Going Paperless: How I Deal With Daily Paper Clutter
Just like you, we have so much paper that comes into our home. Paper seems to multiply. This is such a common problem. We can find all kinds of complicated filing systems online, but this system is easy and works so well for me.
Great news! You can win the battle over paper clutter!
We don’t even have a filing cabinet. Crazy! Right?
Mail is the most common type of paper that comes in. You might have a drop zone for your mail, but then you need to move it because you’re cooking dinner. Then an important bill falls out and ends up tucked behind a console table and you have a $20 late payment fee. Taking care of these things quickly really does save money. It also saves the time we waste by moving things from one spot to another.
There is so much peace of mind knowing that I can quickly access any document or receipt that we need.
Here is the process we use when paper comes into our house. It will save you time and money and is so simple.
Sort - Does it go to someone else? Can I throw it away? Does it need to be shredded?
Now it’s time to address what is left.
Can I quickly take care of what this is? This is ideal, but sometimes I don’t have time.
If I don’t have time to deal with it now, I can add it to my TO DO folder.
Is this a receipt or just something I need to keep for my records? TO SCAN folder.
Is it something for my business I need to keep? I have monthly folders for this.
Here are the folders I have:
TO DO - This is where all of the things that need action go; bills that need to be paid, responses that need to be sent, etc. I even put cards in here that I receive so I can be sure to send a Thank You card. I love having this folder empty so I know I that I am truly caught up. Taking care of this folder happens once a week. I know that within each 7 day period, this folder will be emptied.
PENDING - In this folder I keep things that I might need to check back on or follow up with. Once it is completed I will move it out of this folder.
RECEIPTS - This is where I keep receipts I need to do something with (reimbursements, returns, etc). These are scanned in if I need to keep them.
MONTHLY - I have a folder for each month. To keep it simple I actually only have 6 of these and I mark them JAN/JULY, FEB/SEPT, etc. These are for my business expenses. But you can use them for your household things if that works for you. I keep the current month and previous month in my folder set. So at the beginning of June, I will scan all of April’s folder.
TO SCAN - If a payment confirmation comes in or a new bank statement I will put it in this folder. Once a month I sit down and scan all of these documents into my computer and then move them to my external hard drive where they are more secure.
SCHOOL - This is just something that works for my family. This folder could be anything that pertains to your situation. This is where I keep extra worksheets for my daughter’s school. She only goes part time, so they send the others home and we try to get them done that week.
Click HERE for a GORGEOUS set of Rife Paper folders I have on my eye on. (Being organized doesn’t have to be boring!)
When I was prepping for this video my mind went back to a really stressful day. We were thinking of buying a house (we had been married less than 2 years) and my husband called me at work because he needed a piece of paper. I don’t even remember what it was, but I was certain we had it. I had adopted a very complicated filing system I had found in a magazine. It required that I keep all of my paperwork and it was quite amazing how much we had accumulated in such a short amount of time. Long story short, I ended up leaving work and taking the rest of the day at home to find that paper. Somehow it had gotten filed in the wrong place. I am sure we have all experienced that kind of stress and it’s awful!
Four and half years ago we were converting our office into a nursery. We moved the filing cabinet into her closet. Two years ago I decided that I hated it being in there. It always seemed that I needed something at nap time. I tried to figure out where that ugly metal cabinet could go in my home and then, after doing some research and realizing how little we actually needed a physical copy of, I decided to lose it altogether. Best decision EVER. I can truly tell you I have never regretted it. I spend maybe 30 minutes a month dealing with paper. This is TOTAL. It has really cut down on these types of tasks.
I encourage you to try it out. If you aren’t ready to totally get rid of it all, start with the mail that comes in today. Deal with it quickly. I bet it will take you less than 3 minutes! And you can spend the rest of that time on something you enjoy.
Enjoy the new margin in your life. :)