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For many, being organised means a place for everything and everything in its place. For others, it means nothing. The true definition of being organised is being able to find things when you need them, not three weeks later.

But if you ask me, being organised means saving BIG money...period. Simply put, time is money. If you waste time all day long looking for things, you are wasting money.

If you spend just five minutes of every hour of an eight hour day (how often do we only work eight hour days?), looking for things, that adds up to over four weeks per year (166 hours). Many times, we spend hours looking for something. It adds up fast when you take each employee's hourly rate of pay and multiply it by 166 hours per year.

For example: $15/hour X 166 hours X 10 employees = $24,900/year thrown away! OUCH.

The worst part is (yes it gets worse!) that most small business owners and managers average even more wasted time...as much as eight weeks per year! So what can be done to eliminate most of this wasted time?

Get READY
For starters, if you are not as organised as you'd like to be, you have to look inside yourself and explore WHY you are not organised. By revealing your nature, you can learn to work with your habits instead of against them. Over the years, we develop excuses, obstacles and reasons to avoid getting organised. Here are a few examples:

• You might need it someday!
•  If you can't see it, you forget it.
• You have too much stuff!
• Your stuff needs a home.
• You grew up with clutter.
• You have too much to do!
• Not enough storage space.
• You are very sentimental.
• You have had major changes in your life.

Get SET
Second, you have to take the time to look at your space and map out what you want the space to look like when you are done before you touch the first piece of clutter. In this step, you will need to:

• Do a Needs Assessment.
• Define the activity for the room.
• Use logic.
• Make a drawing of the room.
• Make a list of what you will need.
• Have a realistic time schedule.
• Have the URGE TO PURGE.

GO
Finally, you get to declutter by sorting and putting away in a methodical fashion. Most folks skip the Ready and Set steps and just start to tear into the clutter but don't develop any long lasting systems. This Band-Aid will only last a short while before you have clutter creeping back into your life.

In order to make the paper clutter go away, a simple process is necessary. When it comes to papers and office clutter, I recommend the E.A.S.Y. system. There are only four things you can do with a piece of paper.

• Eliminate it.
• Act on it.
• Send it away.
• You file it.

If you create four piles that correspond to the E.A.S.Y. system as you sort, decision-making becomes more concise and narrow. The bad news is that getting organised takes time and commitment. It has to be on your list of priorities for it to really become achievable.

The good news is that getting organised is simple if done methodically and it pays off. Not only does organisation provide a less stressful work environment, but it also boosts morale, increases productivity and positively affects the bottom line.