Put them in boxes and store out of sight. Anything you haven't looked at in a year gets thrown out.

Anonymous wrote:You need a high speed scanner, not just a printer that scans. They are totally worth it. That and a shredder. You shouldn't even need a file cabinet if you set up a file structure on your computer for all of your papers and then scan everything.

Any recommendations (other than the $400 scansnap or whatever it's called)?

You need a high speed scanner, not just a printer that scans. They are totally worth it. That and a shredder. You shouldn't even need a file cabinet if you set up a file structure on your computer for all of your papers and then scan everything.

Anonymous wrote:Small solution for receipts - get one of those coupon organizers with 12 slots. Label one for each month. Put receipts in the proper month slot when you buy the item. After a year, when you need the slot again, throw out last years receipts and fill it up with this year's stuff. Receipts now in one place, and you never have anything older than a year.

Great idea, thanks!

Get a scanner, a shredder and a small file cabinet.

Scan things bills and receipts and organize them into folders. You may want move your bills to paperless so you get an email statement and either pay online or set up direct debit. Then you can just save the emails in a designated folder.

General paper and bills that are more than a year old, shred and get rid of it.

Then organize important paperwork in folders in a single filing cabinet - home purchase documents, important school documents, marriage certificate, birth certificates, warranty paperwork, etc.

On a day-to-day basis, I open the mail when i get home and immediately throw out junk and catalogs that we don't buy from. I open all bills and put the "need to pay these" statements in a basket on the counter. Then twice a month I pay bills. Once a bill is paid I throw the statements into a big box. Every six months I go through the box and either file, scan or shred the stuff in the box.

We never have piles or paper around. It makes me koo-koo!

Get a scanner but also get a shredde. My kid is 12 and has loved shredding since she was five. I go through stuff, give her a big stack to shred, and she's in heaven.

Get a scanner. If something is worth keeping, scan it. If not, recycle it. Use Evernote or Dropbox to store everything securely. Sign up for e-bills from every company that you use. We don't have any paper files in our house.

NP here, also with a paper problem. The rest of my stuff is fairly organized, but I have baskets and piles of paper. I'm not a big shopper, to answer the prior PP. It's flyers, coupons, magazines (no subscriptions, work/alumni mostly), other random stuff. I'd have to sit in front of it to tell you what it is. I sort mail immediately and junk mail goes in recycling immediately. To answer another PP, I can find what I need in the piles, but would rather not have them there.

Throw it all out. Like all of it. If you have paper everywhere, then presumably you can't access things properly, you must lose things, etc. In which case, it's pretty much the same as if you didn't have any of the paper. So throw it out.

When new stuff comes in, you have to throw it out daily or weekly to stay on top. Keep medical bills and records - that's a 1-inch folder at most. Throw out all bills - you can always access accounts online if you needed to get an old bill. A couple files for school. Receipts? Really? Most stores allow you to return without receipt these days. Are you really returning so much stuff? Sounds like you should just do a better job not buying as much stuff -- though I would guess that paper hoarding and shopping too much are pretty related qualities. What other papers could you possible have?

Get a scanner. Organize them into files on your laptop. Then download those files onto an external hard drive in case your computer dies.

What about getting a scanner and scanning it all in?
A folder for each kid that they get to save the best of the best and then everything else is tossed.
For receipts I have a 3 month filing system. When a new month starts I throw out the oldest folder (that means receipts would be 90 days or older). Receipts for things like refrigerators are stapled to the manual (which is filed).

I have a very small filing cabinet at work and everything else is tossed.

Small solution for receipts - get one of those coupon organizers with 12 slots. Label one for each month. Put receipts in the proper month slot when you buy the item. After a year, when you need the slot again, throw out last years receipts and fill it up with this year's stuff. Receipts now in one place, and you never have anything older than a year.

So, I just started reading "Organizing from the Inside Out". That book will say you are organized if you have things in stacks and can find them. You need to find a place for things. Likely your current system needs some work so you can find a place to put things in proximity to where you use them. I used this to start on my kids rooms. We (kids and I) cleared out there rooms with old books/ toys and found a place to store what they wanted to keep. Did the same with my space in the office. Husband sees this works too. Lots more to do at our house, but a great tool to managing and keeping things up. Book was written by Julie Morganstern

I have a hard tome with paper too.
Ugh, don't need most of it old work papers etc. But keep them.
I look forward to feedback.

I have a problem letting go of paper. I'm talking about mail, documents, reports, receipts, coupons, etc. the piles and disorder are taking over my house. Any advice to managing all of this rubbish? I have 4 kids so I have lots of school papers, educational reports, medical documents, etc. my file cabinet is bursting and completely full.


How do you do it? I go to friends' houses and don't see a single piece of paper anywhere?