Martin and I use a household paper management system we refer to as guerilla sorting.
Guerilla Sorting
Guerilla sorting starts at the begin point, usually the mailbox.
- When you get the mail each day, separate and immediately toss into your paper recycling bin any junk mail and the envelopes and inserts of mail you need to process further before bringing the mail into the house.
- Look at each mail item you’re bringing into the house and ask yourself does it need to be paper? Most banks and many vendors will give you the option of receiving eStatements and eBills—switch to ePaper for as many accounts as possible to reduce mail volume.
- Take the to-keep mail to your workspace, e.g., an office or counter area in the kitchen reserved for managing household papers, and at a minimum place the papers in an inbox.
- This article by Donna Lindley at OnlineOrganizing.com suggests a good action plan for the next step in processing. She recommends multiple inbox trays to separate papers into categories, but you could just the group papers with a paper clip and post-it note labeling the category.
- Instead of putting “to read” items in the inbox, I suggest you immediately file them in shelf organizers set up for magazines, journals, newsletters and other literature. The Container Store has lots of great Literature Organizers. Consider purging subscriptions after one year, especially if the periodical archives are available online.
- Put your action items at the top of the inbox, and immediately update your calendar or todo list with reminders to take care of these items.
- For papers that need to be filed, if you can’t do this immediately, group the papers and put them at the bottom of the inbox, or create a hanging file folder labeled To Be Filed and put them there. Filing is an action item that needs to go on your calendar—once or twice monthly.
- I like a clean workspace area in my office, hence don’t use or recommend project-based or time-sensitive filing systems that take up desk surface area. I think these systems are distracting. Simple hanging folders in a file cabinet keep projects and action items out of sight and out of mind while you focus on one task at a time.
- Purge your files according this bankrate.com schedule, shredding papers in the categories listed at Fight Identity Theft.
- Filing and paper processing can be a lonely chore. Get your partner and children involved to make it more fun and go faster.
For more paper management tips and ideas, visit these WordPress blog posts.
