Be honest with me. How many different places around your home do you have papers piling up? Do you have random pieces of paper scattered around, even if they aren’t quite in a pile yet? It’s ok, it really is. I’ll tell you why. We’re all there with you. We’re all battling that modern day boogeyman, the paper monster.
Did you know the average American uses over 700 pounds of paper each year? If you have school age kids, go ahead and add a few hundred pounds more to that number.
Paper is consuming us!
Catalogs, letters, postcards, coupon inserts, bills, statements, appointment reminders, event announcements, business cards, post-it notes, permission slips, random forms, graded homework, class party reminders, fundraiser info, and on, and on, and on.
This amount of paper would overwhelm anyone.
But you’re not anyone, and with a few tools, you will tame this beast.
Between the kids, our business, and just being alive, we deal with a lot of paper in our home. Here are a few ways we’ve gone to battle against our paper monster, and won.
The Taming Process
The first thing I want you to do, in the spirit of Marie Kondo, beloved author of the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, is to go around your home and gather all of your paper into one big pile. I find my dining room table works well for this.
Next, sort the papers into three piles.
Pile 1 will be papers that are time-sensitive. This will include things like bills, items that need signed, items that need cancelled, etc. A bit of advice, don’t get distracted by stopping this process to go pay a bill you just found. Complete the sorting process first. Trust me.
Pile 2 is for anything that you want to keep but doesn’t have a due date. This could include things like bank statements, school newsletters, recipes, or things you want to reference later.
Pile 3 is anything that you no longer need or want. These items can be recycled or discarded.
Once everything is sorted go ahead and get rid of the third pile. There’s no reason to keep that stuff around and freeing up the space is refreshing and will motivate you to continue with the process. So recycle it, trash it, burn it, whatever. Just get it out of your life.
Next you’re going to tackle pile 2, all the stuff you want or need for reference later. I like to have a file system for all these sorts of materials. We have files for each account, each child, our pets, important receipts, instruction manuals, you get the idea. Lots of files. I even have files for inspirational things like pretty pictures I find in magazines. Set it up however works for you, but start filing everything away so you can easily find it when you need or want it.
(Tip: if you don’t have a filing cabinet, use those plastic file totes or cardboard banker boxes. They work just as well and an organized file box looks better than scattered piles around your home any day of the week!)
Ok, you’re almost done. Take a few deep breaths and pat yourself on the back. You’ve made it this far, and trust me, it gets so much easier once you’ve completed this process.
The last thing I need you to do is to deal with all your stuff from the first pile. If you have bills that need paid, put them all together to be paid. Appointment reminders? Get them written on your calendar and get rid of that piece of paper. Coupons? Toss out the expired and put the rest in an envelope. (I keep mine in my purse so I always have it when I’m out.) Whatever it is, do something with it. Keep working your way through this pile until it is completed.
Now that you’ve tamed the paper monster, you’ll need to do a little work to keep it at bay. In part 2 of this series you’ll learn a few tricks I use to keep my paper under control, even when life gets busy.
Did you try this process? Let me know how it went in the comments below!