Help
With Your Rule
Paper Clutter...
Dear Holly,
I am completely overwhelmed by paper clutter. About a year and a half ago I hired a professional organizer, and among other things she got my files in order (her order!) and made decisions for me on what could be shredded and what needed to be kept. I had her back 2 or 3 times while I was still working, and she would help me get caught back up, but in between those times the mail would just pile up and overwhelm me. Since I'm no longer working, ( I am home with my two young children) it has been quite a while since she was here, and it's getting pretty bad. I never seem to know what to do with the stuff that comes in. I avoid the mail as long as possible, sometimes being late on bills, because it is so overwhelming to me. When I do open it, I never know what is OK to throw away and what to keep. It's almost like I'm paralyzed when I look at the paper in my hand and try to figure out what to do with it. Then of course besides the mail there is all the kiddos artwork and the drawers of unorganized pictures and parephernalia that I want to get scrapbooked (when the babies get older and I have time to do fun things for me again) and the Christmas cards and the magazines I want to read but never seem to have time to and my NFP charts and... (etc.) I grew up with an entire family of the "hold on to everything, you never know when you might need it" mentality; I think this is part of my problem. Organization just does not come naturally to me though, and I have never been able to find a way to organize papers that makes sense to my brain. I also hate files because I am a very "out of sight, out of mind" kind of person. On the other hand, I don't want or need all this stuff IN sight and therefore constantly in my mind and overwhelming me.
Labels: 5th P Provider
posted by Holly at 3:13 PM
11 Comments:
I think you have reason to be confused. Paper paper paper! I have noticed it in my own life and often questioned where it all comes from!!! I am sure MROL readers will have some ideas for you.
For me -
1. Re: mail - I open everything right away on the kitchen counter. Envelopes go in 'recycle' bin immediately. Bills or tax info (and other such business stuff) goes in an "Office mailbox" I have downstairs by the stairs, to go up to my computer desk whenever I go up. I usually collect the contents of this mail box every other Thursday when I do my finances, and sort it then. I usually spend the afternoon with office work, finances and paper work.
2. I throw out ALL ads, flyers, generic mail without opening them.
3. I open immediately correspondance, place it by Philip's chair if it calls for him to read, and throw out the envelopes. Usually I dont' have too much as email have replaced these things.
4. Christmas card and other cards - I open them on the fridge top or the windowsill, and when they begin to fall down, I either throw them away, or I cut the pictures out and put it in a kids cut-n-paste box, Great for crafts.
5. I keep a file for each child for *exceptional* representations of their art skills - other than that, their works of art go on the fridge with magnets and get dumped when the next picture comes along. Weekly, I remove anything old for fresh stuff. They know this is the rule!
6. My NFP chart is a calendar hung on my bedroom wall by the closet with a pen hanging down.
7. Receipts - I only keep what I can claim on my income tax AND receipts for warranty issues. All of this goes in the top left drawer of my office desk and when I have time, I do indeed file it. However, I have an entire year of receipts in my top left drawer. I will be taking them out and bringing a box downstairs with the files and entering them into the proper files while I watch a show some night.
Also, every year, I bag all the income tax receipts with the returns and label the year. I keep it on the shelf in the office for 5 years, then out it goes.
8. Working files - I always have lots of paper I am working with, so I have working files. I have one for Freelance writing, one for my workshops, one for my talks, one for homeschooling - and I keep these on top of my desk where I can get them, but in a file folder. Everything related to the topic is in that file, but placed close for regular use.
Helpful? Or more confused? :-)
Holly
Holly -- Your suggestions are awesome!
In addition to Holly's examples, I would also suggest that you try to PREVENT paper as much as possible. My husband came from the same kind of family that you describe, and he, too, is immobilized by the prospect of throwing stuff out. It is ingrained in him, and even though I have tried to give him guidelines for certain things, I believe he may always struggle. In the back of his mind, I think he can hear his mother saying, "You might need that someday."
So, if it is possible for you and you are comfortable with it, I would try to receive online statements for as many bills as possible. You might also get a money program that allows you to track bills and such on the computer. It is important to backup your information regularly if you do this, however.
You can also eliminate junk mail:
You can opt out of credit card offers you receive in the mail by calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT.
You can reduce junk mail by writing to the Direct Marketing Assoc. at Direct Marketing Association, Mail Preference Service, PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512. Include a brief paragraph that you would like to be excluded from marketing lists and include your name and all variations of it, such as jr. or sr.
Good luck to you!
Holly,
The paper issue for a long time was extremely overwhelming to me and occasionally it gets that way from time to time. At least for my personal and homeschooling papers.
When my husband and I were first married he had a filing system that had everthing separate and I found it to be very difficult to use. I found another idea I read somewhere? You use hanging files but you label them by month. Jan.-Dec. Then you have a file separate for all current financial. This includes all bills and anything having to be tended to quickly. My husband handles all bill paying which has taken alot of pressure off of me. Once the bills and such are paid. He places these item in that month. It is so much easier to find something. At the years end we remove all the papers and place them in a manilla envelop, one for each month of the year. We then write on the outside of it with the date and year. We place these in banker boxes and store them for 5 to 7 years. We even had to go into one of these boxes to find some financial statement and it was very easy to retrieve. We also place all our receipts in the correct month as well. We only have a few hanging files for health insurance, life insurance, taxes etc. We also have an accordian style A-Z pocket file that is in our file drawer. This is where we place all owner's manuels. This is filed alphabetically by manufacturer. We have been using this system for about ten years. We both like the simplicity of it.
