Setting up a Paper Clutter System THAT WORKS!!! Create an ACTION center & never miss a thing!
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- Опубликовано: 13 янв 2020
- Today we talk about setting up a simple system for dealing with paper clutter that comes into our homes! Paper clutter can be overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. By creating a simple system for paper clutter, you'll never have random piles again :)
A F E W F A V O R I T E P R O D U C T S :
Label Maker: amzn.to/2QTh24v
Freedom Filer (for micro organizers): amzn.to/2u1LLmU
Wall File Organizer: amzn.to/388v2gK
Desktop File Organizer for Action Items: amzn.to/2NrdmES
Over the Door File Organizer: amzn.to/3afCAjJ
Plastic File Box: amzn.to/386uMyD
H O W L O N G D O W E N E E D T O K E E P P A P E R W O R K ?
Paid Bills: 2 years
Taxes: 7 years
Contracts & Investment Paperwork: Life of the contract or investment + 7 years (we put these in with our taxes the year they are terminated so that they are kept the correct amount of time)
Mortgage & Loan Satisfaction Statements: 3 years
Home Improvement Records: While you own the home + 3 years
Vehicle Maintenance Records: For as long as you own the vehicle
Home Title Documents: While you own the home + 3 years
F I L E F O L D E R C A T E G O R I E S W E U S E :
-Reference-
BILLS TO PAY
MEAL PLANNING WORKSHEETS
SCHOOL 2019-2020
-Records-
BILLS PAID 2020
TAXES 2020
PROPERTY IMPROVEMENTS 2020
RECEIPTS & WARRANTIES 2020
VET RECORDS 2020
MEDICAL & FSA RECEIPTS 2020
TOM 2020
DAWN 2020
2010 YUKON
PRIUS CARS
-Other Possible Categories-
More detailed medical files
Retirement & Life Insurance
Education
Investments
R E L A T E D V I D E O S :
Previous Paper Clutter Video (Eradicate Paper Clutter -- scale of easy to hard to replace): • Eradicate Paper Clutte...
My Clipboard System: • ⏰My Visual Time Manage...
Decluttering Kids Artwork: • What to do with Kids' ...
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#minimalism #familyminimalism #minimalist
R E L A T E D :
Organize Paper Clutter Video Part 2: • Simple Paper Clutter O...
THE TRICK TO SIMPLIFY YOUR KITCHEN QUICKLY: • Simplify your Kitchen ...
KITCHEN TOUR : • Minimalist Kitchen Tou...
MY MEAL PLANNING SYSTEM VIDEO : • Simple Meal Planning y...
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BLOG: www.TheMinimalMom.com
📺 P O P U L A R R E L A T E D:
Why I became a Minimalist: • Why I became a minimal...
The Best Place to Start with Minimalism: • Best Place to start wi...
What to do when You get STUCK: • Decluttering Sentiment...
Video FAQ: • FAQ from Previous Vide...
🖥 R E L A T E D P O S T S:
How I store and organize kids clothes: www.theminimalmom.com/how-i-st...
Baby Keepsakes- What we keep & how: www.theminimalmom.com/baby-boxes/
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THANK YOU for watching!!! You can find a few notes in the description about file categories & how long to keep things! And if you're looking for some more company while you declutter paper, check out this video by Erica Lucas working on the same thing! ruclips.net/video/j5rZvVpKrpo/видео.html
Erica is so much fun! It's so fun to see someone at her stage following your advice! 💕
Erica is fun! So glad she took all our advice and subscribed to Dawn the {Amazing} Minimal Mom! 🙌😉
I’m honored! Thanks for the love, Dawn! “Paper Clutter is not SCARY.” You say the best things!
Thank you for the great ideas. I love watching you and your beautiful family. Where can I find your Sunday basket? Did you purchase or did you make it?
I changed my titles from years to “last year‘s receipts”, “this year‘s receipts”, “last year‘s bills, “ this year‘s bills.” That way I just move the items and get rid of the contents and don’t have to make new labels!
Good idea! I did the same with taxes. Current taxes, two years ago, three years ago, etc all the way to seven years ago.
Great idea, thank you!
That's a really great idea! Thank you!
