap.
• Accommodating many pages, instead of just a few, since the top flap can extend (approx. ¼” thick each side).
• Writing longer descriptions on the file tab, since it is larger than normal.

Just keep in mind:

• If you’re not using it for putting in a file cabinet, the flap at the top can be confusing and cumbersome. 
  
• Currently, they’re only available in primary red, blue, green and black.
• Unless you slide the paper right into the inside seam, you can see the papers showing through the file tab cut out, from the front.  This can diminish the presentation quality from the front.

Available at: Find nearby dealers on Smead.com

The dreaded due date for individual tax returns in 2012 is just around the corner on April 17th.   Even in this digital age, when most of us finish our tax return, we will invariably wind up with a lot of tax paperwork lying around.  Before you shove those paper documents into a filing cabinet never to see the light of day again, here are some helpful tips about how long to keep each document type:

You should keep your tax returns forever.  Even though the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a statute of limitations for auditing returns of 3 years, in special circumstances, they can go back as far as you have filed!  Supporting documentation for tax returns, like mortgage statements and property tax information, can usually be discarded after 7 years.

If you have statements for the acquisition of assets, such as purchasing a home, or buying stocks, you should keep these documents until that asset is sold plus the tax period.   This means that you will need to keep the sale records for, you guessed it, 7 years.

A great resource to help figure out how long you should save specific tax records is the IRS’ Publication 552.

Once you know the retention guidelines for your documents, I am sure Innovatively Organized can think of a few ways to store all those documents without cluttering up your office!   Contact them if you need help getting your files in order now because it’ll make filing your taxes so much easier for next year.

For additional tips on organizing your documents, download our Paper Management 101 webinar or take a look at our favorite organizing products in our Amazon Store.

Here are just some of the ways this versatile product can be used:

1. Stand it upright and use it as your Action File
2. Lay it down and use it as a paper holder that doubles as a monitor stand
3. Mount it to the wall and use it as your Mail Center

How do you use 3-tier organizers?  Get yours at our Amazon store!