Akcorcoran,
I KNOW this situation. My husband and I are office messies. We both teach science and the paperwork, references, notebooks, posters, packets and catalogs are everywhere! By the end of a semester I have random piles of memos, worksheets, and curriculum all mixed up and I must get it sorted for the coming term.
You need workspace. Can you bring the bookshelf over to the desk side and use it for the router, phone etc? If not, pull out one of those full bins to use under the desk as a shelf for the modem and router, at least temporarily. Use the shelves as a staging area so you have space on the desk to work. I have even used my ironing board for this...
I often use portable file boxes for sorting the "to organize" piles. This allows me to sit where I want in the house and to maintain a temporary and flexible category system.
I start with the entire pile, and I choose the subject I am sorting for. For instance, in a huge pile I might first pull out the recipes. Pile goes into a file. Then I sort again, crafts articles. Make that pile its own file. Then master copies of documents for school, etc. If I try to spread them onto the floor by subject, they just get blended again as I forget some of the headings. I am a little ADD about sorting, but this system works for me, even though I see the things in a pile 6 or 10 times as I sort. Doing that sometimes allows me to decide I have no use for it anyway! Have the recycle bin handy!
Sort first, then make purge and process decisions one file at a time. I often clip multiples of the same kind of recipe, for instance. Choose one to try, pitch the rest. I do this part of the processing at the desk where I can input things to my calendar, pay a bill, scan or copy something as I encounter it. Then a file may actually make it into the file cabinet or get emptied altogether.
Consolidate your pictures by purging the ones not worth saving. A lot from the pile will be like that, especially if you consider that some of the images are similar, duplicates, etc. Once I began scanning photos, I got a lot pickier about what was "Scanworthy" I bet you can get a lot of those box numbers reduced if you just weed the obvious. I have been sorting thousands of 35mm slides from my grandfather's collection and I can't tell you how little I value a blurry photo of yet another Western vista with no people in it!
After weeding, sort stacks of pictures the same way you did the paperwork. Pull one category out of the pile at a time. It keeps you focused on the topics, not the decisions to keep them yet. I use shoe boxes and divide the topics with index cards temporarily. Purge/process one set at a time as you have the opportunity. A shoe box to process is less intimidating than a giant bin. Erin (I think) once mentioned a routine of doing ten scans a night on her photo pile. Before you know it, they got done!
It helps me to do a couple of other things when I get into the paper processing part. I use a red pen or a highlighter to circle the item I need to see on a paper. For instance on reciepts and statements it is the date. On tear-outs of magazines it is the recipe or quote I want to reference. I usually write on the upper right corner another label such as "Fall garden" or "Tucson hikes" etc. This helps me keep them in more general files but pull specific ones as needed.
In file folders as the pages lie sideways, I add sticky notes onto some papers as mini-index tabs. I have some papers I pull more frequently and this helps me find them.
I know you are motivated but overwhelmed. Baby steps! You can do this!
