Share your best tips for getting organized!

I have a folder on my computer desktop for auditions. In that folder, I make a folder for every project I audition for, naming the folder with a MM-DD-YY date at the front to keep auditions organized by when they end. In those folders, I keep copies of my audition files and any notes or related files for the audition I need. In the event I get cast for a project, the whole audition folder gets moved to *another* folder on the desktop, but instead of for auditions, it's for current projects. Once in the current projects folder, projects are sorted by date again, based on when the next set of lines is due from me for that project, so the most urgent projects are always at the top, while things that I'm waiting for scripts, the next episode, etc. are all just rattling around at the bottom.

In my internet favorites, I have a folder marked 'PAID AUDITIONS' with links to the projects I'm planning to audition for sorted by deadline. Just under that is a folder marked 'UNPAID AUDITIONS' for any unpaid projects that I'd like to audition for as well if I have the time. When I submit an audition, I rename the project link in favorites to say "SUBMITTED" at the beginning.

For e-mail, I use a combination of the star system for "I don't want to totally lose this, but it's okay if I forget it for a while", and folders in my inbox to store anything that needs to be kept where I can access it at any time, and the final thing -- responding to e-mails as promptly as possible whenever possible, even if just to say "Sorry I can't write a longer e-mail right now, but I got your message and you can expect X from me by Y time/date." (X = A longer response, recorded lines, etc.)

Most importantly of all, though -- I keep track of transactions by ALWAYS sending out a PayPal invoice EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Even if the client has already paid, I'll send one for their records and mine already marked as paid just as a receipt. This means at tax time I have a paper trail for every single project I was paid for, when it was paid, who it was paid by, what project it was for, and how much it was -- and so do the clients, if they need it for filing *their* taxes. (And yes, the tax preparer I went to vehemently encouraged me to continue this because he's seen the consequences of self-employed people having problems filing their taxes when they *didn't* have invoices for their clients.)

My short term memory is terrible, but my long term is phenomenal so my strategy is to write down the dates and times as soon as I get them and look at it again in the morning after waking up. I'm mainly a film actor so I mostly sort out all the casting notices I get first and work on voice next while I look over scripts when needing to rest. So far, so good.