Nothing can be worse than living in a digital era and still being bombarded with tons of paper clutter that keeps piling up if left unattended for a few days.
I recently took a brief tour of my house to point out all the places that have become a dumping ground for mail, and was left stumped when I saw all sorts of unneeded mail lying on the kitchen counter, dining table, coffee table and bedside tables.
It took me an entire day to get rid of the junk mail that had been piling up for days, and trust me when I say that it was a real battle to be able to do it. Incoming mail of all kinds – advertisements, bills, credit card offers, pamphlets, deals and other offers – was lying in every corner of the house and before I could even realize, the stuff had multiplied into a mountain of paper clutter that had started stressing me out before I finally decided to declutter it.
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It would be a lie if I say that paper clutter is easy to handle, but it isn’t an issue that can’t be addressed if you have the time and motivation it takes to accomplish the task in hand.
I’ve rounded up a few tips and strategies to help you declutter that pile of mail sitting in your house without having to waste the entire day:
1. Pull The Mail Out In One Place
If you have finally decided to declutter the mail, start with spreading them out in one place. This work station can be your living room floor or your work desk, but make sure that all your mails are at a reachable distance when you sit down to declutter them. Not only will it help save your time but will also prevent you from getting distracted by other things. And don’t forget to prepare a list of the clutter that needs to be dealt with. Mine goes something like this:
- Insurance policies
- Investments
- Taxes (income tax, GST, etc.)
- Bills (Credit card, electricity, gas, newspaper bills, etc.)
- Bank mailers
- Medical reports and other related documents
- Magazines and catalogues
- Manuals
- Legal documents and contracts
- Guarantee and warranty cards
- Online orders
- Invites
- Coupons and sales flyers
- Receipts
2. Sort through the mail
Now that all your mail is lying in front of you, start sorting through them based on the category they fall in. To make it easier, use sorting boxes with category labels like Trash/Recycle, Shred Away, File/Pay For, Store/Organize.
Unimportant mails like expired coupons, bills that have been paid off, promotional catalogues that you don’t intend to keep, old invites and receipts should end up in the trash box.
Old but important papers that you don’t want to end up in wrong hands should go into the shredding machine. Documents that have your personal information, like old tax returns, medical bills and expired contracts should also be shredded away instead of being trashed.
Now comes the important mail that is required to be kept safe because you might need them in the near future. Your insurance policies, investment related documents, latest tax returns, bills that are yet to be paid, important bank documents, medical reports and histories, legal documents, magazines and catalogues that you haven’t yet read, unexpired guarantee and warranty cards and invites for the events that are supposed to take place in the near future are some of the important mails that you can toss inside the box labelled as Store/Organize.
3. Go Digital
Now that you have trashed and shredded away the unneeded mail, it’s time to deal with the paperwork that’s sitting inside the Store/Organize box. But before you move onto organizing this box, look through your pile of important documents and think if any of it can be made available online in a digital form or if it’s possible to store it safely in a digital manner.
We’re living in a time when most of our documents can be stored online thereby relieving a lot of stress that comes with paper clutter. I made this switch years ago by opting to store most of my documents online in a dedicated folder on my computer.
4. Organize The Important Documents In A Secure Manner
The paperwork that’s left at this stage is what needs to be addressed in a proper manner. But before you do that, pay off the impending bills right away and trash them.
Now start organizing the rest of the mail by stacking up the magazines and catalogues nicely in a drawer. If possible, subscribe for digital copies of the same to eliminate unnecessary paperwork.
For documents that are confidential and should be kept safe, use storage solutions like filing cabinets, storage boxes, filing folders or a fireproof safe. You can arrange the insurance policies, investments, tax related documents, bank mailers, medical reports and legal documents in a dedicated folder that should be stored safely in a filing cabinet. Being a paranoid, I use a fireproof safe to store these documents in a secure manner.
5. Deal With Mail As It Arrives
In order to eliminate the need to deal with mail on a regular basis, try forming the habit of dealing with it at the entryway. Open the mail right at the door when it comes in and discard the packaging straightaway. If it’s an important mail, store it in a filing cabinet or a fireproof safe. If not, trash or recycle it then and there. Pay away the bills immediately as they arrive and file the taxes on an urgent basis so you don’t have to worry about it later.
6. Stop Junk Mail From Arriving In The First Place
Opt out of unnecessary mail if possible. If there are magazines or catalogues that you never read, opt out of the subscription today.
While decluttering mail can seem like a daunting task, it isn’t something that you need to stress about if you have a proper strategy in place.
Happy decluttering!