August 6th-12th is Simplify your Life Week. Clear out the clutter and focus on priorities! Simplifying is all about having what you use or need in your life today with a touch of what you love. It's about letting go of the past and focusing on the present. The more simplified your life is the easier organizing is. Here are my suggestions for simplifying your incoming household paper:
1. OHIO--Only Handle It Once and decide what to do with it.
2. Gather up all the paper in your house. Put your bills to pay in one pile and everything else in a banker's box(es). Label the box "paper to sort". Place your bills in a folder labeled "bills to pay". Now you have a clean slate.
3. From now on, make it a habit to every day take action on your inflow of paper (OHIO) designating them as "shred", "recycle", "file", "bills to pay", "action", or "memorabilia". This creates a system for you to stay on top of your inflow of paper that will only take you two minutes each day.
- Shred and recycle what you can.
- File your reference papers immediately (do not place in a "to file" folder or pile). Not sure what to keep? Email me and I'll send you the five reasons to keep paper. Or, go paperless and scan your reference papers with the Neat desk scanner.
- Place bills to pay in your "bills to pay" folder or take immediate action with online bill pay.
- Place "action papers" in an "action" folder and designate a day/time to take action on each of them in your calendar.
- Place "memorabilia" in an acid-free box. Designate one per family member or one per year. Be very selective about what you keep.
Oh, and that banker's box(es), designate a date/time on your calendar (in the next week) that you will go through the paper following your new system. In a week you will be in control of your paper. Now, wouldn't that feel great?!
Labels: Organized Paper, Organizing