Oh, how I don’t want to write this post. I’m only writing it because it has been specifically requested many many times.
Paper is a slob’s natural enemy. And I most definitely don’t have paper “under control.” This makes me feel unqualified to speak on the subject.
But . . . I’ve come a long way. A VERY long way.
So I decided to share how I have greatly reduced paper clutter in our home. Notice I said reduced instead of conquered.
I hesitate because a random visitor to our home would likely see this pile:
I only move that pile when something fancy-schmancy is going on.
But the pile is smaller, waaaayyyyy smaller, than it used to be. And it’s just one pile. Not an entire ledge, cabinet, or five-feet-across counter top. Y’know, like we always had pre-blog.
Paper no longer makes me want to throw my hands up in despair.
And that’s something.
Oh, and one last justification for this post before I give you my tips? I asked Hubby if our struggle with paper is better than it used to be.
He said it’s way better. Actually, he said I sometimes scare him when it comes to paper.
I’m okay with that.
So here’s how I’ve significantly reduced paper clutter in our home over the past few years:
- I’ve become ruthless. Heartless.
Seriously. That sentimental part of my heart that once wanted to keep every spelling test? It died.
My kids now know the routine. I look at their papers, give them some words of affirmation (or encouragement to pay more attention to instructions next time) and then pitch them. We make use of the trashcans at church before we head to the car. No more delusions that we might want to look at that later.
If something is extra-creative-and-artistic, it goes in a certain drawer in my dining room. (That drawer is a contain-er.) As the kids get older, fewer of those kinds of things come home from school.
I like the ideas I’ve heard of taking pictures of artwork to put in a memory book, but I’m not there yet.
Please note that this lovely heartlessness is a result of decluttering momentum gained from huge amounts of decluttering. Go here to see my (gained from experience) decluttering tips and read about my decluttering adventures.
2. I follow the One Touch Rule with mail.
When I get the mail (and I try to be the one who gets it), I walk straight to the trash can/recycling bin. I go ahead and throw away ANYthing I don’t need.
Distinguishing what I need from what I don’t need has become easier the more I do this. I don’t want to refinance our home, I don’t want a new credit card, and I don’t want to change electric providers. I know that, so I go ahead and get rid of that stuff. (Affiliate link alert -> A good paper shredder is worthy investment.)
Simply heading straight to the trash can from the mailbox has greatly reduced our paper clutter. I can’t tell you how many boxes full of “To Be Filed” paper clutter has turned out to be junk mail I NEVER had any reason to keep.
3. Go digital.
We were some of the last people we knew to start paying bills online. I’m not sure why we thought it was a hassle to set up, but we did. Hubby was hesitant, but once we started he became a HUGE fan. He would never go back. It took a while, but over time, we’ve taken advantage of the options to not receive paper copies of most of our bills.
If you’re not doing this yet, ask your bank to help you get set up and to show you how to do it. They WANT people to go digital. I just noticed on a recent (PAPER!) bank statement that we were being charged $3 a month to get a paper statement! Ouch!
4. Opt out of stuff.
Over time, as we get various paper statements (not bills), I’ll look to see if they have an option to switch to email statements. There are also various ways to get yourself off of mailing lists. If you want to look into that, go check out this post from my friend Taylor at Home Storage Solutions 101 about stopping junk mail.
There you go. That’s how I have tamed (though not killed) the paper monster in our home. I have tried various filing systems over the years, but they’ve never lasted more than a month or so.
My new philosophy is that I’m okay with having so many FEWER pieces of paper to search through when we have lost something.
When. Not if.
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--Nony
Ok, great post! I have a paper problem, remember when I posted about the whole pile of receipts I had kept and some of them were from 2011!! I threw all but about 10 (or less) receipts away… WOW! I am never doing that again!!
I do have to say though that I haven’t switched over to online billing/e-stmts or paying bills online. I don’t know why, but I am hesitant to do this. I like having the paper copy of the bill showing everything. I know, I know. I’d have less to store and less in my file cabinet and less possible paper clutter coming in, but I’m just not ready. But I am encouraged that you did it 🙂 Great job! It’s ok to admit that paper is still not under-control for you, but you are working that way so congrats!
I know not to toss a receipt willly nilly into my purse or my pocket and hope I can retrieve it later. Just doesnt work for me. Instead I got a small plastic file envelope- put it in purse and no matter what= AT THE CASH REGISTER- I put the receipt in the envelope. It has tabs but I only use it for receipts and gift cards.
