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Newsletter Archives
December 2011
Fresh Start
November 2011
Organizing for a Flight
October 2011
Closet Organizing
September 2011
Organizing for Retirement
August 2011
Warning Signs of Disorganization
July 2011
Essential Organizing Tools
June 2011
Where Do I Start?
May 2011
Reclaim the Garage
April 2011
In Case of Emergency
March 2011
Organizing for Dementia
February 2011
Organizing for Guests
January 2011
Paper Overwhelm
December 2010
Top Ten Causes of Disorganization Revisited
November 2010
Just in Case…Organizing for Death
October 2010
Kitchen Organizing
September 2010
Photo Organizing
August 2010
It’s the Small Things
July 2010
Procrastination
June 2010
Expert Organizing Tips
May 2010
Tips from my Clients
April 2010
Tips for Setting Up a Garage Sale
March 2010
Unusual Ways to Organize
February 2010
Staging your Home for Sale
January 2010
Favorite Places to Buy Organizing Products
December 2009
Wrapping It Up
November 2009
Prepare the Pantry
October 2009
Costumes & Decorations
September 2009
Enough
August 2009
Help for the Home Office
July 2009
Getting Crafty
June 2009
A Better Bedroom
May 2009
Eco Organizing
April 2009
Getting Ready to Garden
March 2009
The Path To Clutter
February 2009
Easing Into Downsizing
January 2009
Organizing For Renovation
December 2008
Organizing For Next Year
November 2008
More Of My Favorite Organizing Tools
October 2008
Making Life Easier
September 2008
Clearing The Closet
August 2008
How To Let Go Of Stuff
July 2008
Managing Medical Records
June 2008
Road Trip Organizing
May 2008
Collections Instead of Clutter
April 2008
Getting Ready for Tax Time
March 2008
Where to Begin
February 2008
When You Want to Help
January 2008
Top Ten Causes of Disorganization
December 2007
Organize for Air Travel
November 2007
Organize for Small Spaces
October 2007
When Life Happens, Reorganize
September 2007
Bathroom Organizing
August 2007
Paper Organizing
July 2007
Uncluttered Kids' Rooms
June 2007
Top Ten Organizing Tools
May 2007
Grapple The Garage
April 2007
Managing Your Time
March 2007
Spring Organizing
February 2007
Help for Caregivers of Aging Parents
January 2007
National Get Organized Month
December 2006
Year End Organizing
November 2006
Give Thanks for Being Organized
October 2006
Holiday Kitchen Organization
September 2006
In Case of a Weather Emergency - Organize!
August 2006
Back to School Organizing
July 2006
Declare your Independence from Summer Clutter
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ORGANIZING TIPS OF THE MONTH: January 2011
Paper Overwhelm
The top organizing headache is paper. Most of us must have missed the memo on the US becoming a paperless society. Paper flows into our homes every day. The challenge is to create systems to help it exit and stay under control.
- Have realistic expectations: If you are setting up your filing system, be aware that going through papers is very time consuming because the process involves many decisions on many small items. Either organize your papers in a little-used area of the home or have a bin to stash your work in progress so it does not clutter your living area between organizing sessions.
- Do a quick sort: Toss the obvious trash and do a fast sort into categories to jumpstart your paper organizing. At the beginning just look for broad categories without analyzing each piece of paper for details. For example, go ahead and collect all the receipts into one pile. You will examine them later to see if they are worth keeping.
- Deal with the chunky stuff first: To see a visible difference, pull out the thick papers such as instruction books, phone books, booklets. Sort those first and you will feel like you have made some progress.
- Have a Yikes! box: If you find papers you need to deal with immediately, put them in a box with a bright sticky note labeled, “Yikes!” Bills, permission slips, and invitations are all “Yikes!”- worthy.
- Do mail every day: It is very tempting to toss mail onto the pile of past mail deliveries. Mistake. It takes about 3 mins to toss junk mail into recycling, put magazines into a rack, and file bills in the To Pay file.
- Make the computer your friend: Use the computer to help you reduce the amount of paper you have to store. Use online bill pay. Get your instruction books off the company website. Use Favorite Pages to keep links to favorite catalogs.
- Have an action file: If a paper comes in the house that requires you to do something—pay, go, call—put it in a central place for action items. Have a system that will make you take notice. It can be a desktop file, shallow box, rack of folders, letter sorter—whatever will remind you to take action.
- Keep reference files healthy: Paper that you need to see again goes into reference files. These are such items as paid bills, insurance policies, and medical records. Do not abuse your reference files by filling them with magazine clippings, old jokes printed from emails, and insignificant receipts. If you can get the information off the internet, there is little need to add an item to your reference file.
- Start with a clean slate: It is OK to put unread magazines and newspapers in the recycle bin. The knowledge is not lost. Sometimes you just do not have time to read everything you want to read. More is coming, so get rid of the old and make good use of your time reading the new.
- Have a moratorium on coupons and sale papers: Coupons and sales papers can be very useful unless the flyers and papers stack up unused in your home. Some people think of the stacks of coupons as money. Not so, when they cost you in clutter. Until you get your paper piles under control, forego collecting promo papers. You will save more than money.
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