How do you keep paper clutter in check?

[MattiMaman]

I have decluttered THOUSANDS of pieces of paper this year. I had three bookcases, a dresser, a laundry basket and at least 20 tubs full of papers-it was terrible. Since then, I thought I was working hard to keep paper clutter under control, but today I gathered all the paper that doesn't really have a home and I completely covered my kitchen table with stacks and stacks!






My first plan of attack is to move everything current to the kitchen. No more dropping the mail on the foyer table, no more shredder in the rarely used guest room. Other than that, any tips on how to sort, purge and organize?

[SenoraE]

I have a totable file case with hanging files in it for coupons - one for P&G, one for RP, one for SS, one for my monthly All You subscription & one for the extras that come from tear pads, promo mailers, etc.
I have switched to almost exclusively online / paperless / auto billing. I stay current with mint.com and I LOVE the freedom of no bills.
I call places that send junk mail and ask to be removed from the list.
I get the mail at the road and walk through the garage, recycling things BEFORE I even get in the house. The shredder is in the mudroom, so that is the next step before really entering the main part of the house. There is rarely anything left after catalogs go to recycling, and lame-o credit card applications have been shredded.
We have a file cabinet in the basement, but it was recently purged from a large 4 drawer to a small 2 drawer one that is not as deep. I have specific categories: past taxes, current year tax stuff (mostly receipts), house and property (copies of deeds, blueprints, etc), warranty and manuals, home improvement, pets, nostalgia. Since all of our bills are online, we can look up anything at the touch of a button, so we do not save any of that stuff anymore.
HTH!

[Numommy]

I used the Messies Manual's Paper Tiger System.
It got it under control, but it is still alot. That is something I need to figure on...but what she said above, mostly I do as well.
I don't take the time to call those people, and I don't take the time to coupon either. But I do walk it straight to the trash.

[lookatreestar]

I just got rid of everything except taxes, dr records, and car records. I also one smallish tote of cards and little papers I need to go through and only keep favorites.

[babynme8]

I have a bill organizer like this http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS.../chrisficti-20 by my front door. I also keep a silverware caddy like this http://www.target.com/p/banana-leaf-caddy/-/A-11047970 on the counter in the kitchen. I use the large section to hold the phone book and any current catalogs/magazines that I haven't look through yet and the samller sections hold pens and sissors etc. All of my children have a plastic file holder hanging in the hallway that they put all their school papers in and I then sort through at the end of the day.

[alyssa&rylan's-mommy]

I have a fold up bill organizer that has several dividers- I have one for housing (rent, power, insurance, etc), one for vehicle related (van loan, insurance, inspection), one for large debt (lawyer, student loan), and one for smaller debt (credit cards, DH's computer, bank loan), pay stubs are in another, and bank balances in another. It also has a smaller accordion file attached that's great for receipts- one holds grocery, one extra-curricular, one gas, etc. And a notebook for anything I need to write down.

I only keep the current and last month's bills in it at any time, once another comes, the oldest gets thrown. I also have a desk drawer for any papers that aren't financial but I still find to be important.

[pgkcb13]

Ugggghhhh... this, this is seriously a huge one for me. We have two apple boxes and two or three paper bags full right now, along with other stuff floating around the house and more in a file cabinet we haven't touched in years. Bad. I know most of it just needs to go but soooo much of it needs to be shredded (lots of old military documents, etc) it's just really overwhelming!

I switched to paperless billing too, and I tried getting off as many junk mail lists as possible but found a lot of them put me right back on after a few months. I'm pretty good about getting the stuff that's just junk into the recycling, it's all the other stuff- kids' bank statements (can't figure out how to go paperless for them? I don't think the bank does it for kids accounts), etc.

If I could get my rear in gear and get it sorted I could start taking bags to the local shred events in the area. They'll usually do 2-3 bags per household so that would help a ton... but then DH wants to use the shredded paper to make logs at least he's been working on the shredding to try to convince me it's worth saving for logs, lol

My *plan* is that once we get it to a manageable level things just go straight in the shredder, and we only keep tax info. We'll see how THAT goes... if I ever get there...

[smilewithme]

Paper pile up is our worst issue here too. I need to set the shredder up right by the foyer table, so that certain things can just...be gone, as soon as they arrive in the mail.

[krispy79]

I think paper was our biggest challenge, it always crept up when we werent looking. Come home from a long weekend or vacation to a pile of mail, then the week passes and you didnt get to it... Next thing you know the dining room table is gone!
We live in the digital age, so we I heard there was a community shred taking place I got some boxes. I put every piece of mail laying around into to the boxes. From our file cabinets I pulled out only our petsonal documnets, and car paperwork and EVERYTHING else went to be shredded. Yup we did it, shredded everything to start off fresh. I figured anything I'd need could be retrieved from somewhere since everything is digital now. Since we dont itemize, I didn't need old receipts, etc.
After that the shredder went right into the dinning room where the papers gather. Then I added sort & shred to the to do list.
Starting with a blank canvas is what saved us, and its the only thing that ever worked for us.

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