Are you easily overwhelmed with mail or piles of paper in your home? Well, it’s your lucky day because I’m going to teach you how to get rid of paper clutter now!
Is incoming paper taking over your house?
**Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. We appreciate your support. (disclosure policy)
Do you know what papers are important to keep and for how long?
Do you struggle with letting go of sentimental paper items?
If so, I can relate, and I’m here to help!
We probably need to come into the 21st century and go paperless, but we’re not there yet.
We’re taking baby steps!
So, for all of my friends out there, who haven’t reached that point either, this post is for you!
Use the 6/P Strategy to get rid of paper clutter now
We’re going to use the 6/P strategy to get rid of paper clutter and organize what we need to keep.
We will tweak one of the steps of the strategy! Do the following: Prep, Purge, Pile (instead of Polish), Personalize, Place, and Put Back!
PREP
Collect the following items:
- Trash/recycle bag
- Shredder
- Laundry hamper for papers you will keep
PURGE
Throw away all paper that you do not need. Shred any papers that have identifying information such as your address, birthday, social security number, or any type of account number on them.
Put all of the paper you need to keep in the laundry basket.
pile
Sort all papers you are going to keep in one of the following four categories:
- To keep permanently or long term
- Birth/death certificates
- Social security cards
- Marriage certificate
- Will/living will
- Vehicle titles
- House deeds/mortgage documents
- Life Insurance policy
- Tax returns (seven years)
- Home Inventory List (written & photos)
- Passports
2. To keep temporarily (one year)
- Medical bills
- Current prescriptions
- Pay stubs
- Insurance policy statements
- Tax-related paperwork
3. Currently using
- Bills that need to be paid
- Papers that need to be filed
- Papers you need to act on/sign
- Coupons
4. Sentimental value
- Children’s school/artwork
- Cards
PERSONALIZE
It’s time to think about how you want to personalize your filing system and storage for the paper you’re keeping!
For keeping mail under control consider:
- Folders
- Stacking trays
- Baskets
- Wall-mounted organizer
For paperwork that needs to be filed consider:
- Expandable file folders
- Plastic boxes with hanging files
- Decorative boxes with hanging files
For kids school papers and artwork consider:
- Plastic shelves
- Plastic tubs
For important permanent documents consider:
- Safety deposit box
- Fireproof box
- Weather-tight container
PLACE
Time to put all of your organized paper systems back where they belong!
- Trash – place all the purged paper in the garbage or recycle can
- Paper-place all of the papers you need to keep in the storage you decided on
PUT BACK
Paper clutter can sneak up on you if you don’t make a habit to deal with it regularly. Make a rule to purge paper weekly and you will stay organized and free of paper clutter from now on!
Get access to our free printables when you sign-up for our email list.
tips to keep paper clutter under control
reduce the amount of paper coming into your home
In last year’s post on paper clutter, we shared several ways to reduce the amount of paper coming into your home. Click here for those helpful suggestions.
set up a mail station
Collect mail in one spot and sort once a week. To keep mail from piling up on the kitchen counter, it goes into this wall organizer and is unloaded one day a week!
Deal with incoming paper weekly
I highly suggest you get a stackable paper organizer with at least three trays.
Determine a day of the week that you will deal with mail/paper.
Remove the mail from your bin/basket, and discard the junk mail.
Put bills in the “To Pay” tray.
Place documents like bank statements in the “To File” tray.
If you can’t take care of the paper that day, put it in the “To Act On” tray.
Create trays for as many categories as you need!
Create an organized filing system
Long Term Files
Each year we have fewer and fewer tax papers because Rich is saving files or scanning paper documents to an electronic copy, such as a PDF file to be stored in cloud storage.
Like I said earlier, baby steps!
Temporary (one year) files
I use a color-coded filing system for the papers that we keep for one year. I purge all of the papers annually.
- Burgundy-Monthly bills
- Teal-Home utilities
- Gray-Medical
- Navy-Insurance
- Purple-Banking and Taxes
Suggestins for storing items that have sentimental value
In a past post, I shared several ways I store kids’ school papers/artwork, old Christmas cards, etc. Click here for that info.
This is our youngest son’s school tub! It has paper and artwork from every year in school.
He won a ribbon for the cake painting in the background! Just one of many treasures in this tub!
Use binders to store paper
Binders are a great way to store papers that you use often (my blog binder) or perhaps just once a year (my holiday planners).
how to store your most important papers
For important permanent documents that must be protected consider: a weather-tight container, a fireproof box, a safety deposit box.
We have a fireproof box to store our important papers!
I hope this post has inspired you to get rid of all your paper clutter right now! Paper is my least favorite thing to organize, but I’m always so happy when it’s done! Let me know in the comments below if you like to organize paperwork!
If you are enjoying the blog, we invite you to join our email list so you never miss a post!
Until next time, please follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram!
Blessings, Donna and Rich
more organization inspiration
- Great ideas to Organize a Desk
- How to Organize Your Home Office and Craft Space
- Best Ideas to Organize a Craft Space
- How to Organize Your Home Office
- Organize Paper Clutter
ITEMS To HELP YOU REDUCE PAPER ClUTTER
If I can not find the exact item we use at home, I try to find the most similar thing that I can!
**Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. We appreciate your support. (disclosure policy)
Hello:
I stumbled upon your blog while reviewing my e-mail. I just had to comment;
I LOVE YOUR BLOG!! It is so chock full of great information and am looking forward to exploring all your DIY’S, and useful information,.
Fondly.
Doris Evans
Thank you, Doris! So glad you found us! Hope you continue to enjoy the blog! We have some great projects coming up! Donna