Top Ten Tips to clear your space of paper clutter
1. Open your postal mail in the same place of the house every day. At that place keep a shredder, a recycle bin, and a letter opener. Recycle junk mail first.
2. Sort the keeper mail into categories: requires immediate action, requires action within the month (bills, invitations), requires filing (receipts for tax deductions, etc.).
3. For mail and other paper that requires action during the month or at a particular time of the year, consider purchasing (or making) a Tickler File By using this system with folders labeled January through December, and 1-31 (to cover the longest month), you can keep better track of due dates, important events, RSVPs, etc.
4. Children's drawings and papers: At the end of each school year (or term) ask your child to choose their 5 favorite or best projects and help them to discard the rest.
5. Tax documents: Click on this handy 10-page IRS publication, Recordkeeping for Individuals. It's worth reading and then... you'll know!
6. Go paperless in your bill paying: Opt out of paper bills and sign-up for bill-paying prompts to know when your bills are due.
7. Develop a new relationship with your checkbook register: once a week, enter your ATM/debit-credit card purchases into your check register. Unless you need the receipt for tax purposes, THROW THE RECEIPT AWAY.
8. Donate your magazines to schools, hospital waiting rooms, and similar places. Unsubscribe from publications that no longer serve your higher good.
9. Calendar a date (or dates) to unclutter your filing cabinet for once and for all! As long as you reconcile month-to-month, you only need to keep the latest statement from your cable, water, power, and similar utilities. Shred the bank checks from the 90s and this past decade (unless the account is long closed, then throw them out). Keep only the current premium notices from your insurance company. Call or email me with questions and more tips about this are of the house.
10. My favorite paper de-clutter tool: The Spiral Notebook. I write everything in my spiral notebook: grocery lists, meeting notes, client conversations, ideas, affirmations, goals. I add the date to the top of the page and my spiral notebook corresponds to my paper calendar. I may tape a colleague's business card to a page as a big reminder to call day. To-do lists and errand lists and guest lists can be found on the pages of my spiral notebook. I average four (9x6) notebooks per year, and hold on to them for an average of 1-2 years.