I use odd/ even yr. so last yr was the odd yr this is the even yr. works for me.
I have a mail sorter cube. I bulldog clip my bills into categories: phone, gas, electric, car and purge the previous year's receipt. So I always have a year's worth of utility bills handy.
❤️ I just decluttered 9 years worth of paper clutter ..... Just from watching your previous video . Thank you ❤️ your videos ..your advice works !
Faith Schultz can you tell me which previous video helped you declutter paper? I’m looking to do the same and need an easy system 😊
@@ethelrobinson7920 yes, there's 2 videos in a row Eradicate paper clutter and another about simplify paper clutter. Go to videos and click oldest to newest . Scroll down ....
Faith Schultz thank you!
@@ethelrobinson7920 your welcome ..you can do this ❤️ it was my hardest declutter . I'm so glad to have 1 file cabinet drawer now .
You give me hope. I have 13 years of paper clutter. Thankyou.
The art work I received from my great niece and cousins was overwhelming... I invested in a digital picture frame; I would display the art for a bit, then take a picture of it. It would then be added to the "frame". Also gave me the opportunity to see their talent grow!
Which one did you get?
Love how you say it doesn’t have to be perfect. Constantly working on mine.
Most bills I pay online, write the reference code on it, scan it and shred it.
Credit card bills I write on each purchase to verify, then scan & file.
Having a good document scanner (2 pages per second) has really reduced our need to keep paper.
Folders on the computer take no space.
We save PDFs instead of paper ... manuals, assembly instructions, cards, notes, all scanned and stored digitally.
Photos are also scanned and stored digitally as backups.
Even magazine subscriptions are digital now and can be read and saved digitally without the paper. (And you don’t have to scan them)
Your paper clutter videos have been the most impactful for me in the journey to simplify things in my home. I always thought I was a micro filer because I love organizing bit papers have always been a problem for me. When you said in last year's video to just put all of the paper clutter in a box labeled 2018 "Just in case" I realized that it's more important to work on how to prioritize the new paper clutter coming into our homes rather than sort through all the past clutter. I actually am helping my mom with her enormous paper clutter and told her about your videos. I dont have a perfect system for us but I work hard at minimizing what paper stays in our house and that has made the most impact. Your videos are pure gold my dear!! ❤
When we moved to the country we got a PO Box. Its been the best decision ever. We check our mail once, sometimes twice a week and take 5 minutes sorting at the post office. We get very little junk mail, we just rip off our names and addresses on the junk mail and put the rest in the recycle bin. We typically walk out with 2-3 pieces that we actually have to work on. All our other bills are automatically debited and statements are paperless, except for medical insurance related bills. At home we take care of those 2-3 pieces and file away within a few days. I used to get so much unwanted and unnecessary mail, and using the post office and paperless has no longer made it a dreaded task.
Dawn! I have been watching your videos since I graduated grad school (MSW) in August. Nothing has helped me like you have! You have a way of speaking about it that just makes sense to me and works for me, especially since I have 4 kids too! It makes a big difference in the minimalist world when you understand the realities of having multiple kids. Anyway, I didn't even realize how bad things actually were until I filled 15 boxes with STUFF, recycled 4-5 department store bags to the shoe /clothing drop-off, and filled our paper recycling with many pounds of paper!! I listened to you daily Sept-Oct 2019 for my daily pep talk so I could purge to prepare for getting a full-time job. YOU helped me so much, like a best friend. Your other videos about organization, meals and faith have been so inspiring too!!!! You have a gift that has blessed my life and my family's. Thank you!!!
I grew up in a house where paper clutter was a huge issue. Parents owned a business. Dad was involved in town council. PAPER EVERYWHERE. Boxes and boxes shuffled around. I remember tax time being a nightmare. I vowed to not let this be me.
I have a wall organizer for "action items" and "shred". I have my file folder in the closet nearby. I deal with paper immediately after it gets in the house!
It’s like you can see me throwing stacks of paper in boxes, right before someone comes over.
ARTWORK: Take photos of the kids artwork and compile into a book. The book can be printed via Staples or several online companies. The book(s) can be dated on the spine, eg.,
Jessie’s Creations ~ 2015-2020
The photo sizes can be altered to smaller (fitting a few on one page) or larger (one photo fitting a whole page). Create a set of books for the kiddos to take with them when they leave home and have their own space.