Then when I get it home- I may put some of the receipts away= for big purchases- I put the receipts and owner manuals in a ziplock bag and stack them somewhere that is probably not the best– but mostly- the regular receipts for things I might return are with me – hopefully along with whatever I need to return ( stick that stuff into the trunk right away) so that I can actually return them, I almost never keep receipts from the grocery store or gas station or Jack in the box- I crumple them up and toss them in the trash on the way out to my car ( if there is no identifying infomation on the receipt) .. anyway. that little Plastic envelope has been working for me for several months. Better than me trying to bring everything into the house and sort,keep track of or file it. Which did not work for me except for the big things… I think I said that already……… God forbid my purse gets stolen…. But so far so good. Will revise my method if I need to- but it feels great to have something that works better than what I used to do
With online bills or statements, you can print only the page you need. My credit card statements usually have 3-4 extra pages that are worthless…
Wonderful tips, Nony! We definitely have not come close to conquering the paper monster, either. When I get a bit presumptuous and think I have, it strikes back! Ugh! I was hesitant to begin paying online, too. But wow! It’s sooo much easier to do so!! No checks, no stamps, no walking to the mailbox! I just recently switched to paperless statements. There were several companies offering incentives, so I took advantage. Now just to get my husband to do the same for the accounts in his name!
My reaction when I saw the title of this post- Yay!!! Thoroughly satisfying I might add. I’m going to implement these tips today. I feel a need to keep most school papers. Yes, 5 feet of counter gets piled up quickly and the desk top and kitchen desk top and our bedroom in muliple piles…5 or 6 in there currently. Any reduction will be welcomed. Thank you for giving us permission to throw away school papers! Online billing? I cringe but will try it.
Our recycling bin is kept near the mailbox at the end of the drive. Junk mail never even makes it into the house. Paper is getting better, though far from perfect. A file drawer for taxes, a couple binders for his IEP and a few work samples, online bill pay, e-bills. Events get programed into my calendar app, with a reminder alarm, then toss the flyer. Still have a box/contained pile (or two) of papers to sort and shred. I have a problem with keeping receipts, even for fast food, they all get saved. Recognizing the problem is the first step, right? One baby step forward…
Yes! Programming events into my phone and then tossing the paper is awesome!
I do that too! If it’s not on the calendar in my phone it just doesn’t happen. Period! That’s the only way I remember to make it to events etc.
I tried to do that, but then the darned phone didn’t remind me. My cell phone and I are not BFF’s.
Kristy – My phone does the same thing. There are just too many settings and things that can be messed up. I downloaded a simple to-do list app. It has ONE JOB … and it does it! It reminds me, on time, every time.
Sometimes I just take a picture of the invite/announcement/etc. to deal with later. Its uploaded automatically to the cloud and I can throw away the paper no guilt attached! This also works really well when I see posters around town advertising concerts, plays or whatever.
Gotta save the fast food receipts if they have surveys for free food offers… saves money for instant hungries!
I, too, have felt the need to keep all school papers. I mean, she worked so hard on it, I shouldn’t throw it away. By the way, She also has inherited the slob gene! I was appalled to observe a mother at dance class remove all the papers from her child’s bag and crumple them up with out barely looking at them! Oh, the difference in the normal person! At the end of the school year I used to have a big box overflowing with papers to go through during the summer. This year I have made a rope to hang in our dining room to hang the work from that week, it gets displayed through the weekend then on monday morning everything gets recycled. If it is really special, it goes into a smaller box to keep. First year doing it and so far so good. We’ll see at the end of the year!
Carrie, this is a great idea!! This way, you get to express feeling and appreciation for her efforts, while also teaching her how to deal with them in a sensible way and not let them overwhelm you. Keeping to the middle of the road– Way to go!! 🙂
I finally tamed the receipt monster. I used think it was important to sort them into categories, or figure out which ones to toss and which to keep, and so mostly they just piled up all over the house. Now I just have a shoebox sized box marked “receipts” in my home office and ALL receipts automatically go in there just piled up as they come in (unless they are REAAALLLYYY important ones like for the $2,000 laptop which I actually do file in case the thing crashes). Every year or so I toss about the bottom half of the pile, figuring anything that old it’s too late to return anyhow.
