In my last post about managing clutter, several of you mentioned all the PAPER that comes into a household. Add “manage the paper” to the list of things that come in under your nose and before you know it you have a large pile that needs sorting. Here are some of my tips for paper sorting and management.
Follow These General Steps To Manage The Paper
- Go paperless – if at all possible! The first step to organizing anything is always to minimize.
- Attempt to digitize – If you can take a picture, save to your phone notes or computer folder, do it.
- Have an inbox/outbox spot – for those papers that will be leaving your house within the next day or so.
- Have a storage spot for those papers you do need to save – from kids’ art to taxes, everything needs a spot.
That’s the general, so what about the specific?
Manage The Paper: Mail
I sort mail as soon as it enters my house. First, I make two piles: recycle (80% of mail) and read. I immediately recycle everything I can, noting anything that might need to be unsubscribed from. Even in my read pile, I remove extra pages and just keep the ones that need attending.
Bills that need paying go in a special slot next to my computer. Because online bill pay is so fast, I knock these out in one minute the next time I open computer. (Since the bill is basically ON my computer I see it and remember.) I have all of my one-time, irregular bills (doctors, dentist, annual insurance payments, etc) set up in bill pay. All of my recurring monthly bills are paid through autopay and paperless billing.
Magazines + Catalogs
Most catalogs I give myself the afternoon to browse and if I haven’t looked at it by the end of the evening, it gets recycled. If I really need something in a catalog I can just go to the website!
I have dramatically decreased the amount of magazine subscriptions I get. I used to get over a dozen, and now I get two (HGTV and Cottages and Bungalows). Thomas gets 3-4 subscriptions. Both of us have a magazine spot. Mine is on a shelf in the living room and his is in a basket next to his nightstand. I chose each spot based on where we both tend to read magazines the most (me on the couch and him in bed.) I try to implement the FIFO method of first in, first out and read them in order that they came.
Invitations
When an invite comes in the mail, let’s say a wedding invite, I tack it to my bulletin board and buy the gift that week. Once the wedding details have been digitized into my calendar and the gift has been ordered, I recycle the invite. (Sorry if that sounds harsh – I give them lots of love before I do!) This method ensures I never miss a gift, and I like to think I’m sometimes one of the first gifts to arrive (which is exciting for the couple!)
School Papers
This could probably be its own separate blog post, but here’s my short version!
Art work that is especially sweet or impressive gets displayed. (See above – “things that make my heart happy” = my bruther!) Other art and school papers (less impressive drawings or worksheets) go into a special basket I have for incoming art. I empty this basket about once every two months. If Mazen hasn’t asked about a particular project by then it’s probably not that important. Anything I deem especially nice goes into a keepsake area in our downstairs closet and everything else gets recycled.
School communication gets either digitized, immediately returned to his backpack folder, or recycled. For example, this past week his picture day paperwork came home. As I was unpacking his backpack right after school I filled out the sheet, wrote a check and put it right back in. I try to deal with papers right on the spot so I can cross them off my mental list and not have any paper clutter to move around the kitchen.
We do have our lunch menu posted on the bulletin board since I do reference that daily. I am subscribed to his school calendar online = digitize.
Coupons + Tickets
Same principles apply here – digitize it and recycle. I keep little coupons that don’t have bar codes right in my wallet, and I try to use them as quickly as I can. Coupons with bar codes or tickets to events I save in the Notes app on my phone, either just the code or as a photo. Then when I’m at an event or need to use the coupon, I just pull it up on my phone and they can scan. If you don’t have it with you, you’ll never use it!
Organize Paper Documents
The last category of paper I could think of was important documents, like taxes or insurance papers. We do have two filing drawers in our desk where I keep important papers. Honestly these could be thinned out significantly, and that’s a task on my to-do list! Just try to keep a FIFO system going here too. For example, when I get the new year’s insurance papers I can recycle the previous year’s.
What have I missed?! I hope the whole world is slowly moving paperless, because nothing is more satisfying than having things organized digitally and not wasting a single tree. Manage the paper like a boss!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
Great post! I’m scared to even check how much paper junk is in my house!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Chelsea says
I take pictures of artwork too so that I have a digital copy.
KathEats says
I did this all of pre-K year and had intended to make a poster college of them but forgot! Eek. Guess it’s not too late.
Karen says
Paper is my kryptonite.
I really need to start doing some of these things. A follow up post on how you manage the digital versions of these papers would be helpful too. All the photos,etc have to go somewhere and eventually sorted through…
KathEats says
The short answer is I have folders for Mazen, Birch, and Thomas (aka both of us) and then put vacations separately. I delete all other photos because I reason that I can find them on the blog!
