1. Use hanging files.I know this is basic, but it's still worth saying: Filing papers in manila folders isn't enough. The folder needs to go into something that you can easily slip in and out of your filing cabinets, and that something in a hanging folder. If you label the hanging folder with a plastic file tab, you'll not only know what's in the folder; you'll also have a handle for pulling the folder open.

2. Have a file of files.I got this idea from Barbara Hemphill, author of Taming the Paper Tiger at Work (Kiplinger Books). She suggests having a file index that lists all the names of all the files in your office. With a file index, you'll be able to see if you have file names that overlap or conflict. For example, you don't want to duplicate efforts such as a file labeled "car" and another labeled "automobile." With your files in one place, you'll be able to whittle them down to the bare minimum. Change the names that you don't immediately recognize or that are repeating other file names.

3. Make a "to do" pile, and then, actually, do it.Tax pros are notorious for having stacks of paper piled high on their desks and onto the floor. So I was stunned when I walked into the office of an accountant and saw a full-sized executive desk and credenza uncluttered by a single piece of paper on either of the well-polished surfaces.She has a simple system: She knows that she can only do one thing at a time, so if she is going to pull a folder, she has to put an already-opened folder back into the filing cabinet. The papers she is working on will be filed into a "priority" drawer, but the key is that they are filed immediately. When she can go back to those priority folders, she'll work on them or she may take them out and stack them on her desk. But that stack is her "to do" stack, and she won't open other folders until she's done with the stack.Your own "to do" stack can be whatever papers, phone calls, messages, or projects are your priority. The key is to look at it as something you have to act upon, not something that is going to take up permanent residence on your desk.

4. Use your wastebasket.In my tax practice, I am obsessive about saving copies of all client documents. I routinely tell clients to save all their tax-related documents and receipts for six years from when their tax returns are filed, to save any documents relating to investment purchases until four years after the asset is sold, and to save copies of their tax returns forever.But all that doesn't mean you have to save all of your papers forever. Hemphill suggests that you toss a file if you neither have an immediate need for it nor need to do something with it, wouldn't have trouble getting another copy if necessary, don't see any tax or legal implications for it, and can live with whatever you think might be the worst result of not having the information.

5. Get rid of "miscellaneous," "assorted" and "other" folders.Files with these names can become dumping grounds for papers that you don't really need or haven't looked at in years.

6. Organize your contact information.Business cards can be a major source of clutter. The paper solution is to transfer the information to a card file — staple or tape a business card right to the file. The electronic solution is to enter the information into a personal digital assistant or contact management software. Microsoft Office Outlook has many features to sort through your contacts. Business card scanners can also be handy devices for assisting with this task. Not a solution: Stacking up the cards you've been given into a neat pile, as I've often done.

7. Use your computer. A lot of the paper we've traditionally printed out and photocopied can now just as easily be scanned into our computer system and electronically transmitted to other businesses and individuals. Electronic files, properly established and maintained, can be easier to set up and access than paper files. (Check out Microsoft Windows XP to get more information on this.)