Paper, paper, everywhere!
I recently worked with a client that had 7-8 boxes of paperwork sort of scattered throughout her home. Dealing with the paperwork seemed daunting and overwhelming and so she just put it off. In reality though she was dealing with it every day by not dealing with it. She felt stressed, depressed, overwhelmed and out of control all of the time.
As I’ve always said, clutter is delayed decisions. The impact of putting the decisions off is much worse than taking the time to make the decisions. When we worked together, the client was forced to make the decisions about her paperwork that she’d been putting off. She, like so many other clients I’ve helped with their paperwork, excitedly said “this is so easy!”.
Normally making one decision impacts more than one item. So if you just make a couple of decisions each day, you should be able to impact the clutter in your home greatly in no time. Those decisions might be:
- Do I need to save bill copies if I pay my bills online?
- Do I need to save loan information from a car that I’ve already sold?
- Do I need to save every paper that my child brings home, or just 10 favorites a year?
- Do I want to take the time to get off junk mailing lists?
Comments
Wow, 140 catalogs a week! That is terrible. Thanks for stopping by and commenting Margotb.
About the Author
Sue Anderson, CPO®, Owner of Simplified Living Solutions, is an expert in the professional organizing field, specializing in paper management and messy, unproductive desks, offices, home offices and filing systems.
I was reading through your tips and hints for getting rid of junk mail, it is a very thorough list. Our service at www.stopthejunkmail.com also provides a method to opt out and reduce your postal junk mail both catalogs and other types of direct mail as you mention. I had a member the other day tell me that she used to get 140 catalogs a week and now only gets 2 and mostly they are bills. She said her mail man is mad at her because he’s worried about losing his job!