Paper Flow: Your Ultimate Guide to Making Paperwork Easy Paperback – August 3, 2011

7/10Paper Flow could be called an idiot's guide to organising your paperwork and papers at home, whether it is your bills and receipts, a few important documents, or having your office a home properly set and organised.If you are naturally very organised, you will find that you do most of what the authors recommend without even thinking about it. However, you still will find some items of advice and tips that can improve your system. I got some ahas and items of advice that have proven very useful for my work space.If your paperwork is a mess and you don't know how to start or what to do, this is your book and it will certainly make wonders for you, your life and your place.The book is very well organised and reads well as it is written in a very simple blog-like language, that can be understood by anybody.The book is a bit anal about tidying up, but it is really helpful to get rid of all of your crap :)))The authors claim that paper flow is the world best proven system to organise your papers. Isn't that pretentious? I am going to tell you what is the paper flow system in even more simple terms... you will see that is nothing that revolutionary:Say, you have a basket with bananas and another with apples, so you keep them separate, but put them in a bigger basket called Fruit Basket. Then you have a container with chicken and another container with pork, so you keep them separate and put them in a bigger container called Meats Container. Then, you put those baskets and containers inside your fridge in areas that are the best to keep them at hand and ready for preparation. Then, you have other things that are tinned and bottled and do not need of them immediately, so you put them in your pantry, one shelf for beans, another for carbs foods, another for drinks, another for spices, another for pet food, etc. You put the heavy stuff below and the lighter above. Since you have just one basket for each thing and one shelf for each food category, you need to make sure that you don't buy more stuff than your basket or shelves can fit in; if you do, you will have to get rid of some of the old stuff to put the new one in, so your food is always fresh and healthy. If your food cases or basket is no longer in season, you remove it from your fridge or replace it with another one in season. Then, of course, you have your cooking books, you put those at hand, as well as your cooking tools. You keep all neat and tidy and looking good because that it creates visual harmony and you don't waste your time looking for things every time you are going to cook.Apply this to your paperwork management... that is the paper-flow system. Yes, this is it! Just common sense.I found the appendix of the meaning of colours totally unnecessary. The meaning of colour varies from culture to culture, from person to person, from social class to social class, or from generation to generation, so let everybody choose the meaning of a given colour to him/her. It would be better providing the readers with some bibliographical serious references for them to consult if they are interested.I missed, on the contrary, two appendixes. One on how to declutter in few simple steps (like a handy shortcut for messy people), and another on how to organise your paperwork and books if you tend to move between countries, states, cities or just houses frequently.I agree with the authors that the best way to organise your paperwork is to have the least possible paper, and to go paperless as much as you can. Therefore, virtual and computer paper flow is advised. You just have to replicate your paper-flow system in your computer. That is it.... No, I don't think so. The authors fall too short because computer paper management (virtual or not) and digital technology put demands on us and our paper management that are completely different from those that real paper and hard copy books generate. Space is going to be rarely a problem in your computer with so many back-up cheap storage devices available. However, you have to synchronise your bookmarks, files, email accounts, and important information in your computer and devices. If you have a computer, a tablet and a smart device you need to organise upfront how and where you are going to save and archive your documents. How and where do you save your documents and emails safely? Which formats are more advisable long term? How do you visually customise your virtual office? How do you store safely? How do you protect your identity? How do you archive your sms? How do you save and archive different webmail accounts? How do you erase webmail accounts you no longer use but keep them in your hard drive with attachments included (yes, it is possible)? Which sort of programs or resources can you use to keep your virtual archives clean, pretty and up to date?If you are not organised and think that your paper flow needs of this book, you will need more than opening replicas of your files in your computer to get things flowing at home. Hard copy billing and correspondence is becoming rarer by the day, so the authors need to provide the reader with more tools for online, virtual digital management of your documents. The book is not there yet!I don't see the need of promoting any storage shop or brand, as many of the items photographed in the book can be found anywhere. Any other office supplies shop can provide you with pretty little things to make your office good-looking and tidy. I hate endorsement of brands in books I pay for. A few empty shoe boxes or 2-dollar shop boxes will do the job the same.This is a great book for people who tend to be messy and do not know where to start when dealing with their archives, projects and bookkeeping. It gives sound advice on how to manage your papers and how to take advantage of tiny space and little time to create a work station that suits your needs and to organise your papers in the best possible way for YOU.

Perhaps a bit over dramatic, but in my new position (a couple of years old by now) I have much more paper coming at me than ever before. My old way just isn't functioning anymore at work or at home.I bought the book by accident with my Kindle after reading their 28-day challenge. While I could have retracted the purchase, then I thought the purchase may have been my subconscious at work. Turns out, my subconscious may be a good thing after all.While reading the book, several of the case study examples in the book ran too true for me and my family. Losing out on rebates or discounts, not easily finding last month's bill to compare, buying a magazine twice because I misplaced the first copy (and forgot I purchased it), or having to call a colleague (again) for information they already sent me.The ideas of doing vertical filing using magazine files never occurred to me. After I went down to the stationary shop to get some files for sorting and started sorting, I found a discount card for $10 off the purchase I had just made. It expires in about a week, so I'm headed back tomorrow to see if I can get the discount. That will pay for ~2/3 the price of the book. There are plenty of other good ideas in their book, but that would be telling.While many of the ideas may appear obvious, it's a good to have a fresh look at what you might otherwise believe is a trivial problem to solve - and if you've already solved it then this isn't the book for you.

This is the ultimate book on getting the paper (and computer files) in your life sorted. As well as providing inspiration, it has step by step instructions for getting all your papers sorted and a system to keep them all sorted and up to date. There are fabulous photos throughout the book too which is great for those of us who are visual.I've tried many ways to keep on top of the papers that seem to multiply by themselves but Paperflow is the only system that has continued to work for me and takes minimum effort. I actually enjoy going in to my new home office to do the paperwork now, and with this system it takes so little time. I no longer have papers all over the place, it only takes a few seconds to put them in to the in tray ready to begin the Paperflow. I can find anything I'm looking for with this system, and never forget to pay a bill on time or claim a rebate.This is one author who goes above and beyond by providing an online Facebook support group and will personally answer any questions. Members can post before and after photos and MaryAnne regularly posts inspiring and motivational messages.If you have read many books and are still struggling, or just want to find a great system for your paperwork (and computer files) then Paperflow is the one and only book you need.

I love this book. I have taken tons of classes and read tons of books on paper clutter. I am very organized already but found this books information inspiring and the ideas in it were new and I am implementing many ideas from this book. I highly recommend this book for anyone whether you are organized with your papers or not. Paper Flow: Your Ultimate Guide to Making Paperwork Easy

Excellent book, very clear and easy to follow. Perfect for people who find paperwork a chore and aren't naturally organised.

Very Instructive!

A friend gave me this Australian book as she knew I would benefit from a system to help me tackle my many piles and boxes of paperwork. I passed it onto another friend recently and have just bought myself a new copy. I highly recommend it for anyone who struggles to keep on top of paper at home or at work. It is clearly written with excellent photos and has already changed the way I deal with paperwork. There is also a Facebook closed group where people following the system can join the 28 day challenge. Everyone is very supportive, sharing tips and achievements, asking advice and posting before and after photos. One of the authors of the book, MaryAnne Bennie, regularly gives advice and support. At around £14 this is not a cheap book but I think it is worth every penny.