Organizing Tip of the Week - Mail and Paperwork

Organizing tip of the week - mail and paperwork. Years ago, I used to be a "collector" of mail. I would even go as far as filing ALL of my bills in huge binders. How the times have changed! Now we can go paperless, pay our bills online and have access to almost everything with a click of a button.

Here are some tips to declutter and organize your mail and paperwork.

1) Gather all of your mail, paperwork and important documents.

2) Start by breaking up everything into categories - bills, health, car, personal, school, etc.

3) Go through each pile and save only what you need and discard the rest.

4) For whatever ongoing bills you have, arrange it to where you can go paperless and shred all of the billing statements that you have (all can be found online).

5) Recycle any manuals, junk mail and offers you do not need.

6) Create a filing system with only the documents that you really need, I have categories such as personal, important receipts and taxes.

7) Do not let mail pile up.

8) When you receive mail, go through it next to the recycling/trash, you'll find that once you have gone paperless with your bills, you will have less mail to deal with.

9) Any mail that you do need to keep and deal with, consider purchasing a desk mail sorter and have an "active" section for mail that needs to be handled right away, this way you will not forget to take care of it.

Remember, less is more here...the less paperwork you have to deal with the better you will feel!