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With all those papers coming your way it’s inevitable to prevent them from piling over. There’s easy way out of it: Declutter papers that may have piled up over time then develop some Habits for clutter free home.
Decluttering Papers can be overwhelming but Don’t let those piles of paper scare you away before you have started on the task. Make your mind & get started on decluttering them in 3 easy to follow steps.
1. Gather all paper clutter in one place.
2. Sort papers: Store, Shred, and recycle.
3. Get sorted papers to the right place.
Trust me it will work with small piles on your working table, or the boxes you might have stacked up somewhere in your home that you are not ready to touch.
Before you start, know that it may take time if you have years’ worth of clutter but It’s not impossible. We all face these paper monster once in a while, you will get through it.
1. Gather paper clutter in one place.
Papers are prone to find home at various flat surfaces, it could be your study table, kitchen counter, Bedside table, or in a worst-case scenario your dining table.
When you’re on a mission of tackling those smaller paper piles, you need to gather everything in one place. Just grab a large box or bin and go through every room in your home collecting every single piece of paper that’s out of place.
This way you got yourself one Paper pile to sort rather than several scatter throughout your home. when you are done with this, you will be assured there are no papers out of place that may need your attention.
2. Sorting papers: Store, Shred, and recycle
It’s the easiest step of all, you can do only three things with any paper, Store (File), Recycle, or Shred. So, grab 3 boxes for each one and you are set for mess free paper sorting. I got myself this Paper Trays and they perfectly caters to my need.
While you work on sorting papers it’s necessary get the basic idea of which papers you should keep and for how long. It could differ from one place to another, best to heed the advice from professionals.
"Store Box" for papers to be filed
This one is for the meaningful or necessary papers that you should keep.
I bet there won’t be much to file, but you need to be clear on what you are keeping & why? we often feel the need to keep everything – despite not having a solid reason to do so.
I recommend that you consult with a trusted certified person for guidance on legal & financial documents. For others, you can try asking these questions when not sure about your decision.
Question to ask yourself while deciding on retention of any document.
- Will I need this information later or will it be useful?
- Can I retrieve this information if I ever need it? yes, then how?
- Is this information reliable & up to date?
"Recycling Box" for recycling papers
Most of the papers from your pile will end up here, so be mindful to grab a large enough box considering the amount of paper you’re decluttering.
Everything that you don’t need to keep can be thrown in the recycling box, provided they don’t contain sensitive or identifiable information. Flyers, magazines, expired coupons, etc can go straight in here.
"Remove Box" for papers that need shredding.
This box is for all the papers that needs shredding, after all no one wants that any document with sensitive or personal information lends in anyone’s hand.
You can do it by hand, with scissors, and if you’ve got a lot to shred & might use a shredder; It’s better to use a crosscut shredder for added security.
3. Get sorted papers in the right place
Now that you had sorted out the papers, your half work is done. All that’s left to do Shred, File and remove the junk papers.
Paper Recycling:
I have a medium-sized Bin for storing all the papers that need to be recycled. it’s not possible to get them at recycling facility on daily basis; I dispose of them once a month or when it’s nearly full.
Paper Shredding:
You can work this in any order you like, I prefer to do the Shredding before starting on filling; this will free up space in no time. While same day is the wise choice, you can do it the next day when time-bound; but delaying more than that is like creating new clutter all over again.
Paper Filling:
Filling papers can be tricky, every document needs to be organized yet easily accessible. It’s important to have Paper Filling System that works for us. you can start with caroling similar items together then deciding on categories. My choice of filling is Binder with cute Labels.
Tips to Make it Quick While sorting the Papers
It is so much easier to get and stay motivated when you feel like you’re accomplishing something. Here are several tricks you can use to feel like you’re getting a jump start to keep you going and enthused.
- First Pull all the thick stuff out of your stack to deal with. Those magazines, catalogues, and bound papers are thick but each require one decision for the whole thing. That allows you to whittle down the pile very quickly before you have to go through every piece of paper that’s left.
- Flip your piles of paper over. The oldest papers are often the easiest to get rid of, you will probably throw most of it!
It’s almost everyone’s dream to have an organized space, for that It’s equally important to Prevent papers clutter.