Tess says
What program do you use for backing up your photos? I store my photos with Amazon photo (an app that regularly automatically backs up my phone’s photos and is free with Prime) and my videos I back up on iCloud that is $2.99/mo. I dont know if its the best system tho.
I have a drawer for kid artwork but I’m sure it will fill soon. I feel guilty but I have recycled most of my toddler’s art works.
I have a terrible system for things like home repair receipts, tax paper, paid medical statements. Do you have a filing system you can share?
KathEats says
I have them backed up in Dropbox, which is what I use for everything (work too).
Most paper stuff I recycle. I do keep all tax stuff, but I wouldn’t keep a home repair thing, unless it was major.
Liz says
I enjoyed this post! I am generally a clutter-free person, but paperwork is the one area that I can really improve. I like the idea of keeping a basket for art projects and cleaning that out every so often. Right now I just have a big pile in our kitchen bay window of both kids random art projects from school and it drives me crazy to see it every day! Good idea about digitizing the coupons/tickets too.
Maria says
This is helpful! I would love to see another post on how you organize things digitally — sometimes I feel like my computer + the cloud is super cluttered too! Where do you store stuff? How do you organize personal/family photos?
Laura says
We get so much junk mail! Such a waste of paper that drives me nuts. I sort the mail before I even go in the house and the junk mail goes into the outside recycling bins so it doesn’t even come into our house to cause clutter.
KathEats says
I agree – we need someone to regulate all the junk and save paper!!
Sarah says
I recently found out you can call and get taken off the junk mail list. We used to get weekly mailers that went straight into the recycling, but my boyfriend called and got our address taken off the list. It does take some time in the first month, but for weekly or monthly mailers, it has been worth it. We’ve noticed a HUGE decrease in junk mail.
KathEats says
But where do you call!?!!?
Amanda says
I am big on getting off catalog and other junk mail lists. Most catalogs and postcards have websites, so you can go online to “contact” and find the best way to reach them. I send a quick email, subject PLEASE REMOVE and then give my name and address. I agree it takes 1-2 months, but it works! And it’s a satisfying feeling when your mailbox is no longer full of junk.
Karen says
I put masking tape in my mailbox with “No Junk Mail Please” written on it is sharpie. Now I only get letters (aka bills) that are addressed to me.
Heather says
I had another mom tell me this great tip about children’s art – especially toddler paintings… anything that isn’t special to keep gets turned into wrapping paper at our house and my kids get excited when giving gifts to say that they made the wrapping paper. It can also be a fun project to get them to help with the wrapping and add stickers to it too.
KathEats says
That is a great tip!
Valerie B says
With my son’s artwork, I take pictures of it. Then once a year before Christmas (when Shutterfly is having a great sale), I make a photo book filled with pictures through the year, captions, and pictures of artwork from that year. That way I have pictures and keepsake art all in one place and I can be done with it when the book is done. So he has a book for every year which basically gives an overview of everything exciting for that year. And I don’t ever have to worry about not getting anything done with all the pictures I take! This has worked really well for us for three years, and on New Year’s Day my son opens his book and loves to spend time looking at everything that happened that year.
KathEats says
Love this!
J says
We made a school paper and art display for my daughter when she was that age. It was simply a yardstick that she painted and we glued on wooden clothespins that she painted as well. We hung it in the hallway and she could use the clothes pins to hold school papers or artwork that she wanted us to see, and She was able to switch things out whenever she felt like it. The older pieces were thrown away except for the few special ones we kept for each grade level. She was in charge of it and because she wanted to switch things out so often, we were able to move the papers in and out very quickly 🙂
KathEats says
I like getting the child in charge!
emma says
This is adorable! Thinking I could do this in my daughter’s room!
Christy Cormons says
Love this one! I’m motivated to start new systems right away and set a winter task for getting through the backlog (kids art!!). Where is the bulletin board from? I need a conmand central in my kitchen because my fridge won’t hold magnets 🙂
KathEats says
I think it’s from Target but now I can’t remember!
Sarah says
I have a very similar organization system. I do have a few tips that you might find useful:
1) SAVE any paper (mail, letters, bills, and especially worksheets/ artwork from school) that are BLANK on the back–great to use as scrap paper and for new artwork creations for kids. My kids do art projects and use paper for various projects all the time, but how often do they need to be using fresh, brand new paper? (Not often!) Using scrap paper that is already used or printed on one side is a great way to help the environment. We only use fresh paper when we really need to.
2) I often re-purpose my kids’ artwork as thank you notes. I know this one might be a stretch for some, but people (generally grandparents, aunts, family members) love to see this artwork, so I just find a little corner of the page to write a note, or have my daughter write a quick sentence. Another way to save on paper, use less, recycle more, and also–who doesn’t like original 7 year old art?!
KathEats says
Both fabulous ideas!