Paperwork. Everyone’s favorite thing — said nobody ever except maybe accountants and mortgage lenders. 

Dealing with paperwork is as real as it gets. It’s the epitome of adulting. 

The Paperwork Conundrum

Here is the problem with the paperwork. 

You want to just throw it away, right? It seems like you’ve been hanging on to it forever. But it never fails that when you finally throw it away, lo-and-behold, you need it.  But you can’t realistically keep everything … Or can you? 

And just how do you decide what is important enough to keep?  And how do you file it so it isn’t overwhelming?  

And then let’s talk about the bills that come in on what feels like a daily basis. You really need to figure out a system for keeping up and stopping these from getting overwhelming. 

Ugh. The conundrum is real. And so is the absurd amount of paperwork you find yourself dealing with on the regular. 

Let’s look at my top tips to stop paper clutter once and for all. You’ll feel like you’ve got this adulting thing down in no time. 

The Tools

To stop the paper clutter, you’ll need a few main tools.  

-Filing Cabinet

-Hanging folders with Labels

-Shredder

–Desktop paper organizer with at least four sections

-Timer

–School work organizer

-Glass of celebratory wine for when you are finished! 

The System

The biggest way to tackle paper clutter is to not let it get overwhelming in the first place.

I know this is easier said than done but I promise, once you work this system into your daily (or weekly) workflow, your paperwork headaches will be a thing of the past. 

The Command Center

Create a command center. This can be in your office or central area (preferably one that little hands don’t play in).  But this is the area where all paperwork goes as it comes into the house. 

Here are the three sections 

Urgent – Things that you need to take care of asap, such as bills or RSVPs. 

To File – These are, you guessed, things you need to file away. Whether it be a piece of artwork that you just can’t get rid of or an important change to your mortgage, if you need to file it away, it goes here. 

Reference – Anything that is temporary but needs to be accessible needs to go in here.  For insurance, kid’s sports schedules, calendars, a to-do list, or a packing list for a future trip all can go here. You’ll have them on hand, easy to grab but won’t be cluttering up the counter. Then, when the trip is over or the season is done, you know you can toss it.

I love having a desktop organizer like this one. It looks cute and keeps the paperwork organized. Whatever your choice, you’ll want to make sure you have four different areas to divide your incoming paperwork. 

I recommend creating a schedule where you go through these papers at the same time. You could do it daily if you get a lot of incoming paperwork, or on a weekly basis.  Mondays or Fridays seem to be the best days for tackling paper clutter. 

To File

Even once you have a system down, you’ll still have to find a way to cull the “to file” paperwork. Let’s look at the two culprits that seem to bring in the most offenders to paper clutter. 

School Work

Schoolwork is a huge paper clutter offender. It’s hard because those sweet little souls are only going to be young once and let’s be honest, they can make you feel so darn guilty for throwing anything out.

First, remember you don’t need to save every paper they bring home from school, tempting as it may be. Instead, just keep a special piece of artwork or really impressive work assignments that show how far they have come. 

I allow myself one folder per year, per kid, and keep the really special papers filed in that. I then have an organizer, like this one, (per kid) that each folder goes into. This is a great way to keep things orgainzed by year and not get too overwhelmed with stuff. 

Taxes

Tax documents are another source of paper clutter. Talk to your accountant, but you generally don’t have to save all of your documents forever. 

Another option for a lot of these tax documents is to keep a digital copy instead of a hard copy. Make sure you have these backed up — one on the cloud and one on your computer.

Organizational Steps

So what about the mess that is currently hiding in your office closet?  Yea, you know if I’m talking about you.

Now that you have an idea of how to keep your day-to-day paperwork organized, it’s time to tackle that backlog of stuff (note: this is where that glass of wine comes in handy). 

Set a timer

To keep your sanity about you (if that is even possible because, well, kids), I love to set a timer for work like this. 45 minutes on, and 15 minutes off is what seems to work best for me, but you may find you have a totally different rhythm that works for you. 

The basic concept is to work focused for 45 minutes and then take a 15-minute break. Go on a walk, start dinner, play with your kids — just step away for a few minutes.  Then, if you are able, set the timer for another 45 minutes and keep working away. 

If your time is super limited, shoot for one 45 work session a day. You’ll be surprised how fast you get it done. 

Give yourself a little reward when you are done with the project — maybe a pedicure or an hour to read your book while the kids play in the backyard. It will give you that much more motivation to get it done.

Dive In

Once you make the time, all that is really left is to dive in. Using the principles outlined above, go through each piece of paper. Shred what is not needed, scan what can be digitized, and organize and file what you need to keep the originals. 

It’s slow and steady that wins the race against paper clutter. Tackling it little by little is best.

Some questions to ask yourself as you go through each piece of paper: 

• Do you need a hard copy or will a digital copy suffice? If you can scan it, scan it.
• Is this the current copy of your insurance/mortgage statement, etc?  Only keep what is most current. 
• Do you really need this? 

Shred what you don’t need. Scan what you can. File what you must save. 

Easy-peasy. 

Want help tackling the disaster lurking in your office closet?  You are in luck —  I love myself a good chaotic mess to sort through.

Reach out today for more information.

Caroline Van Natta