So where and how do you store your papers? Long time ones, like taxes? Warranties? How about all those papers kids bring home from school???? Notices, sign this, do that.......:o Help? I need something that looks good, that we can access easily...for the school stuff. Anyone use or have a notebook or something for things like this? And things like restaurant info, etc?

A friend of mine is one of those people who has managed to declutter her life, and is now hiring herself out to others to help. (Just as soon as I have a bunch of money, she's coming to my house, lol). She complied this list of ways to fight paper, and I found it pretty helpful. I especially like the accordion file with my bills in it by month. I used to file by vendor, and then have to create umpteen million new files each January -- needless to say it never happened. This year, I was able to put everything together & just stick a new accordion file in its place. And it was easier to find me tax papers this way too. :)

However, Judging by the mountain on my teeny desk, I need to read it again.


Paperwork: The Untameable Monster

1. Pay bills twice a month, or as soon as they come in. File them according to due date in a visible location. Prep the return envelope when you open the bill, and note the due date on the back.

2. File bills not by type of bill, but by month, in an accordion file. After you check your monthly bank statement, file it in the appropriate month. At the end of the year it’s easy to sort through and when you’re done, close it with a rubber band, and file in long-term storage bins. Neat and tidy!

3. For items you want to review before making a decision, you need to find a specific place for them to go. Contain them in a pretty basket or a plastic bin. You can work through them when you’re watching TV or even take it in the car & sort while you’re waiting for soccer practice to end or at the doctor’s office.

4. Keep one kind of stationery. You can eliminate greeting cards altogether.

5. Keep a file cabinet near your paper center. File at least weekly. Daily is ideal.

6. Keep a plastic bin labelled with name for each child. As you receive artwork, school reports, etc that you want to keep, date them and stash in the bin. It becomes a chronological file of your child’s year. At the end of the year, sort through and dump the non-keepers. File the rest in a big manilla envelope, dated. File in long-term storage.

7. Request your name be deleted from direct marketers’ lists by filing a request at www.dmaconsumers.org, and from direct marketing phone lists by calling 888-382-1222.

8. Call catalog merchants and ask to be taken off their mailing list if you don’t plan to buy from them any more. Call your bank and your credit card companies too. Credit card companies are the source for names for many direct marketers.

9. Keep an alphabetized accordion file for instruction booklets and warranty info for your new purchases.

10. Open your mail in the same place every day. Ideally, this place is near: a wastebasket so junk mail can be dealt with immediately, your scissors so credit card solicitations can be cut up, your main calendar so dates can be entered immediately, your phone so urgent items can be dealt with right away, and your file cabinet, so papers find their home.

11. The only things to keep on your desk are your tools and your current work project. Try to store papers off desk in vertical files, horizontal files, file cabinets, drawers, etc. This is an ideal, but the payoff is big – clarity and calm when you sit down to do your paperwork.