Are you ready to get rid of paper piles all over your desk, your kitchen counter and other places in your home? Then read on to get rid of your paper piles once and for all.
Paper is one thing we keep getting more and more of in our lives and it isn't going to stop any time soon. It is so easy to get the mail, look through it and start making piles. Here are five organizing tips to get rid of paper piles forever:
We'll start with sorting the mail. Sort the mail when you have time to go through it. A decision has to be made as to what is going to be done with each piece of paper; it will not magically take care of itself. Put the mail together in a basket to be sorted when you have the time or make the time.
To reduce the amount of paper coming into your home get your name off of junk mail lists! Go to Google and type in "stop junk mail". There are several companies you can sign up with to stop mail from coming into your home that you don't want. These include catalogs, credit card offers, coupons, and a host of other things. Some charge for their services others don't.
I use Proquo.com and with this program I am in charge of what I have stopped. For some companies I have sent them letters (written for me) asking them to remove my name from their list. There are companies that you can sign up for that with just a check mark they stop a certain type of mail.
Now back to sorting the mail. Make a goal to only handle each piece of paper only once. When it is in your hand, make a decision then without putting it down into a pile.
If you want to get rid of paper piles in your life you need to make decisions as you sort through paper. Use this 4D plan of action:
As you look at each piece of paper ask "what action do I need to take?"
1. Done: This is something that doesn't need any action and you recycle, shred, toss or file it for reference. (Junk mail, a bill to pay, a magazine that goes to your reading basket, tax information to be filed etc).
2. Do: If it is something that takes less than 2 minutes to do, do it right then. (Clip a coupon and put in your coupon holder, RSVP for an event etc.).
3. Delegate: Pass it off to the person who is to take care of it.
4. Delivery: Short term and Long term: Short term is something that needs action within a few days. Make a note in your planner or on your calendar and put it in a basket or an action file to be taken care of in a few days. If it hasn't been done in a few days file it way in a file or put it in an action file in your filing cabinet where it can stay until you are ready to take care of it.
Long term Delivery is for filing resource information, projects you are working on or files to be kept permanently. (Insurance papers, travel information, warrantees and other information you want to keep for a long period of time but don't refer to very often).
When you make a decision and take action as you sort the mail you will no longer create piles of papers. If you have piles now, start with the most recent and sort using the 4-D's Plan. Which these simple organizing tips you can be free of paper piles at last!
Click here to watch my videos on organizing clutter control.
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