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Paper clutter Spring 2011
I have helped so many people lately with paper clutter that I thought maybe a blog might help others with some ideas for getting a handle on it. Everyday our paperless society dumps more and more paper on us - bills, coupons, catalogs, magazines, information from the internet we print out, news......
If you don’t have a system in place to manage it, it becomes a pile that grows and expands and pretty soon the paper piles are everywhere and then how do you know what you have and where to look for that one piece of paper you know is there somewhere.
The first step is to decide that you are tired of the paper clutter and are ready to deal with it. You have to commit to following a system to manage it so it doesn’t get out of control again after you spend the time getting your piles organized.
Once you are committed, here are some steps you can take and a system you can put in place to manage the paper on an ongoing basis. Remember, you don’t have to do it alone. Let’s Get Organized! can help you get it done in half the time and provide you with answers to your questions and some much needed humor and morale support as you attack the paper clutter!
Step 1 - Set yourself up for success and get started
- schedule at least 2 hours with yourself to start
- think about how the paper clutter makes you feel and why you want to deal with it
- gather up bags and label them: trash, shred, recycle
- get a box or basket for the paper that needs to be kept and filed
- play your favorite upbeat, motivating music
- start sorting - pick a pile and begin - look at the piece and paper and decide which category it fits into (keep, trash, shred, recycle)
- keep sorting until you are done or your time is up
- schedule your next sorting session (s) until you are done with all of your paper piles
Step 2 - Slow down the flow
- go paperless on all your bills
- eliminate any magazine subscriptions you don’t have time to read
- go to DirectMail.com to get yourself on the Do Not Mail lists
Step 3 - Setting up a system for ongoing paper clutter management
- use an accordion folder for all of your household manuals, user manuals, receipts for major purchases - label the pockets with labels like: camera, music, kitchen appliances, cleaning, household appliances, electronics, office - you get the idea
- if you like to keep articles or ads that inspire you or give you ideas create a 3 ring binder for these, when you are sorting through your keep pile, place them inside the binder and then schedule time to organize your binder once you have finished filing
- designate a nice box for containing the photos, cards and other mementos that you will run across
- filing your papers - if you don’t have a file cabinet you can find a small portable file box at your office supply store, you will also need some hanging folders and manilla folders
- go thru your “keep” pile - identify the categories you find, like pets, bills, taxes, retirement, your categories should emerge and need to make sense to you so that you will be able to find them once they are filed - label your hanging file folders with these categories and begin filing away your keep pile (see the link below “How long to keep documents” for a great resource on how long you need to keep various types of documents)
Step 4 - Managing your paper clutter on an ongoing basis
Now that you have gotten it under clutter, you don’t want to find yourself in the same position 6 months from now. You need a system for managing the paper clutter.
So, here you go:
- designate a basket or in box where you put your mail when it comes in the house, you need to open your mail at least once or twice/week --- sort it into: “needs action” (bill to be paid, to be filed, RSVP required, follow up call required), recycle, shred
- take action on the “needs action” items weekly
- once you have completed the “needs action” you are ready to file, shred or recycle
- if the items requires further follow up, move it to your “follow ups” basket, this is a basket where you are going to keep papers that you are waiting on someone to confirm, or something you may want to take action on in the future
- you will need to review the items in your “follow ups” basket monthly - go thru the items and make decisions about them - if you have gotten the answer to your follow up then file it, if it still represents something you want to do something with in the future then leave it in the basket
- designate a basket for your magazines and/or catalogs - commit to recycling the old issue when the new one arrives whether you have read it or not, if you find you aren’t reading your magazines cancel them
Helpful links:
How long to keep documents
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