I also sort mail as soon as I get it. I throw away all junk mail and anything we don't need. If it is financial in nature it goes in the main folder until my husband does the bills. If it is personal or something for the kids this is where I still have struggled. I am a visual person as well so I tend to let piles pile up. I share the desk/computer space with my husband who doesn't like the mess. So I am tending to it regularly. But I get overwhelmed on how to file this stuff. I guess this is where I am looking for some help too. I use magnetic dog ear clips on my fridge. This is for events coming up, coupons I always forget to take with me to the grocery store. Recipes I will use for the week. I hope this helps.
I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY like your idea about Monthly files not itemized files! Especially since we have a running list of our expenses and expenditures - and it would be a breeze to check the books for a date, and then go to the proper month for the receipt. This is so excellent, I am going to adopt it immediately! Thank you!!!
I too like the monthly files instead of by item.
I also recommend the suggestion to get online statements from banks and bills. Since they are filed electronically with the company, who do not ever need to worry about storing a hard copy or be concerned about a home computer failure. Reducing paperwork from the beginning is better than worrying about what to keep!
For owner's manuals: check to see if it is online first! There is no point in storing the instructions for that high chair if a 2 minute web search will find you replacement parts to extend it's life.
For kids' artwork (and schoolwork) - you have to be cruel and heartless. My kids are prolific artists. I can't keep everything. I keep the really nice ones or the ones that are related to school...others I try to scan into the computer to save without taking up real space. For their schoolwork, I keep their quizes and tests until Dad has seen them, then they and any worksheets go right in recycling. I do keep the blank books that they fill with illustrations and their own prose related to various subjects, and I've kept the creative writing so far. But math worksheets and handwriting practice get chucked ASAP.
Great ideas!
As for kids' artwork, you could keep a box (mine is plastic with wheels) under each kids' bed (or one for everyone depending on how many kids you have) and put the exceptional work in there. At the end of the school year (this would be under your seasonal chores), you could get them all out and have them choose their best or favorite ones. Then, transfer them to a scrapbook of some kind (either one with plastic sleeves, or one that you use with glue--my choice).
My grandmother did this with many of the cards and pictures we made her and then gave us the finished product when we were in our 20s. It has been one of the most memorable gifts!
Thank you everyone for the ideas. I am re-reading MROL as part of a group, and this time the idea about Jesus needing efforts to bless really jumped out at me. The other day I kept repeating this to myself as I put on mental blinders, so to speak, and picked up one piece of paper at a time from my desk and did something with it. Remembering that my efforts were being blessed helped me not get too overwhelmed and give up. I can actually see parts of my desk now. I still have a long way to go, but your ideas have inspired and motivated me.
I do want to share 1 tip that it took me a long time to figure out myself. Instead of trying to keep paper records of phone conversations (with doctors' billing departments, customer service reps, etc) that I never seem to be able to find when I need to refer to them, I started making notes under their entry in my MS Outlook addressbook.
A couple of book suggestions:
From the spiritual perspective:
Addicted to Stuff by Dale O'Leary. I saw her on EWTN and she was very good.
http://www.lhla.org/books/bstuff.htm
A secular book, but one I found to have a very balanced, common-sense approach is Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern. She has a bunch of organzing resources, but this one is a good overall.
http://www.amazon.com/Organizing-Inside-Out-second-Foolproof/dp/0805075895/sr=8-2/qid=1170088859/ref=pd_bbs_2/105-7273135-1053223?ie=UTF8&s=books
This is a difficult area for me as well. One area that is especially difficult for me is artwork the kids have done. A few ideas that may help:
We hang up the artwork on a door in the kitchen and replace it as new work comes home. One idea is to take a photo of your child in front of the artwork. This puts the focus on the child and prevents you feeling as if you have to save every piece.
Another idea, if you have access to a video camera, is to videotape your child showing his artwork. He could choose what is most important to him. This is so much fun because it records what the piece meant to the child and captures something of their personality. Now that my boys are much older, I regret that I didn't do this more as they were growing up.
The memoribilia issue has been a big one for me since I was young. I was bred to save everything of any sentimental significance. Before I got married I went through a purgative phase and swept through my parent's house sorting through absolutely everything- from all my gradeschool notebooks to random collections. My rule was "only save something I can put in a scrapbook for my kid's to appreciate someday." It was so freeing!!! I now have one plastic bin in my cellar of lifetime memories and I'd like to dwindle it down to one scrapbook someday. I realize that at the root of my wanting to save everything is self-love. I still have trouble throwing out Christmas cards and pictures. My prayer when I get around to the task of throwing out memoribilia is for Our Lord to give me the simplicity & poverty of the Holy Family who was so free from vanity. Lots of wonderful secular books have been written about simplicity too. One by Janet Luhrs has helped me in particular. (Can't remember the title). However, I do believe true simplicity starts in the heart. The Holy Spirit can guide us!
Here's another way to help eliminate the excessive artwork and makes you feel great! Save it for a month or two and then bring the family to a nursing home. Have your children give their artwork away to the residents. The children feel so happy to share their art with others. The elderly people are left with a reminder after you've left that they are loved. We also like to sing some songs for those we visit. If this is your first time to go to a nursing home, try to go caroling during Advent or the Christmas season. Our family has also dressed up as saints before and went there on All Saint's Day singing
"Oh When the Saints Go Marching In". Then we gave clues as to who our saint was and let people guess.
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