OPTED Magazine

Paper might be thin, but the sheer volume of it entering our homes is bound to create clutter and unnecessary piles in numerous places.   One of the best habits you can form is committing to address incoming paper the moment it comes through your front door.  Here are some examples and how to take action:

• Mail — as soon as the mail arrives and you bring it inside, separate the junk mail from the mail that needs to be opened and put the junk mail and unnecessary pieces immediately in the “to shred” pile or recycling bin.  Open the rest of the mail and recycle the inserts and stack mail that requires action.  If you can, take the action immediately (i.e. pay the bill, discuss a save the date card) or at the very least, place the mail in your inbox to process at your next available opportunity
• Receipts — if you enter the house with new purchases and are armed with new receipts, immediately collect them and place them within your system for processing financial records
• Newspapers – if you’re not already reading everything digitally and are still receiving a newspaper, treat this as a high priority.  News is “of the moment” anyway, so there is no point in holding on to newspapers for several days when the information becomes obsolete.  Clip your coupons, discard advertisements for stores you never visit, read the news content, and make lists of prices and items from stores that you do need to visit.

This might seem overwhelming if you live a busy life, but in each of these instances, you will take these actions at some point, so why not right away?  None of these tasks take a substantial amount of time and you have an added bonus of preventing clutter if you address all the incoming paper immediately.  There’s no time like the present!

If you liked this post, you might like::

1. Tackle your junk drawer
2. How to address the cloud hanging over your head
3. Use one piece of paper to keep you on track
4. Consider reading everything digitally