THank you! It kills me to hear suggestions of just throwing a child's artwork away. What seems like a scribble now would become priceless if, God forbid, anything happened to your child later in life. We just lost my husband at age 46, and I've seen my now teen daughter treasure all of the little gifts and things they shared. Even if you don't preserve their artwork in a book right away, at least take a good quality photo and save it/back it up for future use.
Classic rock Lover My heart aches for your loss. Treasure the moments with your daughter, family, and friends💗
I'm sorry for your family's loss! God bless you. Please take care of yourselves--I know in deep grief we do not always want to do so.
I can relate to your little treasures. When I come across anything handwritten from a family member, often long deceased, it is very special. Handwriting is specific to a person and was made by their motion...looking at their handwriting is akin to a watching a video rather than looking at a photo.
Perhaps the kiddos would enjoy giving some of their artwork away. Nursing homes are my first thought. Elderly or shut-Ins would appreciate a visit to present the gift. Relationships may develop 🥰
This is a great idea for keeping birthday cards with handwritten notes and holiday cards as well. It’s an area I have been struggling with and the last part of my paper challenge. Thank you for sharing this great idea!
I need things visible also. I have boxes and boxes of papers. I hope this will motivate me.
Your other paper clutter videos have been the best help I’ve ever gotten! Thank you and thank you so much for your Sunday posts. Your prayers for us are sincere and I truly appreciate them.
With art work I tell mine to keep favorites and give away the rest. It is the idea that you are throwing it away that is so hard. This also makes grandma happy! Nursing homes also like it when we deliver art to residents! ❤
Just went through our papers two nights ago! I’m so grateful because this is an area I have finally gotten a grasp on. I use Marie Kondo’s method too, and it’s worked for me for a few years. I love the white boxes made from paper that come from Ikea instead of a file shelf or drawer that sits out all the time. I keep my white box in a kitchen drawer with folders inside. We have long-term papers stored in a file box from Walmart, and every year after taxes we shred the oldest year. Vital records go in an accordion folder in a safe. Artwork and school papers go in an ikea box for each kid until the end of school-then we go through and keep about a half dozen things and put them in a binder with clear page protectors so they’re fun to flip through. I do the exact same thing with cards and art the kids give me (Ikea box to binder once a year). Papers are the most annoying clutter!
I used to have a folder for everything! "Water Bill" "Power Bill" "Gas Bill" etc. But I realized over the years that I don't access those particular files...ever! So, I file like you now, "Bills Payed." I love it!
Thanks for making this video to help me feel validated!
I've always felt like a bit of a minimalist but this year is my year to really purge and feel happier. Loving your channel!
I currently DO have those type folders...That's going to change for sure...👌
I resonated with the Flylady binder system. Everything current is in there except for unpaid bills and my checkbook, which I keep in another place. I have a hanging file system (actually an IKEA cabinet) for reference materials, which doubles as my coffee table. If I need to look something up it's right there where I sit (when I sit down, that is). :)
How did you know that I was waiting for another paper video from you?
FREEDOM FILER - you can use this product/concept for MACRO organizing as well as micro organizing; the rotating odd/even and purging cycle folders, remove-replace vs permanent folder concept is genius. They encourage a macro approach for all bills and receipts, besides tax-related ones. You just don’t need as many folders for a MACRO version - but you have fewer folders to create over time. And now they do a binder label system. You can DIY it. And you can use their coordinated colors to write on blank tabs to personalize it for your needs quickly.
Except for tax papers, I've started scanning in all of my important documents that come in. They are saved to an online account so I don't have to worry about my computer crashing and losing everything. We had to clean out my parents' house last year and there was SOOO much unnecessary paper! When we finished that, I purged everything in my house and even went through my filing cabinet and scanned old documents that I needed to keep somewhere so I could toss out the physical copy. As for kids' artwork, one neat idea I've seen online is similar to what you suggested, except they also snapped a picture of the child holding the art. That way, it's documented which child did it and you can roughly see the age. Or, instead of keeping any of it, they just did the photos and then put the pictures in the album. A 4x6 photo takes up way less space than many of the art projects my kids brought home from school.
