Clutter Control: Conquering the Paper Pile Up

The best defense is a good offense when it comes to handling papers. The key to getting a handle on paper is to deal with it starting at the front (or side) door.

Daily when you get your mail, start by sorting it before you get too far into the house:

• Pull all the advertisements or junk mail and toss in a trash can you have conveniently located near the door or recycle.
• Open and sort the rest of the mail at the mail station you created. Sort into: “To Do”, “To Pay”, “To Read” or “To File”. These folders will live in the file system (more on that later) that you have created in the section in the front labeled “Action Files”. Don’t forget to trash or shred the rest including fillers that come with bills and the empty envelopes.
• Place magazines in a basket or verticle holder and catalogs in their own place.
• If you don’t have time to sort the mail immediately, place it in a designated area (maybe a basket) and set a time to sort later.
• Then set time aside on a weekly basis to handle your folders and schedule a regular time to pay bills such as the 1st and 15th of each month or whatever works for your cash flow.

The absolute best way for taming paper and stopping the piles in their tracks is to stop the paper from coming into your home. You can do this by setting up automatic bill paying or getting yourself off mailing lists.
Some additional ways to stop the paper assault are:

• Never enter contests or fill out surveys with your name and address.
• Tell every company with whom you do business not to sell your name.
• When you donate to charity, use a money order and do not use a return address.

If you are interested in getting my handout Getting Rid of Clutter – How to Get off “THE LIST” complete the contact form below indicating in the message area that you want the handout and I will email you a copy of the handout which includes contact information for getting off email, mailing and phone lists.

Of course I promise not to share your name with anyone else.

[CONTACT-FORM]

Tagged as: clearing clutter, clutter, clutter control, Decluttering, getting rid of clutter, handling mail, junk mail, mail station, paper pile up