On the To Do List: Organizing Papers Quickly, Simply

Everywhere you look you see paper! From bills piling up to the children's school work. Let's make this clean up real simple today, shall we?

School Work

Start by getting a large, flat plastic container, you know the kind you would slide under a bed. Now you say, "Well that is too big!" Not if you have children in school it isn't. This is where all the kids schoolwork and every other paper school related will go. Let's not worry about any sophisticated filing system or some album or large three ring binder to store everything. The kids will be getting something from school everyday and it will be hard for them to decide what they will want to keep and what they will want to throw away. Therefore, let the plastic container be the one stop that all things school related goes. Now if you have more than one child, it would make since to get separate containers for each.

Receipts

Now on to the next task of paper to tackle. Organizing receipts from your shopping sprees can be real easy if you have one of those plastic expanding file folders. Organize it by month. Every time you shop, just store away your receipts in it.

Circulars & Magazines

So you have a pile up of mail. Take all your circulars and throw them away if you know you don't have any more money to buy anything else this pay period. Why tease yourself by saving them? Next, shelf those magazines even if you haven't got around to reading them. Sometimes we tell ourselves we will do something if we leave it out in the open, but if it has been some days that have gone by and you still haven't made the time to read them, then shelf them or take them to work and read them during lunch daily.

Bills & Other Letters

Now bills must be left out in the open if you plan on paying them; therefore, make a pile exclusively for them. You can use a pretty box, a plastic sorting bin, or something else that looks nice with your other decor. Place all bills in that spot every time you get them. As for everything else, pitch it, give it away, or shelf it until you have the time to do something with it.

Organizing paper doesn't have to be a challenging task. What makes this task a big deal for some people is they have know clue what to do with their mess. Define a space and then discipline yourself to keep with your system. Before long, you won't have to look at piles of paper going nowhere. Also, if paper sits for too long, you will find yourself with some itchy skin and weird bumps showing up on your hands and possibly your legs and feet every time you move paper. If so, you may have a problem with paper fleas which means you will need to throw all the paper out and get yourself one of those insect bombs. Unfortunately, I learned about this the hard way after taking a job with a company. It turns out the previous manager didn't believe in throwing away anything and the place was filled with literally years of paper. Needless to say, there were these tiny bugs that were having a party with all that paper he left behind.

Nicholl McGuire