Four easy steps to tame the mountain of paperwork taking over your space
When your environment looks disorganized it leads to stress.
Besides being a cause of stress and a major eyesore, paper clutter can lead to missed bill payments, late replies to invitations, and the endless blame game about who misplaced the important documents that make their way into your home.
Almost everyone has a corner of the counter, a desk or a table overflowing with paper–some have even more than one spot! This is why it’s important to set aside time to create a system that helps you end the paper clutter once and for all. My tips below for paper clutter control are here to end that stress and help you start living the life of the person who can always find what they are looking for.
Tip One: Sort it Out
You know my first tip is always to gather all things in one area and get rid of unnecessary items. It’s no different with paper clutter. Get all the stacks of paper you can find and sort through it piece by piece. Throw away expired coupons, invitations to events that have occurred already, bills you have paid, etc. The only things left should be in one of three categories:
Sentimental Items: Photos, cards, memorabilia (such as ticket stubs & playbills)
Actionable Items: Bills to be paid, prescriptions to be filled, forms that need to be completed
Important Documents: Insurance policies, tax returns, medical records
Tip Two: The Basket Method
Once you have sorted your papers and have the three separate types of documents mentioned above, it’s time to grab a basket. I use a basket such as this but you can use whatever you like. In the basket goes the ‘actionable items’ from your sort. Going forward, all papers that come into the house are to go in this basket.
This way, everyone knows if they are looking for a document that has recently come into the home, it is in this basket. In order to make the basket method work, you need to set aside time to frequently go through and take care of your actionable items. This means paying bills, replying to invitations and filling out field trip forms. I suggest putting an appointment or reminder on your calendar once a week for this task.
Once the actionable items have been tended to, those items go into the trash and the actionable items get cleared out. This leaves us with papers that belong to the other two categories– ‘important papers’ and ‘sentimental items’.
Tip Three: File Documents
Documents you have deemed to belong to the ‘important papers’ category are things you wish to keep on hand for reference. Things such as tax returns, insurance policies and the like. These items do not need to live in your basket. They should instead be given a permanent home in a separate filing area.
A filing cabinet with labeled folders, a fire-proof file box or simply a drawer in your desk can all be good places for your permanent files. The only requirement here is to make sure that your permanent files are housed in one location out of sight. No piles or papers strewn about on countertops or desks!
Be sure to label your important papers clearly and let your family members know where to find them. Having a good file system will make it easier to stay on track of paper clutter.
Tip Four: Sentimental Clutter Cures
The biggest area of paper clutter has got to be sentimental items. Pictures, greeting cards, play bills, ticket stubs, kids’ artwork and school papers, the list goes on and on. The problem with this clutter is that it’s connected to our emotions which makes it very difficult to deal with and even harder to throw away. I suggest this type of clutter be dealt with by finding a home for it.
If you’ve sorted through everything and what you are left with are the items you simply cannot part with, consider the following tips for sentimental clutter control:
- Purchase a keepsake box for memorabilia
- Place photos and other keepsakes in a photo album
- Take pictures of kids’ artwork and upload to a digital picture frame
- Put greeting cards in an expandable file folder
- Put ticket stubs and play bills into a shadow box
- Don’t forget digital clutter! Back up photos often, create online photo albums, upload to digital frame or social media.
It will take some getting used to, but controlling paper clutter is not out of reach. Make sure every member of your household is in on the system so no papers get lost in the shuffle. In addition, set aside time to go through your inbox on a regular basis and you’ll be a master of paper clutter control!
Product Recommendations
Note: The links below are my Amazon Affiliate links. I receive a small commission for any purchases made from these links. However, I will never recommend items I have not personally used myself or had experience with in some capacity.
Shadow Box
I have not used this particular shadow box, but it has all the features I would want and a good price and there are multiple size options. Shadow boxes are a great way to store memorabilia you’d like to display rather than hide away somewhere on a shelf. If you’re looking for inspiration on how to style your shadow box, a quick search on Pinterest will give you some great visuals.
Digital Picture Frame
I received a Skylight Digital Picture Frame as a Christmas present from my Dad. I use it in my upstairs hallway to display vacation photos throughout the year. I can’t tell you how many times someone in our family–and even our friends–have stopped to watch it scroll through the memories while walking through the hall. I love that you can display all the pictures instead of one static image. It comes with an app where you upload the photos that is very user friendly and has the option of a 10-inch or 15-inch display. This would be a great way to clear some digital clutter and makes a great gift.
Fireproof/Waterproof File Box
For the documents you want to keep as permanent files, something along the lines of this box would be great. If you don’t already have a safe and you want a more secure place to keep your important documents, this could be a good option. Note that it does not come with the file folders. The image is misleading.
Photo Album
I used to be a big scrapbooker. I have a beautiful scrapbook of my first born’s first year of life. My second child got a digital photo book of his. Once I had two kids, I no longer had the time it takes to make an intricate scrapbook. This photo album bridges the gap between a scrapbook and a digital photo book. It holds 400 photos! I use the Snapfish app to upload the pictures from my phone and get them physically printed out and sent to me. Then I slap the photos into this book using one of the photo slots to label the month and explain where the photos were taken, and I’m all done! I personally like to have physical photo albums, so I do print the photos out. If you are more of a digital person, you can do the Skylight Frame. However, the album can also be used to retroactively file all of your old photos.
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