Tamara Nugteren
As soon as Thanksgiving has passed, a new joy comes to our house that is only here for 31 days. Our whole family shares in this experience. I know… this could be so many things! Christmas shopping? Decorating? The music? How about the food? No, no, no and no – though we love all those things, too. This joy, is one that will be replaced in January with it’s opposite – dread. What is it you wonder? LOVE of getting the mail. But just for December.
In December, our mailbox is flooded with holiday cards from
friends and family, far and near. Some
we see frequently, some we see never. It
is such a joy to see the growing, changing families in pictures. As soon as we see Steve, the mailman, coming
up the street we keep an eye on the box.
We rush out to grab the mail to see who we got cards from that day. The picture cards are too beautiful to
discard, and so our family displays them all year. A few years ago, I found the perfect picture
display at Pier One. One by one, the
cards go in. We get to look at our
friends and family all year. Their families have become our art. It’s a nice reference point for the kids as
well – whenever they wonder who we are talking about, we can point out a
corresponding photo on the wall.
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| The annual re-filling of the card display. |
But what about the other 11 months? When the mailbox is
filled with junk, bills and unwanted catalogs?
We used to have periods where we could go a few days before anyone
pulled the mail out of the box. Why? Because we have an informal rule in our
house to combat clutter: If you get the mail, you have to deal
with it right away. It’s a great
rule and it really helps – but there isn’t always time to deal with the
mail. Dealing with the mail simply means, immediately recycling
the junk, shredding the credit card applications and opening the bills (they
then go in a “to pay” pile).
Incidentally, this same rule also applies to the reams of
paperwork that come out of the kids’ backpacks.
Implementing the rule “if you get the mail (or empty backpacks)
you have to deal with it right away” seems easy – but you need to have a few
systems in place before you start this, or you will just end up with more
piles. Here are a few easy things you
should do to simplify this job that no one wants in the other eleven months of
the year:
1. Stop the junk from coming into your mailbox
in the first place. You can find
the links needed for stopping credit card applications, catalogs and other junk in this previous post.
2. Have a permanent
paper recycling bin where you open your mail – for us, that is in the
kitchen. You can stand right over it
while you handle the incoming stack. Be
realistic about what you are looking at.
If you aren’t in the middle of back to school or holiday shopping, I
strongly suggest you just put the catalogs and other retail ads directly into
the recycling. If you need them, you can
find them online. You probably won’t
look at them later anyway, right?
3. Make a “shred” pile for any mail coming
in that doesn’t need filing, but contains personal information - especially
credit card applications, statements, etc.
At least once a week – shred it all.
If you don’t have a shredder, add it to your list. It will pay for itself by keeping your
information secure.
4. Have a place for bills that need to be paid
and another for things that need to be filed. For us, this is by our computer. It’s unrealistic to pay or file everything
immediately – but at least it’s together and you know where it is.
5. Last, but very
important, have a system in place to
deal with all the papers you need to keep “for a while” or want to keep as a
reference. This is a tough batch of
papers. It is also the main culprit in
everyone’s growing pile on the counter.
What to do with receipts for things you bought online that
haven’t arrived yet? Or items you purchased but want to make sure they are
working out ok before you throw out the receipt? Think gifts for others, snow boots for the
kids, a new small appliance… etc.
What about those lists of phone numbers for the school or
the description of the homework assignment that is due in several weeks? Or the
coupons for the restaurants you really want to try? What do you do with those things??
That is the tricky part. Here is what you do.
You set up a small filing system right where you open your mail. Make it look nice – it’s always going to be
out. Determine what your top 8-12
categories are make file folders for those.
I purchased a silver upright file at Target and splurged on
the “fancy” file folders. Mine has the
option of standing or being hung on the wall.
Bonus, it’s metal so I can put magnets on it if I desire. I magnetically adhered two smaller sorters to
the front of ours. One holds mail
supplies (address labels and stamps) and one holds business cards for people I
don’t want in my main online contacts list (salon, plumber, piano tuner, etc.). I initially hand wrote the labels because I wanted to see how the categories worked out before using the more permanent label maker. Several years later, and I still haven't gotten around to that. Now that I see how it looks in a picture though, I think I'll have to fix that!
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| Simple and effective at cutting the counter clutter. |
Determining what your file folders should be is not as tough
as it sounds. When you sort through your
huge existing “counter pile”, separate the papers into like categories and use
those to start. You may think of a few
extras. For a place to begin, here are
our family’s categories.
- Receipts –
temporary keep. If there is a receipt
for something we need to keep indefinitely, it goes into a more permanent file.
- Tickets and
receipts – waiting. This is for
things that have been ordered online that haven’t arrived yet and for holding
tickets to upcoming shows & events.
- Restaurant coupons
and travel fliers. For all the BOGO
and free appetizer coupons to places we will actually go to and fliers for
places we want to.
- School papers. This is specific to things I may want to keep
for the kids keepsakes. That A+ math
test or heart-warming essay. I’ll sort it at the end of the school year to make
my final picks.
- School – Misc. This is the file that holds the school
directory, all the details about important school related activities, the kids
individual class schedules and anything else that is school “reference”
related.
- Classes &
Activities. Details about specific
classes and/or sports that family members are taking, schedules, phone numbers
and other related information. It also
holds all the things we need for summer camps and activities – you know, they
come in February, but you don’t need them again until July? Grrr….
- Reference. Everything else reference. Parenting tips, family agreements and
contracts, the reminder sheet about what to recycle and how, neighborhood
directory.
- Other. A catch all for things I need to keep that
don’t fit into another file category.
- Last there is a file
for myself, my husband and our dog.
My husband and I can put whatever we are currently working on in this
file. Use it as we wish. The file for our dog holds his latest shot
records, information on dog foods, the groomer, the boarding facility,
etc. I was surprised how often I needed
these things!
Implementing these simple steps up front will save you time
and frustration in the long run. It’s
not a perfect system, sometimes a few things slip through the cracks and land
on the counter – but when they do, you’ll know how to quickly take care of it.
Good luck and happy de-cluttering!
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