I’ve found a system that works for me for receipts. I have 2 files for receipts in my kitchen: past month and current month. Within the first couple of days of a new month, I go through the “past month” file and toss all but ones I really need to keep (expensive items or tax deductible expenses). Then I switch the labels on the folders so I have an empty one for the current month. I put all receipts into one of these folders. Most returns have to be done within 30 days, so I have that covered. Lands End clothing can be returned at any time, so I keep those receipts in a Receipts Clothing folder. I also have a system for bills and financial statements (those that I don’t get electronically). Those get put in a folder by month, then transferred to a set of 3 folders for each year (I keep 7 prior years): financial, taxes, household (utility bills, etc.). Unfortunately, these are the only paper areas that I have a handle on. Definitely need to work on school papers (I have one child, but we already have a lot of paper clutter from his first few years of school.)
LOVE this! “Seriously. That sentimental part of my heart that once wanted to keep every spelling test? It died. ” My husband has given me a hard time about this with kindergarten papers. OMG the amount of crap they bring home! I just toss it right in the recycling. He got upset with me, saying that’s our sons work! I have become a bit more selective and I put it all in one file folder in the Cabinet. Now everything else? that’s my nemesis…. I try to stop at the recycling bin and dump there before even walking in the house. So far to go but these tips help.
We have recycling bins
at the Post Office! Just tear off address labels and take the personal info offers like credit cards, home to shred.
It is so good to know others struggle with the paper monster! I have always paid bills online and it doesn’t help my paper obsession 🙁 I use Manilla which captures the bills/statements for some things. I try to scan and save paper things as PDFs. When I do it, it works. But somehow I blink and the table and counters are full again :(. Lost the war with the school papers. LOL I need to get to the ‘Heartless’ point, but having lost my mom at an early age and not having memories of those years really affects my need to save too much. But I’m still working on it!! Thank you Nony!!
My former employer framed several really beautiful pieces of her boys’ artwork and had others made into something usable – like a shirt, a mug or a garden flag. What a great way to pay tribute to their childhood! I think the website is personal creations. And if you haven’t taken pics and gone digital, know that it is incredibly freeing (as in no more guilt). You can even use the artwork as your wallpaper! Have a slide show when friends are over etc.
Great post. I have a huge problem with paper clutter. My husband refers to it as “junk piles” which really bugs me, but he’s right I guess. I also have become much more heartless about throwing away school papers. Will I really ever want to read my 5th grader’s WW1 test someday, even though she got 100%? Probably not. One file, or paper bag, or box of this stuff that you stash somewhere is more than enough.
Oh my gosh…Our schools were closed Monday and Tuesday for snow (I work for the school system), so I thought…while I am at home, I will do some purging in the spare room (my storage room is more like it!)…found this box buried underneath some other things and it was full of magazines…fine and dandy…until I looked and they were from 2009!!!!! They are 5 years old!!!! I have stopped subscribing to magazines and rarely buy one at the store anymore…there went half of my paper build up…as for receipts, I keep them by the computer and once I balance the check book each month, the ones that pertained to purchases for that statement get shredded…if it was for a major purchase or something I think I might want to return, it stays in the pile for another month….I too take the mail straight to the kitchen where the trash can and recycle bin are and sort and open it right there…I do need to do something about all the catalogs that come every week…really…seems they just change the cover on the catalog and send it again a week later…send one for spring, one for summer, one for fall and one for winter…I hate seeing all that paper wasted…at least I do recycle them…Thanks for all your guidance and encouragement Nony!!!!! I would have a bulging spare room if I hadn’t started reading your blog!!!
LOVE this post!!! We have a crate for each boy. The younger one has a hanging file for each month. The papers go in there. Then at the end of the year we cull what we want to keep and recycle the rest. The older one has a hanging file for each subject. I trust him to keep up with his paper. We have a folder in a basket in our kitchen (one for each kid) that we keep important reference papers in i.e. bus schedule, band schedule, etc.
Moving my file cabinet from an upstairs (never used) office space down into my dining room has greatly imroved the chance that bank statements and the like will actually get filed. We still have piles, but there are less of them and they are smaller — just like you!! Yay!!!
Three things pushed me over the “hump” in my quest to get rid of paper clutter:
1. Evernote – I am a list maker and I would have lists all over the place – grocery lists, Costco lists, House To Do lists, daily To Do lists, Yard Sale shopping lists, etc. Evernote is a program that you can install (for free) on all your devices – desktop, laptop, iPad, phone – and put in your lists. I have a notebook for Shopping Lists and then a page for each store inside – Costco, Grocery, Target. Whenever I find myself near the store, I don’t have to think about how I left my list at home – I’ve kept a running list that’s accessible on my phone. It’s internet based, so you can update from anywhere and it makes the change accessible to all of your devices.
