6 Steps to Dealing with all that Paper...

Today I was asked to write about how to deal with all that paper that people feel overwhelmed by.

That is a huge topic and if we tackle it all at once even I will be overwhelmed. 

Did you know that over 80% of the paper that we get on a daily basis can be immediately recycled?

Let’s look at how we can collect the mail and simply avoid creating another paper pile in your home or worse in your home office.

You’ve just collected the mail and it’s a huge pile which is mostly “junk mail.”

Go through your mail over the recycling bin. I know you’re thinking I’ve heard this before but it takes on average approximately 10 minutes to do this simple task which saves a great deal of valuable time later.

Step 1 – Immediately, get rid of any inserts, flyers, etc. that you would never use. I do this at my kitchen counter. Only the keeper stuff gets to my office. I have 3 Sterilite ClearView bins (17Qt. /16L) under the kitchen sink I use for recycling. I empty them into the blue bins as I take out the kitchen garbage. Convenient and simple. If this doesn’t work for you create a pile to go to recycling. And, another credit card application! Anything with your personal information goes into a shredding pile. 

Step 2 – Magazines likes TV Times, Entertainment News, toss in the bin or add to the pile.

Step 3 – Free newspapers no one reads, do the same.
If your family reads any of the above items walk over to where you store them. Quickly gather the old editions and replace them with the new ones. Toss the outdated items into the recycling bin or add them to the pile you started.

Step 4 – Open the bills. If you pay bills online add the envelopes to your recycling pile. Any inserts that are not relevant add them to the pile.

Step 5 – Divide the bills into business bills and house bills.

Step 6 – Place them in their appropriate file or tray to be paid.
If you have things like updated insurance documents, etc. place them in the appropriate file or tray for filing.  Replace the outdated wallet size card in your wallet or glove box immediately.

Sorting mail should just take 10 minutes. If you can not commit the time immediately to do the filing, schedule 15 minutes at another time in your calendar to file these items.

This has not answered the entire question of how to deal with the paper overwhelm BUT, it will prevent you from getting more piles of paper. Schedule 15 minutes into your calendar, follow the above steps and you can easily move through those excess piles in your home or office without it feeling unmanageable.

If you still feel you can not conquer those piles on your own see our latest special