2. Give gift receipts with your gifts and toss the original receipts.

3. Reduce junk mail by registering with DMAChoice.org.

4. Throw away those small-dollar-amount cash receipts before you even get home.

5. Call the charities you no longer support and request to be removed from their mailing list.

6. Put your magazine subscriptions on a diet.

7. Scan your recipes and get rid of the sheets of paper and recipe cards.

8. Shred your medical explanation of benefit statements after you review them.

9. Throw away those investment prospectus reports if you’ve never read them then request online copies only.

10. Eliminate the other language portions of your product manuals.

I know… most of us hate to file. That’s one reason so many of us are battling with paper in our homes and offices. Most file cabinets are relegated to the back of closets, under the stairs or out in the garage. Some file cabinets are so full they can’t be opened, while others date back to the time of the dinosaurs and need excavation! You might even experience a genuine filing phobia every time you open a file drawer.  It’s difficult to find things when you need them and then you have no idea where to put new papers to be filed.

The first step to overcome your phobia is to re-work your filing system by understanding the types of files and how they are used.  Here’s a chart of the 3 types of files for any home or office.

Now that you have read about these 3 file type, it’s time to take the steps needed to get your file cabinet organized. What I’m about to say is not rocket science or some new age technique…

Use the K.I.S.S. method – Keep it Super Simple!

K eep the 3 types of files separate

I s it worth keeping?  Ask yourself the trigger questions and purge, purge, purge as much as possible  

S implified your categories   Re-think how you have your files labeled; using broad categories will make things easier to find and put away!

S chedule regular maintenance   This is imperative. If you’re not willing to do this step, then all the other steps won’t work! Set up yearly dates to purge files, toss papers, move files from reference to archive, and to re-evaluate your current systems.

Here are a few trigger questions to ask yourself as you sort through and purge your file cabinet.

• Is this information useful?
• Can I get this information again?
• Is this information on the internet?
• Is this information needed for tax or legal reasons?
• What’s the worst thing that would happen if I threw this away?

While there are many ways to organize, I have found that my clients who feel disorganized handle their “stuff” in one of three ways.  These are names for the kinds of disorganization that I often encounter.

The Pilot

This person loves to “pile it” (that’s why I call them a pilot). In their home or office you will find things stacked vertically. It may be papers, books, or clothes; they may be stacked neatly or haphazardly but they are piles nonetheless. These pilots will often say that they know exactly where everything is and they’re right… it’s in a pile!  How are they comfortable organizing this way? Are they really comfortable organizing this way? The answer is yes.  In Lanna Nakone’ s book, Organizing for your Brain Type, she states that this type of person should embrace their stacking preference but limit the number of piles, save less stuff to begin with, and use clear containers.

The Flight Attendant

Visualize the flight attendant on a plane – you walk onto a plane, they have everything neat as a pin and are smiling brightly. But they have a secret place, a closet of sorts. There, all of the tools for their job are hidden away – the beverage cart, coffee carafes, garbage bins, magazines, coats, and who knows what else.  A person who organizes like a flight attendant has a neat and orderly appearance on the outside but don’t dare look in their closets, laundry room or desk drawers! In fact, many of us have been quasi flight attendants in our lives – company rings the doorbell and with one swoosh we clear the papers off the kitchen counter into a bag and throw it in the pantry. Many people become flight attendants in their attempts to organize because they never get around to actually organizing and use closets, boxes or any close-able area to stash things when they want a sense of [eace in their environment.

Crop Duster

This person has it all spread out.  Just like a little crop duster, making sure to cover every nook and cranny. Every horizontal surface is covered with dishes, papers, projects, etc.  When the crop duster person begins to think about getting organized, they are instantly overwhelmed because they do not know where to start. They are paralyzed and cannot take action. Barbara Hemphill, author of Taming the Paper Tiger at Home, says that clutter is postponed decisions.  This person just cannot make a decision about what to do with the “stuff”.

The benefits of Planner Pad:

• Monthly view
• 2 pages weekly view
• Different sizes calendars to choose from
• Space for roles, tasks, and appointments
• Room on the weekly pages to capture bits of information
• Designed to make all aspects of your life funnel into each week, in one place

Click here to See the Planner Pad video

Did I just say that?!! I love to shop and so do most of my friends.

But clutter is caused by uncontrolled shopping or, stated another way, by a person who shops without restraint- a shopaholic. According to some studies 1 in 20 people is a shopaholic and 9 out of 10 shopaholics are women. (Of course most shopaholics are women – don’t they also say that women make the majority of buying decisions in America?!)

There are many reasons why people say they over-shop. Great sales, late night TV and shopping channels, quantity discounts, having grown up in the depression or having been deprived. Whatever the reason, the underlying cause is emotional. Those who are compulsive shoppers use shopping as an escape from their emotions – whether caused by depression, anxiety, anger or just plain boredom. I write about this today not to point a finger but to say that READ MORE

These days we have more paper in our offices than ever.  In fact, for every 100 pounds of trash we throw away, 35 pounds is paper.* When we do process these papers we find some have sensitive information.  Having a shredder in your office is a necessity.  If you work for a large company it is best to hire a shredding service to make weekly or monthly visits to your facility to pick up and shred sensitive documentation.  If you are an entrepreneur or have a home office then having a personal shredder in your office will suffice. Here are some features to consider: READ MORE

Does this look familiar?