2. GoogleCalendar – I was a pretty die hard planner gal, but a week of using GoogleCalendar changed me. Again, accessible from all of my devices, no big planner to carry around. I have two calendars on Google Calendar – one for personal stuff and one for work stuff. And it sends me reminders so I don’t miss meetings.
3. DropBox – I have a big dropbox account where I keep all of my work and personal computer files, as well as all of our digital photos. I don’t have to worry about my hard drive crashing and I can access it from anywhere because it’s Internet based. So, if I want to update a work document on my desktop computer at home, I can do it and then access the revised document at work. I have taken to scanning in docs so that I don’t carry them around in paper format anymore. I can even access dropbox folders on my phone.
It was a little intimidating to make the leap on each of the three programs above, but it really only took a few minutes of using them for me to have the Aha! moment.
Paper. Oh hahahahahahaha. Yeah. Major problem. My purse is where receipts go to be used as a solution to gum/who knows what else we need it for in the car. Then proceed to hangout in cup holders until they get thrown in take out bags and dumped in the trashcan threemonthslater.
Yeah, paper can be a pain but I agree open the letter box and head straight to the recycling bin however a NO JUNK MAIL sticker helps cut down paper waste as well. I’m slowly getting rid of my old uni books (very slowly) But have 1/2 the pile I used to have.
Wow! This is great advice! I think I’ll print out this article and keep it for future reference! Oh…wait…that’s what you mean about reducing paper clutter… 😉
Such good stuff- thanks for sharing your journey!
It’s like your talking about my house! Great Tips! Except, I currently have about 4 LARGE piles of clutter right now. This is one of the toughest areas for me. Piles and more piles, of which, paper counts for about 85% of the piles. The rest are odds and ends that get left behind and tossed in a pile instead of getting put away. I think Saturday afternoon sounds like a good time to tackle those piles.
I love ideas for reducing paper clutter! I was always the person with piles of paper mess on every surface. But I’ve just about conquered it. Here’s what I do:
I bought a nifty plastic file box and set it up for my official things. The bank statements, car title, insurance papers, etc. I only keep what I absolutely HAVE to keep there. As I get new insurance papers, I toss the outdated ones. I keep the current year of bank statements, and the previous year. I toss the year before that as soon as the new year starts. In fact, I’m going to switch to electronic statements now since I seem to have no need for them anyway. We can always get copied of them if needed.
I use a checkbook app on my ipod touch. It’s easier to balance my account and no registers drifting around.
I pay all my bills automatically through electronic debit, or at least by going to their website. I have used autopay for many, many years. It saves time, postage, paper, and stress.
For those who are scared to pay their bills online.. let me say this—Many years ago, someone stole my bank account information. I discovered their activity on my account when I balanced my account. WELL— it turned out this had nothing to do with my habit of paying bills online. They had stolen my banking information from a physical check I had written to someone. The bank told me later that when we write a check, it passes through an average of fourteen sets of hands before reaching the end! Crazy! After that, I stopped writing checks wherever possible.
Receipts: I bought an adorable bowl decorated with cows at a friend’s yard sale. It sits on a high shelf in my kitchen hutch. When I get a receipt at the store, it goes in my pocket immediately so I feel it there and I enter it into my app when I’m watching TV later. Then I toss it into that cow bowl right away. At the end of the month (more or less), I put all those receipts into a plastic bag and tie it tightly closed. I save that for one month, until I make the new bag. By then, I figured I haven’t needed anything out of that bag for a month, so I toss it out.
However–if it’s a receipts for a big purchase (laptop, camera, etc), I keep that receipt either in the plastic file box (under Purchases) or I staple it to the inside of the user’s manual.
User’s Manuals: Oh gosh, another horrible possibility. I used to have a huge bin of them, for every darned thing my shopaholic husband bought! Now divorced, I keep ONLY the most important ones, and toss the stupider ones right away.
One last thing: I recently started a new habit with paper towels. I decided that every time I use a paper towel (unless it’s a real mess), instead of tossing it immediately, I detour to the bathroom sink, and give it a quick swab before tossing the paper towel. I get more use out of it, and my sink is finally staying sparkling clean and company ready.
