Organized Living

8 Ways to Stem the Paper Tide

The volume of paper that flows into a home can be overwhelming: junk mail, school notices and student assignments, financial paperwork and more. While some of this can be alleviated by switching to electronic communications (see tips below), certain things still need to exist in hard copy form, and in some cases, hard copies are more convenient than digital versions. Here are some ways you can minimize the disorder and stress of countertops overflowing with paper clutter.

Go electronic when it makes sense to go electronic. How much and when is a personal decision that should match your inclinations. Paying bills online, for example, can save enormous amounts of time and postage, but requires a different mindset than sitting down to pay a pile of paper bills each month. Not all financial institutions send a reminder that a payment is due, so it is up to you to keep track of due dates and print out copies of paid receipts. Some banks have an easy online bill-paying system that funnels bill payments through their system, but payments often process faster if you pay each bill directly, especially on weekends and holidays. Technological ignorance is not often accepted as an excuse anymore, so know what you are getting into when you pay your bills online, and set up a regular routine of bill paying to stay organized and current. Maintain a paper file for each account you pay, and keep printed receipts in it to assist you in the event of computer system failure on either end of your transactions.

Unless you love getting mail of all kinds, opt out of communications by email or postal mail from companies with which you do business. Many companies will allow you to continue to receive coupons and promotions from them without also having to receive solicitations from their subsidiary companies. Reduce solicitations by phone by entering your phone numbers at www.donotcall.gov. By law, most companies are forbidden to solicit individuals who register on this list within 31 days of registration. Thanks to an improved 2007 law, you are no longer required to re-register your phone numbers every two years.

Your children bring home lots of paper: homework and project assignments, flyers about upcoming special events, study guides, sports information, etc. Try to manage this flow of paper as it enters your house. Set up a drawer or upright file for each child with different categories, such as homework, sports, forms, important phone numbers, friends, social activities, and volunteer work. Encourage older children to use the files themselves. Having everything in one place makes life much easier when the time comes to put your hands on a piece of information you need. More and more school systems are saving money and paper by sending communications by email or posting them on their web site. If this is the case, get in the habit of checking these sites regularly just as you would open your paper mail.

Want to preserve your child’s artwork but are unsure how many boxes of fingerpaint masterpieces your house can hold? Save favorites for display, and later, keep them in a plastic bin away from moisture. The rest can be photographed, saving you the memory without the problem of storage. You could even scan the photos to create a family web site that stores these treasures on an ongoing basis.
In general, try to take a few minutes each day to manage incoming communications whether they are digital or paper.

It is just as easy to be confused and overwhelmed with an overflowing email in-box as it is a pile of paperwork on your kitchen counter. Create email folders for each pertinent subject (i.e. bills, volunteer work and social organizations) and each child in your home. If an email seems important enough to save, keep it in that file. Delete junk email daily.
Respond to important emails as promptly as possible to reduce stress, but don’t feel obligated to respond to every email that comes your way simply out of politeness. Nothing bad will happen if you do not immediately follow the dictate to forward inspirational messages your well-meaning acquaintances feel compelled to send to fifty of their closest friends. If certain individuals regularly send you group emails that you find annoying, overly personal or outright offensive, whether they are of a religious or political nature or just off-color jokes, you have the right to send them a tactful request to leave you off of their distribution list, simply by saying you cannot keep up with your inbox and are trying to reduce emails to essential communications only.

Keep a bin expressly for recyclable papers including newspapers. If you are not lucky enough to have curbside pickup, find a place that will accept recyclables and make regular trips to it. Many schools use recycling efforts to raise funds for operations, so your papers can serve the double purpose of helping the environment and the often-strained budgets of schools. Now that it is printed with soy inks rather than lead-based inks, newspaper also makes an excellent underlayer for garden mulch, extending the life of your more expensive decorative mulch.

In spite of our best efforts, paper will pile up in our homes. Go through your backlog of catalogs, magazines, paperwork and miscellaneous paper clutter at least every few months to stem the tide.