You’ll need to keep your electronic documents organized much in the same way that you keep your paper documents.  You’ll also need to decide how you want to store your electronic files. Computer crashes occur and losing important documents can be complicated. Therefore, take the time today to focus on sorting through your electronic files and backing up your important information. Turn on some soothing music and prepare a pot of herb tea and relax. You may want to conduct your beauty routine while tackling this organizational task.

First, start by going through your computer files and organizing material by categories.  Items such as important documents, financial records, grocery lists, recipes, school work, work related items,  and photos/pictures all should be grouped together according to their function.  You’ll want to back up your files with either an external hardrive. thumb drives or other storage devices.    Clean out any unwanted files before transferring to  storage. Once you have all unwanted documents cleaned out and downloaded, clean your computer by using canned air to clean the keyboard, the internal hardware, fan and the monitor.  It is very important that you keep the internal parts of your computer clean. You will also want to run an electronic cleaning program to rid your computer of unnecessary files and programs. These strategies will help you computer run faster and more efficiently.

As many of us now use our smart phones as our computers, the same procedure applies. Download and save in a storage device all of the important electronic data from your phone. You can utilize the on-line storage sites if needed.

Don’t forget to organize all the documents on any thumbdrive or other external storage device so that you have comprehensively organized and safely stored all of your important electronic documents.

You’ll also need to  organizer your electronic mail. Here is a short instructional set on how to quickly and effectively accomplish this task.

Scroll through your mail and determine a few categories which emerge from the topics of the emails.  Open new folders to create an organizational framework.  Sort and categorize all the mail  according to topic.  Delete all unwanted mail and also unsubscribe to any advertising that you do not want. Follow the instructions on the page to unsubscribe.

It is efficient to schedule time in the week to do this so that it does not accumulate such as the day that you clean the office.  All office work can be done on that day therefore accomplishing tasks on a routine schedule.  Make sure that you empty your recycle basket after you delete your mail so that your computer runs more efficiently. Lastly, don’t forget the email accounts for other organizations such as clubs, schools or work.

You can also transfer emails to documents and back up with external storage.  It is helpful to avoid losing important electronic documents just as it is important to keep track of paper documents.

Peripheral Devices

Don’t forget to clean out camera cards, thumb drives and phones too.  These are often neglected as we forget to clean them out. If you have a way to transfer important information to a document file on your computer, back up information as well.  This may save you stress later when looking for important information.  Make sure to label thumbdrives or external storage for easy access and it is best to keep these all in one place.  I prefer to utilize a storage device for each specific purpose: one for work documents, one for photos, financial records etc. .  These are labeled and stored in the office so that I can get my hands on them immediately.

After you have organized all of your electronic documents, go into your computers scheduled maintenance program and free up space on your harddrive and then defragment your computer.  This will help your PC or laptop run more efficiently. Also, take the time to clean your device with canned air and then wipe the screen and components with a soft dry cloth.  Set aside time to do this each month while you are cleaning your office to keep your computer and peripherals running in tip top shape.

Beauty Routine:

Don’t forget to take some personal time today to conduct your health and beauty routine. By this time, you should begin to see and feel the results of consistent self-pampering routines. The daily investment is well worth the results!

 

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