Is your desk buried in paper clutter? How to tame this beast for good!
Even if you're the tidy type, you may still find yourself falling victim to the accumulation of paper clutter. Receipts are one of the top culprits, along with mail and papers you want to keep handy for a week or two, which end up sitting on your desk in the inbox or to-do slot for weeks, or even months!
You save receipts for any number of reasons. You might intend to go through grocery receipts to monitor your household expenses, transferring the data to a spreadsheet. Pressed for time, you seem to defer the task until it's billowing out of the slot in your plastic organizer. You save receipts in case you need to return an item. Long after that toaster has proved itself to be a competent appliance, the receipt still languishes, adding to your paper clutter collection. You've already attended to the action required for that mail, but you're in a hurry and simply put a red check mark in the upper corner to indicate completion and toss it back in the organizer. I'll file it later. Sound familiar?
Here are some tips on taming the paper clutter beast, once and for all! It's easy and often takes no more time than it does to just allow it to pile up. When you control clutter of the paper variety, you'll find you feel better, simply because you don't have to look at it and you no longer have those nagging thoughts of the uncompleted task at the back of your mind.
Attack that organizer by gathering a few large paper clips and a few lightweight rubber bands. Take on one bin at a time. The job can be accomplished in segments of just a few minutes, if you don't have an afternoon to devote to clearing your paper clutter all in one shot. Sort all your categories by type, binding them together with your paper clips or rubber bands. There are bound to be items you can simply toss, like grocery lists or notes with outdated info, so keep your trash basket handy. If you only have fifteen minutes to spare today, do what you can before you have to fly out the door or make dinner.
Go through each bin in turn. When you've organized all of these papers, determine which should be filed. If a paper needs a new folder, make it now. Complete your filing tasks. You've doubtless cleared a substantial amount of your paper clutter via the round file. Next!
If you track grocery expense, sort those receipts separately from receipts for other items, like appliances, office expense items, or furniture. The grocery receipts probably form the bulk of this type of paper mess, so leave it for last. File or toss the remainder of your categories as appropriate. Don't save receipts that no longer serve a purpose. You don't really need that year-old receipt from the dry cleaners, do you?
The last step in clearing paper clutter from your desk and nearby furniture, if things are really bad is to organize your grocery and household expense receipts by date. Clip a month's worth together and start to wade through it. As you complete transferring each month's worth to your spreadsheet, toss this pile.
Now that your desk is all cleaned up, keep those paper clips handy! Sort your papers on a daily basis and dispense with it all weekly. You'll feel like a new person and won't ever have to make a frantic search for any important item again!
how to organize clutter
control clutter
clutter organizers
clear clutter
getting rid of clutter
Even if you're the tidy type, you may still find yourself falling victim to the accumulation of paper clutter. Receipts are one of the top culprits, along with mail and papers you want to keep handy for a week or two, which end up sitting on your desk in the inbox or to-do slot for weeks, or even months!
You save receipts for any number of reasons. You might intend to go through grocery receipts to monitor your household expenses, transferring the data to a spreadsheet. Pressed for time, you seem to defer the task until it's billowing out of the slot in your plastic organizer. You save receipts in case you need to return an item. Long after that toaster has proved itself to be a competent appliance, the receipt still languishes, adding to your paper clutter collection. You've already attended to the action required for that mail, but you're in a hurry and simply put a red check mark in the upper corner to indicate completion and toss it back in the organizer. I'll file it later. Sound familiar?
Here are some tips on taming the paper clutter beast, once and for all! It's easy and often takes no more time than it does to just allow it to pile up. When you control clutter of the paper variety, you'll find you feel better, simply because you don't have to look at it and you no longer have those nagging thoughts of the uncompleted task at the back of your mind.
Attack that organizer by gathering a few large paper clips and a few lightweight rubber bands. Take on one bin at a time. The job can be accomplished in segments of just a few minutes, if you don't have an afternoon to devote to clearing your paper clutter all in one shot. Sort all your categories by type, binding them together with your paper clips or rubber bands. There are bound to be items you can simply toss, like grocery lists or notes with outdated info, so keep your trash basket handy. If you only have fifteen minutes to spare today, do what you can before you have to fly out the door or make dinner.
Go through each bin in turn. When you've organized all of these papers, determine which should be filed. If a paper needs a new folder, make it now. Complete your filing tasks. You've doubtless cleared a substantial amount of your paper clutter via the round file. Next!
If you track grocery expense, sort those receipts separately from receipts for other items, like appliances, office expense items, or furniture. The grocery receipts probably form the bulk of this type of paper mess, so leave it for last. File or toss the remainder of your categories as appropriate. Don't save receipts that no longer serve a purpose. You don't really need that year-old receipt from the dry cleaners, do you?
The last step in clearing paper clutter from your desk and nearby furniture, if things are really bad is to organize your grocery and household expense receipts by date. Clip a month's worth together and start to wade through it. As you complete transferring each month's worth to your spreadsheet, toss this pile.
Now that your desk is all cleaned up, keep those paper clips handy! Sort your papers on a daily basis and dispense with it all weekly. You'll feel like a new person and won't ever have to make a frantic search for any important item again!
how to organize clutter
control clutter
clutter organizers
clear clutter
getting rid of clutter
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