Favorite Hack: Portable Paper Processing Station

Although I have been moving towards electronic communication, we still get a huge amount of information via paper - receipts, notes from school, snail mail, etc.  This is not good for someone like me who has a freak need to keep things organized and put away, but not a lot of time to process information as it comes in.  I needed to find a way to efficiently sort all of this paper.

I use a handy-dandy portable file box with the following section headings:

• To Be Paid
• To Be Put on the Calendar
• To Be Submitted For Reimbursement: Typically business or healthcare expenses
• School Follow-Up: Sign-ups, permission slips, etc
• General Follow-Up: Any non-school item that requires an action
• To Be Filed: I still keep a hard copies of a few items (e.g. tax information, receipts for big purchases). 
• To Be Shredded: Credit card offers, any correspondence with an account number.
• Shopping Receipts: I keep receipts until purchases are categorized in Quicken, then I shred.  Luckily, most stores now can process refunds without receipts if the merchandise was purchased on a credit card.  

Everything that doesn't make into the file box goes into the recycling bin.

Basically, I use the file box as a 'to-do' list.  Every few days I look through the box and determine what tasks I have time to complete.  Armed with my portable file box, a laptop, and a cordless phone, I can work on my 'list' anywhere while remaining within visual range of the kiddos.