Cleaning & Organizing
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
paper clutter
How do I handle paper clutter? Any and all tips welcomed.
Re: paper clutter
I do electronic bills too. I find that it cuts down on the paper clutter. I do have important papers in an expanding file thing. Generally, once you pay a bill, like phone, electric, or gas, you can shred it.
you can buy these
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Whitmor-White-Wire-Storage-Cubes-Four-Cubes-Interlocked/5005200
depending on how many papers you need to organize.... build one or 2 cubes. then with the remaining walls you will zip tie them in the cube ( it will look similar to a teacher mailbox where you have the many slots about 1inch tall.
I use envelopes for things like reciepts and coupons or mailings i get that I need.
I have a manila folder of tax stuff etc that I keep on hand and filed at work in a locked drawer, but when we move into a house I will buy a filing cabinet to put in an office or closet and move it to there.
Each member of the family has their own folder. Me my husband and even the dog. When we have something important we file it in there.
Everything else that needs tending to right away a bill, or a contract, gets put into a basket that I keep by the door. I usually toss stuff int here kind of as a "to do" and go there thought once a week too. Other everyday stuff goes in there too thank you notes we get in the mail, invites, other "misc mail" and I go through all that once a week and toss it.
We have A LOT of paper clutter now because we are currently house hunting so we ahve lots of house info sheets and mortgage info. And because my husband is a veteran and literally the VA office sends him mail at least 4 times a week with reminders and information he might need. He tries to keep track of it all but its so overwhelming! So this is the best system we could come up with. He just keeps putting anythhing needed "urgently" into the basket and eerything else into his "file".
We clean out the "files" every year.
Yes yes yes....that paper clutter. Looking for a house paper cluter, coupons we may use for going out to eat clutter. Info from work cluter. Wedding memory paper clutter. Inportant paper like marriage certificate and birth certificate clutter.........some can be organized and some can be thrown away but how to manage it is the most annoying problem.
I love your idea of putting it into categories and sorting through it weekly/monthy/yearly. I already do a version of this myself...thanks.
I have a file cabinet that keeps everything important. Some label examples are: BANKING (files for each bank, each credit card, plus things like paypal). CAR (files for repairs, payments, and important papers like title). INSURANCE (car, house, health, dental, vision, etc) HOUSE (important documents and neighborhood info/rules/trash pickup, etc, home warranty info, appliances and major purchases) WORK (paystubs, benefits/union info etc) REWARD PROGRAMS (flights, hotels, stores, etc) I would suggest something like marriage certificates, passports, etc goes into a separate locked area.
Magazines get sorted once a week. Most are recycled. I might scan a page or two into my computer for good recipes or things. Same with bills - they are gone through at least 1x per week (I put them all in a basket on my desk.) I take an evening to put on some music, make a drink, and attack the pile!
All of our wedding items (invitations, etc) are in our card box (a wine crate!) for safekeeping until i create projects or do something with them
Invitations/cards/photos etc from special family members are in a paper shopping bag right now. I'm planning to put them into ring binders as mementos.
Coupons are in a small desk drawer. I organize into "food" and "shopping". I go through this about 1x per month to clean out expired coupons. Keeping them in one spot helps when you're looking for a good restaurant, or are planning to go to the store. I always check the coupon drawer before I leave!
receipts are in letter envelopes. I have the most recent one on my desk. As I fill it, I write the month on it (so some might be full of just December 2012...some might be June, July, August 2012). I try to make sure that I dont split months between envelopes. When it is full, I put the envelope in a shoebox. I have a shoebox for each year kept in a closet (basement would work too).
Manuals and Instructions are kept in another drawer. I try my best to group them by type (appliance, electronics, furniture, toys etc) An expandable file would be helpful here too.
The best advice I can give is to file things IMMEDIATELY. As soon as the mail comes in, toss the junk, put the magazines in one spot, and the bills in another. Open the other mail and decide "file, or toss?"
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