That paper towel idea is genius. Thanks for the tip!
Very good idea – BUT my bathroom is upstairs (kitchen downstairs) and I have arthritis in my knees – need I say more?!!
Yes, I like the paper towel idea, too! Could be used in the kitchen and laundry room as well!
Paper is my nemesis. I HATE it! We have boxes and bags crammed full of receipts, brochures, and manuals. One of these days I want to create a filing system. Eventually…
Only handling mail one time when it comes in has been a lifesaver for me recently! Thanks for all the good advice and reminders! I love your blog!
Great post! I try some of these and it helps! I should do better at this though.
If paper is a slob’s natural enemy, then I have a virtual paper mafia invaded my house. My job means I tend to have a whole lot more paperwork than other people – and that’s in addition to normal paper clutter. Just the thought of tackling it all is scary, but I’m determined to get it under control in the next few months (meaning getting rid of about five-thousand pounds of it).
You have some great tips for helping me do that. I could reclaim an armoire and get rid of three fairly large plastic bins. That doesn’t even count four file drawers with the home stuff. Yuck. I hate paperwork.
This post is VERY timely for me. I am HORRIBLE at mail. I open it and then leave it wherever I happened to be sitting at the time. Makes for a mountain of crap and I just get frustrated and angry at myself for letting things get so out of control. I am pretty good with the kids’ stuff. They are 14 and 11 now so the artwork they bring home has diminished significantly. I just went through my desk at work and tossed out three recycling bins full of invoices and paper from 2010. Not needed and just taking up space. I hadn’t touched the drawer or cabinet they were in since we’d moved into our new office three years ago. I feel cleansed now and hopeful that I’m turning a corner. Will definitely try the trick of walking right to the trash/recycling at home when I’m opening mail so I know what I really need to deal with and what I don’t.
New follower…looking forward to poking around here!
Ok, this sounds dumb but why do people save receipts? I never have in my life. Well, I save the big purchase ones – I staple those to the warranty info and put it in a file box I have on a shelf just for warranties & manuals. Other than those – why? Taxes? I have never had a paper issue. Where is everyone’s paper coming from? We pay bills online & get financial statements online. I have a recycling bin by the front door so junk mail immediately goes in there. We don’t get a newspaper or magazine subscriptions. My kids’ schools send info about events via email or their FB pages. My kids are teens so they don’t bring home drawings. I have 2 files boxes for them where I keep just a few important pieces from school, like big research papers and award certificates. All my job stuff is done on the computer – I don’t actually use paper at my job, just emails & files. I guess it’s my computer that is filled with paperwork! You need to do a post about cleaning up your computer and the 5 million emails and folders I get on my computer.
I don’t know where all the paper comes from but it’s always been a struggle for me to keep up with it! I know I add to it by printing stuff from the internet thinking I’ll get around to reading it later or making that recipe one day or whatever it may be. And filing systems aren’t the answer for me, I have lots of different files and filing systems for all of this paper that I think I’ll need one day but there’s just too much of it. Throwing it out is the answer!
Paper clutter is definitely the bane of my existence, so glad you did a post on it!
I second the pp’s post suggestion, though: what about digital paper clutter? You know, the 500,000 unread emails and the folders full of articles to read later… I feel like they just keep getting bigger and bigger and I never have time to whittle them down! Argh!
I do know some great tricks for gmail, though I’ve not got my yahoo one conquered at ALL! I’ll share sometime soon.
I love your blog and really enjoyed this post as paper is my biggest stressor when decluttering. One thing I recently discovered is the JOYS website and her flow chart called “Should I Keep This Paper?” Maybe it would help you or your readers. 🙂
http://justorganizeyourstuff.com/joys/filing-system-how-to/familiarize/272-should-you-keep-that-paper-#.Uxq2qt_naBY
Just a suggestion for pre-schooler’s artwork. I’ve been so happy with this (& quite a few years have passed now, he’s 11). My son had accumulated a lot of paintings, on large pieces of paper, that he was proud of – and I couldn’t bear to throw out. So, I taped them to our double garage doors (covered both doors), he made a big sign saying “My preschool artwork,” I stood back, took a picture, and tossed the originals. He is beaming in the picture, it captures the artwork & the artist at the age the work was done. Too bad I can’t do that with all those old spelling tests….
