The March blog posts are about ways to make your life easier, so yesterday I wrote about decluttering spaces and today we will consider how to process paper clutter. There is also a free printable infographic available to remind you of the steps you can take in the paper decluttering process.
Paper clutter is difficult to manage because there are things that you’d like to keep for sentimental reasons, papers that you must keep, as well as things you need to take action on. Many of those requiring action are time sensitive and can be very important. Building an efficient system for processing your papers will save you time, and potentially quite a lot of money and worry.
However, you probably have more than one place that you keep papers. Some organization systems suggest that you collect all your papers together in one place and then organize them when you have time. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that you will find the time to sort, file, and take action on that many papers. And do you really have the motivation to do so? I recommend instead that you start with wherever you are keeping your important incoming papers right now.
First handle your working paper pile
This is the pile where you store the most recent papers that have come into your house.
1. Collect your working paper pile. Divide these papers into three stacks: Trash, action, and file.
2. Put the junk mail, catalogs, and any out of date information into the trash. In the future when the mail comes in the door, trash what you don't need before putting the rest of the mail down.
3. Put the “File” pile into a folder. Filing is different to decluttering, and you will need to schedule time to do it during your planning time. The next blog post will discuss an easy way to set up a filing system.
4. Divide papers that you need to take action on into “easy” and “more difficult” stacks. Identify the most urgent actions to take.
5. Do as many of the easy ones as possible immediately. These easy ones are often quick to do, and it feels great to finish them.
6. Decide which of the more difficult urgent actions need to be done this week. Schedule a time to do them, or at least to do the next action step. If any of the more difficult urgent tasks can wait until next week, put them in a folder and put it with your filing folder so you can also schedule those actions during your planning time. Don’t forget to write these tasks in your planner and/or on your calendar.
7. As papers come into the house over the coming weeks, sort them immediately. Put papers to file into the “to file” folder, bag, or box. If an easy action item comes in, deal with it as soon as possible. If a more difficult action item comes in and must be done this week, schedule time to do it. If it doesn’t need to be done this week, put it in the action folder and schedule the action for next week during your planning time.
This process will take at least one week while you work through the actions, file, and schedule the following week’s actions. You will find that there is not a great deal of filing entering your house regularly if you schedule your time once a week like I do.
Now that your current papers are organized and you have a plan for processing any future incoming papers, you can start to tackle the other paper piles around your home.
Processing older paper clutter
1. Collect a pile of about 1 inch or 2.5 centimetres if you have a larger pile. Sort the papers into “trash,” “file,” and “deal with” stacks, as usual.
2. Follow steps 2-7 above. Remember to only spend 10-15 minutes on these tasks each day.
3. Continue to follow the steps for about 1 inch of paper per day.
4. When you are finished processing that pile, choose the next, then the next, then the next.
It might take a month to get your paper organized, or it might take longer, but it will make your life easier and give you peace of mind. Don't forget to download the free printable infographic! Click here to see it on YouTube.
In tomorrow’s post, I will discuss how to set up an easy filing system.