Is your desk so cluttered that you forget what the wood grain looks like on its top?  Do you put down papers just about anywhere because you don’t know what else to do with them?

Whether it’s your home office or your work office, having a functional desk is important.  By functional I don’t mean having four legs and working drawers (although that helps!). I mean having a surface where you can do your work, have things at your fingertips and know where things are when you need them.  Here are 3 keys to helping you make your desk more functional:

READ MORE

Since the beginning of my professional organizing career, the most asked question has been “How to I keep up with all the paper in my life?” (or some variation thereof). Paper is prolific in our lives as Americans. The fact that we now have computers seems to have compounded, rather than relieved, the influx of papers. Even though we may receive less letters and billing statements in our postal mailbox, we are still inundated with the circulars, ads and the charitable and political donation requests.

So the biggest key to controlling the paper is to stay on top of it.
I have seen ignored stacks of paper grow to reach ceiling heights. Sometimes the paper is collected into boxes that then clutter the garage, leaving the cars in the rain! How do you keep up with all the paper in your life? By staying on top of it. Here’s what I mean:
You come in from work, mail in hand. Don’t throw everything on a horizontal surface, instead, quickly sort thru the mail and throw out those pesky circulars, ads and anything that is junk mail. By only doing this you will have decreased the amount of paper in your hand by 50-70%. Get used to the fact that when you think something is junk mail, you are probably right – it’s junk mail! Don’t feel like you have to open the envelope from your political party unless you do plan to make a charitable contribution. They are not sending you a check! Just shred it and move on with your day!
Now what to do with the rest of the mail in your hand? You have a few options here:
1. Look at everything right away, make decisions, and put things where they belong, OR
2. Have a mail basket or container of some sort that you put this mail in until you have time to look at it.

Going thru the mail basket once, twice or even three times a week will help you keep the paper to a minimum. The key, however, is to do something with the mail once you decide to go thru it. This means put the bills to be paid together, read the newsletter, add that “Save the Date” to your calendar, make a note of things that require a response on your to do list. Like the Nike slogan – just do it! Getting rid of that visual paper clutter will go a long way in helping you begin to sort out the mental clutter. Did you know they were related??? More on that later……

Your kitchen counter, near the telephone, on the dining room table, all over your desk, even on your bed! We cannot seem to escape paper. It finds us even when we haven’t asked for it! We all grumble about this paper but did you know you can do something about it? Here’s one way to take action against the mail delivered to your home:

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is a global trade association of business and nonprofit organizations who use and support direct marketing tools and techniques. The also have a consumer side which advocates consumer choice. This is the side you want to pay attention to. This is the way to reduce the paper coming from the US Postal Service to your door. Simply go to http://www.dmachoice.org/ ,then click on preferences.

The Mail Preference Service (MPS) can remove your name from DMA’s member prospect lists. You can do this one of two ways:

1. Fill out the online form with all required information. Registering online is the fastest way to see results. The cost is $1.oo. OR
2. Complete the mail-in registration form. Print the form and mail it with a $1 check or money order (to cover processing), payable to the Direct Marketing Association, to the address on the form. Processing your request by mail takes longer than online registration.

I have also discovered http://www.catalogchoice.org/. I have not used this service, but Catalog Choice is a free service that allows you to decline unwanted catalogs, reducing the number of catalogs in your mailbox and the number of trees that get sent to the paper mill. Their site only offers opt out requests for individual catalog titles –which means, unfortunately, there is no way to stop all catalogs with just one click.

This is just one way to start managing the paper in your life, stay tuned for more tips in the weeks to come!

If you are like millions of Americans, you get loads of mail. Often 80% of what we get in our mailboxes is unsolicited mail or junk mail. There are a few ways to cut back on this unwanted clutter. You can send a postcard or letter to have your name removed from mailing lists. Just write to : Direct Marketing Association
Mail Preference Service
PO Box 643
Carmel NY 10512
or go to www.the-dma.org
Don’t forget to request your spouse’s name or other family names removed as well.

When ordering from catalogs or the internet, just say “no” to the advertising offers they want to give you. If you receive catalogs at home or work that you no longer need or want just call the number on the back of the catalog and ask to be removed from their mailing list. This may take one or two months to go into effect, but it does work!

Another tip : Don’t sort through that junk mail every day! Don’t waste precious time on such a menial task. Place a basket or some other container near the entrance you use when coming in with the mail. This will become your mail basket. When you come in from the mailbox, take out any bills and important letters. Throw the rest into the mail basket and choose one day each week to go through the junk and take action! Be sure to have a shredder and trash can nearby as most of the mail will be “filed” there. If there is mail left over, then take the appropriate action needed – a phone call, file it away, mark it on your calendar, or give to the intended receipient. The mail basket should be emptied each week, ready for the next load of mail!