I have the exact same kitchen corner problem: right next to my kitchenaid is a pile of papers topped by cell phones and their chargers and the iPad and its charger. We need these things accessible ( and that paper pile is purged almost daily) but I cringe everytime I walk in the kitchen bc that spot just looks so messy! I have tried the decorative basket route, but that fills up with junk way too quickly. How can I hide the “clutter” that we are actively using every day?
The comment is actually about your podcast I listened to. What you said about Little League and needing Birth Certificates. What our Little league does, it has you bring them on registration day…. any kids what are old enough to play in All Stars get theirs Photo copied and filed, then when the play offs come along they alreay have it, and put them into binder for each team. Might be something to mention to your local organization….. ( I am the wife of a local Little league president.)
Every year we go to playoffs I’m surprised again that this happens since they do already have copies from when we registered.
Catching up on so much reading…
I saw this one come through the feed last week…and thought to myself…NO! I won’t read it. I already know I have a problem with paper– I hate paper.
It is my AB.SO.LUTE!!!! worst clutter problem. So there is no point in reading right?
I had to come back and read this article.
Had considered the “go digital” OR “opt out options”…
I’ve always been leary of digital …and I guess I have gone digital without really paying much attention to it. I get my bank statement via email and I save my online receipts to a folder marked “online receipts” …Now I have digital clutter. blech!
I don’t file properly.
I have late payments ‘debts’… all because of paper clutter!
Glad a read this.
It has lit a fire inside to get rid of paper clutter…
ha! if I didn’t live in a county with a perpetual ‘burn ban’…I WOULD LIGHT A FIRE! A big one.
…
Pat
I have trouble with paper, too. I’d like to go paperless and scan everything and keep it on the computer but it’s a big pain to scan, label and move to the appropriate file. I might check out one of those fancy scanners sometime.
But I have signed up for ebills on a bunch of my accounts and that’s helping.
I need to do the one-touch on the mail. I look at it and then toss it on my desk. Well, about half the time. The other half I toss the junk. Fortunately we don’t get as much mail as we used to.
My favorite way to deal with mail is to slow down the flow into my house. Every few years or so I write to the Direct Marketing Association and ask for my name to be removed from mailing lists. I’ve also discovered the Paper Karma app. You snap a few pictures of your junk mail with your phone and the app sends requests to the sender for your to be removed from their lists.
Oh, I’m totally going to look into that app!!
I thought I was the only Mom who made their kids throw away their papers as we leave church? Maybe not…….there is a trash can by the door 😉
I have a terrible paper clutter problem. We have a huge island in our kitchen that was literally two and a half feet under paper. I finally made a commitment and a big push to clear it by Christmas. I took 15 paper grocery bags of paper to recycle, 5 bags of pure trash and 2 boxes of stuff I had to keep off that island. We refinanced and actually had to have our house reappraised because the first appraiser couldn’t see our floors and wrote that in her report. The mortgage company wouldn’t write the loan until that line could be taken out of the report. It took us 3 weeks and a run to the dump to shed a quarter ton of recyclable paper. Now my husband took a new job and we have to move. I really dread the next few months. I agree that you have to become ruthless. Somewhere along the line, I felt that accumulation of paper equals information. And I want to keep as much info as possible. Obviously, I have to figure out a solution.
Wow, what an amazing story, Laura! And go you for getting all that done!!!
My four kids are in their thirties and I still have all their school stuff in a tall filing cabinet–art, stories, essays, and report cards from K -8!! I am also still in a big house, just to store stuff!!
Time to downsize…..
Thanks for the post! The problem I have with going digital, though: it doesn’t reduce the amount of information I’d have to deal with. I tend to see paper junk and digital ‘paper’ junk as the same thing, like having papers in different boxes. And I need all the papers of like kind in the same box, I just… need less of it. Maybe time to step up the ruthless bit.
