When you think about the biggest organizing challenges in your home, a few things will likely come to mind: the messy kitchen counter, the overstuffed bedroom closet, and how to organize papers that have grown to a towering pile. The task of organizing paper buildup seems so daunting that many of us put it off for as long as possible.
Want to learn how to organize paper clutter, too? Start by setting up a sorting station, detailed below, and you can kiss the paper clutter goodbye—forever.
How Often to Organize Paper Clutter
To make organizing your papers easier, try to set aside some time each day to sort through them. Instead of procrastinating until the paper pile becomes overwhelming, devote just five minutes a day to decluttering paper. During this time, sort your papers into three piles: shred, file, or recycle.
Once a week, set aside half an hour to file the papers in the filing pile and shred the ones in the shredding pile. You can take care of the recycle pile as you sort daily. Around once a month—though you may be able to get away with doing this less frequently—look through your filing drawers and see if any can be moved to storage bins.
What You Need:
- Paper sorter
- Recycling bin
- File folders
- Magazine holders
- Filing cabinets
- Paper shredder
How to Sort Papers Efficiently
You only need to implement a few steps to keep your home clutter-free. Here's how to sort your papers easily, quickly, and efficiently.
Step 1: Set up a Paper-Sorting System
The trick to dealing with paper clutter before it piles up is to catch it the second it comes in the door. In the entryway or mudroom (even the wall next to your front door will work), set up a paper sorter labeled with just two or three categories:
- Long-term storage
- To deal with ASAP
- Kids' important papers (like the details on their field trip)
As you walk in the door, take one minute to open each item of mail and decide whether it's something to store long-term, take action (such as a bill that needs to be paid), or toss it immediately.
Step 2: Have the Recycling Ready
Set out a paper recycling bin right below the sorting station. This way, you'll be able to toss out flyers and catalogs right away. You may be surprised by how many papers you can throw directly into the recycling bin.
Step 3: Go Paperless—and Digital—Where You Can
For one week, take note of what you end up recycling right away. If there are certain mailings you always toss out immediately, go ahead and unsubscribe—it will save paper and time. For bills and bank statements, see if you can switch to digital notifications. When the bills land in your inbox, you may actually find it easier to remember to pay them. You can also put a stop to junk mail. For a processing fee of $2, DMAchoice.org will let you opt out of entire categories of mail, such as catalogs, for the next 10 years.
With paper files you already have, sort the documents into things you need to keep original copies and papers that can be scanned and stored digitally. Scan those documents you don't need physical copies of and store them on your computer, a hard drive, or the cloud (or all three, if the paperwork is particularly important). Make sure to name each scanned document clearly and sort the documents into folders where you can find them later.
If you batch sorting and scanning into two tasks—do all the sorting, then do all the scanning—the process will go faster. Also, if there are any documents you aren't sure about or would like to keep and scan, make piles of those during the sorting process. Once you've scanned the documents that you no longer need hard copies of, put them in a pile for shredding and do all of that at one time.
Step 4: Shred What You Don't Need
While there are some documents you can recycle, like junk mail, there are many documents that are essential to shred. If you're unsure of what needs to be shredded, you can follow a few guidelines. You should always shred:
- Anything with financial information, such as bank statements, credit card statements, credit card applications, or pre-approved cards
- Canceled checks
- Utility bills
- Tax documents
- ATM receipts and sales receipts
- Offers that come in the mail, including credit card and insurance
- Expired warranties
- Old IDs and driver's licenses
- Expired credit cards
- Any documents with your signature
The documents above are just a list of suggestions. The rule of thumb is: When in doubt, shred it! If you have room under a desk where you do computer work or paperwork, get a shredder and keep it there so you can shred documents as they come in (rather than leaving them to pile up).
Once the shredder is full, bag up the shreds and either throw them away or recycle them. Some cities will take shredded paper, some won't, and others have a specific drop-off location where you can take shredded paper to be recycled. Check with your city or waste collection service to confirm their policy.
Step 5: Create Long-term Storage
Once you've started using this sorting system for about a week, start taking note of the type of papers that land in the "long-term storage" bin. This will look different for each person and household. You may realize there's very little you actually need to hang onto, or you may have a huge stack of papers you need to sort—like the artwork your child brings home from school (it can feel nearly impossible to toss away).
Based on what you decide you need to keep, create an organizational system according to your needs. Limit the categories to just the essentials, so you aren't tempted to save what you'll likely never use. Depending on the quantity, you can utilize any of the following storage options.
- File folders. If you don't have many categories of paperwork to stash and have mostly switched over to digital bills and bank statements, a few file folders may be all you need. With tax forms in one and important documents in another, you'll resist hanging onto paperwork that doesn't fit into those categories.
- Magazine holders. If you have more categories or multiple kids you need to store paperwork for, consider investing in a set of stylish magazine holders. Get a different color organizer for each category—yellow for taxes, green for medical paperwork—and dedicate one for each family member. A rainbow of different magazine holders will brighten up your office space!
- Filing cabinets. For those with decades worth of important documents, it's time to invest in a filing cabinet. Similar to the folders and magazine holders above, this organization system is only as good as the categories you create for it. Once you've gone through all of your papers and gotten rid of expired coupons and shredded old forms, choose categories according to what's left.
