How to Stay Organized on the Road

As a process server, you are always on the go, picking up work from multiple offices, dropping off paperwork of served papers, and keeping up with a serving route each day. This complicated set of tasks can make it hard to stay organized, especially when your car has now become a mobile office. However, we’ve got some simple life hacks and tips to help you stay organized.

Organization is not about being super clean and neat but is about creating a system where everything has a place and that works for you – a system that you can stick with. What works for you may not work for someone else. Here is a list of tips to help you create your own organizational system and have a productive mobile office in your vehicle.

Folders

Using folders is a great way to stay organized. There are lots of different kinds of folders to choose from: hanging folders, accordion folders, file folders, etc.

•  Accordion folders can hold many different compartments of paperwork and can be easy to grab and go but can become cumbersome if too full.
• Hanging folders work best if you have a container (like this one) that can hold them. You might want a container with a lid, to protect your folders and their contents from the weather….and from prying eyes.
• Basic file folders are the least cost and can be the most easily replaced. Colored file folders can be helpful by helping you visually find a folder easily.

You can use folders to separate your paperwork in a way that makes sense for you, including by:

• Zip-codes, to help make the most efficient use of your routes;
• Paper status: to be served, successfully served, and non-served;
•  Priority or Serve By Date, to ensure you get your serves completed effectively;
• Client, to find paperwork easily if a client calls and for returning the right paperwork to each client, if needed. Also, a new client may need a little extra attention, so keeping those papers separated can ensure you don’t lose track of them.

Regardless of the folder method you preferred, the important thing is that it fits your needs and how you think.

Bin-Basket

Even with the best folder system you will collect miscellaneous paperwork throughout your day that you don’t need to file right now – you can sort through it later in the day. That’s where a simple bin basket comes in! Put paperwork you collect in there until you have time (perhaps while waiting at someone’s house of place of business) to sort each item into its corresponding folder.

Car Trash Can

Eating out on the road is part of the job when you are driving all day. However, your fast food trash does not belong on the floor of your car or on top of your carefully organized paperwork. Instead, get a small bin with a small size trash bag or a grocery bag inside and place it on your car floor. This will keep all trash contained and not all over the place. Or if you don’t want to use plastic bags, here’s a trash can that is easy to clean!

Cup Holder

The cup holder is for more than holding cups these days – and chances are you have more than one within easy reach in your car. Make practical use of that space!

• Using the cup holder of your car to store pens is a great way to keep them organized. Find a small cup you can fit into one of your car’s cup-holder and place all your pens into the cup.
• Turn your cup holder into a phone stand, laptop stand or tablet stand! Keep your technology at your fingertips for easy use while not moving.
• You can have a small trash can in a cup holder, to help keep your car clean.

Car Seat Gap Organizer

Rather than losing your keys or phone between your seat and the center console, take advantage of that gap with a car seat gap organizer. These are great to keep office supplies contained and not all over your car. You can store things like a stapler, staples, tape, cellphone, paperclips, binder clips, rubber bands and much more. There are many to choose from, most of them covered in leather. Some even come with a cup-holder!

Car Desk

Something that combines many of the items above is a car desk. These desks have been specifically designed to fit in the passenger seat of a vehicle and turn your care into a mobile office. Investing in a mobile desk will pay for itself in the long run. There are several car desks in the market, like this one. They help to keep everything organize and provide easier access to your laptop from the road. There are even car desks that work with your laptop.

Get Organized and Get Ready!

Knowing where everything is located makes work life so much easier and less of a hassle. It lowers stress and promotes higher productivity. Due to current events, the work volume may be low and easy to keep up with right now. However, this is the perfect time to get your mobile office ready for the massive amounts of work that will come when legal cases resume their typical pace – and make up for lost time.