Mail order catalogs are my vice. All those beautiful pictures and all those beautiful descriptions of things I think I might need, but will never buy. Always a stack of those on my coffee table. Until that one 10 minute period on the last Wednesday of the third month when the dream dies, frustration takes over, I tell myself there will ALWAYS be more catalogs, and I grab the entire stack and head for the recycle tub. Same with cooking/dieting magazines. Although I don’t get many of those anymore, I tend to view them as “reference” material and think I have to keep them forever. 🙁
hi Nony, I have not read every comment…you may have already answered this question. I realize I can start today by getting rid of the paper clutter I don’t need as it comes in…but, how do I know what to KEEP of the years of paper clutter (that has already settled in to various boxes and bins). I always thought I needed to “file” every scrap of mail -especially anything associated with bills. Realistically, I would never be able to find any of that’ high priority stuff’ even if it became “urgently needed”. So, what IS important to keep…and what can I toss without worrying. 🙂 We ARE making progress here…slow but sure. *sigh*
That’s a tough question, and I don’t know the answer for sure. However, I’d encourage you to go through and eliminate what you can. I find that I look at a huge pile/box and assume it will be filled with thousands of difficult decisions to make. Usually, though, I find that most of it is easier than I expected and I can greatly reduce the amount.
I think this was one of the very first posts of yours I ever read. (have i been following you that long already? doesn’t seem like it….) But it’s the one that made me jump up and down and say yes, yes, YES! i need to find out what this lady is doing, and DO IT TOO. 🙂 I only just got the paper in the kitchen somewhat under control within the last two weeks, but I can identify with your ruthlessness! I now have a system where, as soon as it comes in from the mailbox, there is a bin right by the front door to put all the recycleable paper from the junk we don’t need. then, and only then, if it’s a bill that needs to be dealt with within the next few weeks, it goes in the upright file next to the calendar. As soon as bills are paid, they get removed and scrapped. kids aren’t in school yet, fortunately, so i haven’t had to deal with the mountains of school paper clutter… (i’m pretty sure my mom still has boxes in her attic of mine and my sisters schoolwork from elementary school… and we’re 26 & 27 now. 20 year old homework. Yikes.)
The one thing I’ve done regarding paper that I’m proud of, is that I’ve conquered kid school paper. (well, mostly lol)
Each year, each kid gets to pick out a folder when we do back-toschool shopping. This is good for two reasons; one, my kids have to have specific solid colored folders for school, so no opportunity for the “cool” ones with whatever theme is popular that year and so having a reason to pick one out is cool, and two, I have a visual of the things that interested them year to year.
So, once they have their folders chosen, I sharpie their name, school year, grade level, and teacher name on the front. It then goes on my desk in the file sorter thingy that collects every other piece of paper that mom has no system for.
And through-out the year, I’ll stow away pieces of school work or art-work in their respective folders. If it can’t fit, I don’t keep it. Then at the end of the year, it goes in their respective keep-sake tote in my closet where I keep a few other childhood mementos. The plan is that we can go through it when they leave home and I can then pass it down to them then (or when I die lol)
Everything else, though — still conquering my desk. If you can find my desk, that is.
I love your site…it’s like you are in my head. I
Discovered you on Sunday, bought your books and have kept my dishes washed for 4 days running. My husband is happier already. As regards paper clutter, I found the easiest, most amazing file that self-purges. It really helps me and I thought you might want to look into it and see what you think. It helps me know what needs to be kept and gives me a place for it and an expiration date built in to the actual file folder, sort of. http://www.freedomfiler.com/Home.cfm
Paper and plastic bags are my biggest enemy. I conquered the plastic bags by bringing my own bag when I shop, but paper still gets to me.
I recently put ALL of my paper into a box. I’m STILL sorting and shredding.
I thought I was a paper “hoarder” as my new husband called me when I moved into his home and he saw papers from the 90’s (really, truly) in some of the boxes. I can’t tell you how many times those boxes have been moved (rental houses, apts, etc) before I met him. Anyway, shortly after me moving in, my step mother-in-law, had to be put in a facility for severe ALZHEIMER’S. We had to pack up and get ready to sell my husband’s childhood home (his parents had lived in the home for 46 years). AND guess where it all ended up – in literally every room of my 3700 sq ft house. We filled a 4 bay garage. The whole thing was overwhelming mentally and emotional. We found files with nothing in them and files and files and paper and paper and more paper. It seems as if she would forget something, she would buy another to replace it. I don’t know where to start- mine? hers? one plastic bin of each everyday? I want my new house back. PS: my husband no longer calls me the paper “hoarder”. HELP! ANYONE HELP!
I can so relate to your picture and your descriptions of the five-foot-wide counter pile, and I appreciate your ideas! I’ve implemented all of those and they really have made a difference. Here are a few other ideas that have helped me *reduce* the pile:
1. A small accordion file is handy for storing “must keep” receipts. I chuck the rest.
2. A binder with plastic sleeve protectors is good for storing and finding appliance manuals. (I used to pull them out of the file cabinet and then they’d live on the counter for the next three years.)
