Dealing with paper - Part 1

One of the main things I tackle when helping a client are those seemingly never, ever ending piles of paper. I'm here to tell you that organizers are not immune to the havoc that paper wreaks on our lives, and whether you have an at home business or not, paper seems to be a curse that we all must deal with. I have a few tips that will help you deal with all that incoming paper.

If your current method is to hide the papers in a bag, box or drawer, just know that you may never see those papers again if you don't make a conscious decision to go and pull them out and deal with them right then. Barbara Hemphill is one of my favorite "experts" in dealing with paper. She has a fantastic book called "Taming the Paper Tiger", and in it she states that "Paper clutter is postponed decisions. Paper management is decision-making."


The first step is to bring all your papers together in one place. I recommend having a large flat surface, like your kitchen or dining room table, not sitting on the couch in front of the TV. You need to have room to spread out, make piles and have a garbage can/recycling can and or shredder nearby. It helps to have it all in one place because you have a feeling of control right from the start. You think, Okay, this is all of it, now I just have to deal with it.  If you have more paper than you can control at one time, do it room by room, or even box by box.

The next step is to set up a process called C.P.R. (Categorize, Purge, Rearrange)
This particular blog post is going to deal with papers older than a year. If you have papers that are older than a year, you won't have as many categories to set up for these, most likely the categories will be:

1. Tax files - should go back seven years if you are being conservative.
2. Memorabilia - this is a tougher area, but you can help yourself with the decision making process by asking these questions: "Am I saving this to put in a scrapbook? Do I get pleasure from looking at this? Am I going to look at this again?" If the answer is no to all of these, then throw it out and move on.
3. Important papers - birth certificates, marriage licenses, home mortgage information, papers on any currently owned large purchase.

Get three cardboard boxes and label them for sorting. If there are papers left over that don't fit into these categories, or can't fit into another current category that you have established, then they must be trash and can either be put into the recycling bin or shredded if they have personal information on them.

To store these older papers, here are a few ideas for you:

• Tax files can be stored in manila envelopes (Mark them with the year on the outside) Save these in a plastic storage box and decide where you have space to store them; garage, attic, shelf in a closet.
• Memorabilia should be stored in an acid free container or box. If you're going to be storing these for individual family members, you should go ahead and do a quick sort and put them in piles before containerizing them. Only you know what categories to sort them into, but don't spend too much time on it.
• Important papers should be kept in a secure location such as a safe deposit box, a safe or somewhere where they can quickly be accessed in an emergency.

That should be enough to get you started and in an upcoming post, I'll share more ideas with how to deal with current papers and how to set up an effective filing system that will help you to have your hands on any important paper in seconds, instead of an hour!

Go forth and SORT!!