Most people need to deal with paper on a daily basis. Some common examples are the following: bank statements, bills, pay stubs, newspapers, magazines, calendars, take-out menus, shopping receipts, and school permission slips. With an organized plan of action and some discipline, the paperwork can be conquered.
Begin by taking a look at the type of paperwork that’s overwhelming you the most. Are you the most stressed by those bills that go unpaid when you can’t locate them? Or is it the amount of artwork your
children have created and decorated your refrigerator with? Perhaps it’s the constantly changing after school schedules or meetings.
Once you determine the most invasive paper culprits, next it’s time to line them up and sort them out. A successful filling system has three main components. A file for those things that need to be acted on immediately, one for those that are part of a household’s ongoing management, and one for those that are more infrequent but nevertheless crucial, such as tax records, insurance policies, and home maintenance documents.
It is important to remember that when conquering the paperwork, make a good routine of dealing with each item the first time you handle it. Get out of the habit of looking through your mail and tossing it aside. Set aside time each day to open mail, go through paperwork in your inbox and sort and file appropriately.
Decide if each item is something to be paid, something to be done, or something to be filed. At the end of each week, take out each file and respond appropriately by paying the bill, responding to the request, or moving items that need to be filed into their permanent locations.
Of course, if you know something is urgent and can’t wait until week’s end, clip it to the front of your file box or place it in front in a folder labeled Urgent and act accordingly.
Save telephone time by keeping calendars, schedules, take-out menus and phone lists into clear page protectors in a 3-ring binder. Flip through the household notebook to quickly check meeting dates or find phone numbers.
Organize magazines and newspapers into baskets kept near couches and living room chairs for people to look at during their free time. Be sure to keep in the habit of sorting through this on a regular basis and filing those magazines you decide to keep and tossing old newspapers and magazines you wish you toss.