3. Binders in general seem to work better for me than a file cabinet system, though I’m still in the process of finding a long term system.
Thank you for continuing to inspire and encourage me in my own de-slob process. When I feel discouraged, I just remind myself of how clean the house is compared to ten years ago. Ha! 🙂
What kinds of papers do you suggest keeping and for how long? I know you should keep your income tax documents and I believe it’s for 7 years. What about health insurance EOB’s (Explanation of Benefits)? Doctor bills once they’ve been paid? Thanks for your input.
Nony, this came across my FB feed today. It’s perfect, since several friends and I are doing a paper purgathon right now. I’d love to re-blog this!
Thanks to my grandmother, I now have a precious letter written by my mother when she was about seven years old (1932).
“Dear Grandmother, if you would die I would be sad. Thank you for the candy.”
I love the OHIO rule and have been using it for the past 40 plus years at home and at work. Only Handle It Once. When my son was young, in the beginning I kept almost everything. It didn’t take long for me to realize that wouldn’t work. I then started keeping a sampling of his work work each year and filed it by age. Art got hung in the fridge and then tossed as replaced. Photos were taken of special projects. Mail gets picked up once a week. I stand by the trash can and toss the garbage, keep bills in my bill paying folder and any odd things I need to take care of go in a very small pile that I go through often. Just last month I took the huge step of changing all of my monthly statements to online only, no more paper statements. I’m pretty excited about this. I realized that if I could successfully go paperless while working from home during the COVID crisis I could do it with my personal bills. As far as paying my bills go I only write 1 check a month and that’s because they don’t accept online payments. One evening a month I reconcile my checking account and pay all of my bills online. I’ve kept a spreadsheet check off list for the last 30 years that has every possible bill that I might need to pay along with due dates, how the bill gets paid, amounts and extra rows for any new bills. There are also columns for each month of the year where I can check off the bill once paid. All utilities are set up on auto pay. I have everything else set up to pay online. I can reconcile the checking account and pay the bills in less than an hour. Another thing is that we charge almost everything so that we earn cash back and then pay that balance in full each month. Once I check the receipt to the credit card statement I toss them except for large purchases which get stapled in user manuals or to warranties and filed. I am an accountant and handle accounts payable and payroll at work so this probably comes easier to me than it may to others but I used to have a huge problem with paper piles and it took me a long time to get this system down. Good luck to everyone in getting control of your paperwork. It’s such a relief not having this problem anymore. I just wish that I had better control of all my other organizing messes!
Thank you for an excellent post! You recommend going digital with bill paying and eliminating the paper bill. My concern with that is I am 65 years old and do pay most of my bills online however, I still like getting the paper bill for one reason. My husband is not at all computer savvy and has absolutely no desire to learn. I worry that if something were to happen to me he would have no idea when or what bills are due without getting the actual bill in the mail. Am I the only one with this issue or is there a solution. In our household, I have always been the bill payer and unless it would come in the mail my husband would be clueless. Thank you for any advice to overcome my paper bill clutter.
Can you help me, PLEASE? This article is great, but I’m drowning under a different kind of paper clutter…copies of recipes! Over the years, I see a meal or baked good I’d like to try, so I copy out the recipe. I’ve tried many of them and gotten rid of the dishes we didn’t like, but there are so many I haven’t had the time to try yet, or circumstances have changed, and I don’t know if I ever will try them! The house is neat, but the recipes are in folders, binders, in small stacks. I made a decision a while ago to take one at a time, try it, and decide on its future. It’s not really working. I keep finding and trying other new ones I find and don’t seem to make much progress with the older ones. Do you have any suggestions? I’m going under!!!
My wonderful credit union gives out a calendar every Oct. that has sleeves for each month. Every credit card purchase is written down on the day it was made and thrown into the sleeve. That way I can check each statement when it comes in. I have such a problem with other paper—-I am close to being a hoarder. I think I have such a hard time getting rid of paper because I haven’t found the perfect way to file it and have a hard time throwing it out. Forget about using any kind of technology for me— my cousin says I’m a technology virgin! LOL Keep up the great articles!!
I’ve found a scanner app on my phone to be really helpful. Just scan a copy of the letter or document. then recycle the paper copy. The only exception is official documents. It’s been super liberating! But I still have way too much paper coming into my home.