Tackling the Paper Monster: Part 2

This session involved more decluttering of the paper in my house. In my last post, I tackled all of the boxes of mail sitting on my porch and piling up in my living room. I ended up with many bags of trash from that session, as well as an entire box of things that need to be shredded or filed. It was so nice to get rid of all of it!

This week’s project started in my home office with my filing cabinet and some stacks of papers that needed to be gone through.

I didn’t realize there was a separate card for “office paper” until I looked ahead in the deck! It turns out that office paper isn’t necessarily part two of Card 2—it’s actually Card 44. So, if you’re following the Nikki Boyd Beautifully Organized Home in 52 Weeks challenge, I guess I’m doing it a little bit out of order unintentionally!

The Results

This time, I ended up with only one small bag of trash, but I filled up a second entire box of things to shred. I was able to color-coordinate and organize folders in my filing cabinet for everything, including:

• Taxes and legal documents.
• Mortgage and home-buying paperwork.
• Old dance choreography I’m saving.
• Folders for this year’s and last year’s receipts and bills.

My New System

I plan to keep a folder for everything—paid bills, mobile-deposited checks, and other important documents—for each year. At the end of every year, I’ll look through the folder to see what needs to be saved and what can be shredded. This way, I keep important records (especially for things like my FSA), but instead of saving them for a decade, I’ll get rid of them annually.

The Shredding Dilemma

Now that I have two whole boxes full of shredding, it’s a bit more than I think my personal paper shredder can handle. I don’t want to burn out the motor! Fortunately, my local credit union is having a shredding event soon. I can take my two boxes (which is the limit!) to the event and safely get rid of everything without having to feed them through one by one.

Going Paperless

I’m positive I haven’t found all the paper in my house yet, but now that I’ve cleared the bulk of the mail and organized the filing cabinet, I can handle new papers as I find them.

Paper used to be a much bigger part of our lives and my past jobs, but most things have gone paperless. I’ve started marking physical bills as “paperless” as I pay them. Now, I save due dates in my Google Calendar and file the emails. It’s so much better than dealing with paper that’s just going to get thrown away anyway.

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This has been a huge project. It doesn’t surprise me that it took two weeks (and a little longer, if you include the upcoming shredding event). My hope is that with a good filing system in place, I won’t have years of clutter holding me back and I’ll be able to handle whatever comes into my home.

Wow, I’m exhausted and ready to move on to Card 3 finally! I could not have completed this project without the help of one of my sweet cats. He did not appreciate me moving things around and seemed a bit annoyed, but he was there for moral support. My cats are always there for me, and I love them!