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Paper is still one of the most universal types of clutter out there, even in this day and age of “paperless” digital technology. Paper invades our desks, our kitchen counters, our purses and our briefcases. It comes in all forms, including: receipts, photos, junk mail, magazines, tickets, bills, etc…. Some of you out there may have a system to efficiently deal with your paper clutter, and that is wonderful! For the remainder of you that may be ready to wave a white flag from under that pile of paper clutter, we have a process to put you back in control.

Dedicate Time to Sorting the Paper in your Home

If your pile of paper has grown to an all time high, it’s time to sit down and sort it all out. This doesn’t have to take as much time as you think. To motivate yourself, turn on your favorite music and grab your favorite beverage. Set a timer and challenge yourself to go all out for a full hour (think of it as “Power Sorting”). You will be amazed how much you can sort in that amount of time if you identify your main categories up front. Your list of categories will be unique to you, but here is a list to get you started:

– Long Term Storage (Things like taxes, birth certificates, some important medical records, titles to your assets, wills, etc…)
– Photo Storage
– Current Filing System Storage (Things like current utility statements, children’s latest immunization records, current insurance policies, etc…)
– To Do / Immediate Action Items (You can put these in a container or tray, and you will go through these and take action on them when you are finished with this task.)
– To Be Shredded / Recycled (You can include receipts, monthly statements and other items that may be accessed online or stored digitally.)

Give Each Paper Category a Permanent Home

– Long Term Storage: You can use storage boxes of your choice and you can then tuck them away in a storage area of your home. Be sure to label each box. Many people like to use inexpensive bankers boxes if stored inside the home, otherwise, you may want some plastic bins.
– Photo Storage: Acid free containers can be used, and you can take it a step further by making plans to digitize all of your paper photos. We recommend storing your photo containers inside your home to protect from heat and pest damage.
– Current Files: Refresh your filing cabinet by making new files for current papers. Even if you don’t have a filing cabinet handy, buy an inexpensive file box and set it up with hanging files with all the tabs lined up for straight-line filing… for less visual clutter when searching through the file folders.
– To Do / Immediate Action: Congratulations! The fact that you have them all together in one pile, you are more likely to take action now and stay on top of them. You now need to come up with a system to manage this category on a regular basis. It may consist of a tray that you make a habit of looking through every morning while drinking your cup of coffee, or it may be some type of “wall file” that the whole family looks through together at least once a week.
– To Be Shredded / Recycled: This is an easy one! Find a local resource for bulk shredding by Googling. Many organizations offer regular “free shredding” days. As far as recycling, just throw that pile in your recycle bin – whew! Feels so good!

There are so many more topics we could cover regarding household paper management (ways to stop junk mail, developing daily habits to deal with paper flow, going paperless, etc…), but we will save those for other blog posts!