The Freedom Filer really helped me learn over a couple of years what paper I needed to keep and what I just kept because I thought I should. I went from a full 4 drawer file cabinet to one drawer and now I have about a half a drawer with paper, so freeing. My current incoming paper clutter system is the Sunday Basket by Lisa Woodruff at organize 365. It has been very helpful with dealing with the onslaught of paper that comes in my house on a daily basis. It’s similar to the clipboard method only using file folders. Great video and topic Dawn!
Cheri Hendrix I’ve watched a few videos about that system too. It helped me a lot.
Great video!! :) One thing that is super helpful for me is to open mail right next to the recycle bin. We have our big one from the trash company right outside our door from the mudroom to garage. Also...I am diligent about emailing companies who send junk catalogs and get us off the mailing list. I mean really it takes seconds to send an email and saves clutter and the environment!!
Oh I am so grateful I found this! There is hope and a light at the end of this very long paper filled tunnel! Thank you!!
I’m a paper stacker too! Need this so badly.
Take pictures of your children’s artwork if they have a hard time letting go. Fun to look back years later!
Take pictures to a Copy Store, have them reduce the size so a bunch of pictures can fit in a standard frame size.
I love the simple way you explain this method… and give us examples!!
You have yourself a new subscriber. Thanks so much for these great ideas and methods. ♥️♥️
I have really been enjoying your channel!!!
When my daughter was little, she was quite the artist too! I used to take pictures or scan her artwork, then I made an art at folder. It was fun for her to flip through from time to time. I also used her artwork as my screensaver, so it was like her own gallery, but no paper clutter for me. 😊
So great tips! Never thought of the screen saver option - awesome 🙌🏼
I am so scared of paper clutter that I even put of watching this video for two weeks. And I have been on a binging trip with your videos otherwise. Thank you!
Thank you for this. I would never know when to stop with the micro categories so your macro system will save me from losing my mind.
That's me, too!
We eliminated all of our paper clutter over a year ago, but at the time I didn’t develop a very good system for the papers coming in. I developed a system I liked for our records (though after watching this, I’m going to make some changes to that), and I pay all bills as soon as they come in, but I didn’t understand the difference between action items and reference items until watching this, so those are not well organized at all. I was looking at just my bills as action items, and everything else as reference, and often missing deadlines on other things as a result.
I am so excited to implement this system, because it makes so much sense. I love that tray organizer that you showed for the action and reference items; it looks so functional.
Thank you for this video. It was so helpful!
I am a collector of information as I like to write non fiction, I have a file cabinet, one drawer is for my bills, car, vet bills, taxes. The other is for various history and news subjects.
I have just started decluttering. Oh my, what a nightmare with my papers. Thank you for your tips. I will conquer this decluttering in 2020. It’s amazing the things I have found I can live without!! I went through my clothes and probably got rid of 50%, I now have 4 empty drawers 😁
I am definitely a stacker! My fiancé works from home and I do all the paperwork for him and I do actually like to file, but I don’t do it often enough now that I work outside the home, so it ends up in a pile waiting for me to file it all away. That will be my project this weekend! Thanks for the motivation to get to it!! 😁
From one Minnesota Mom to another, thank you Dawn for all you do! I recently discovered your channel and find it very helpful and it is refreshing to find a family-oriented approach to minimalism that is also down-to-earth. Hoping you might do some speaking events or meet & greets around the Twin Cities in the spring or summer of 2020!
Thanks Dawn!! The motivation is always a breath of fresh air.
Ooooooh the artwork was really great!!! You have artists amongst you!
Everything is paid online and the only receipts we keep are my medical until they are paid in full. I have the narrow cardboard box from Dollar Tree that I file in, and it has been working for a good while. I love your videos.
I was going to put a similar thing, I aim to stop the paper coming through in the first place. Cancelled all of my paper and just have it online and unsubscribe from mailing lists. I have way less to sort. Kids artwork doesn't have a cancellation option though (not that I want it to)
I've been using my phone to help me with scheduling for a year now. Kids activities are 1 colour, appointments are another, meal plans are a 3rd. We've gone to paperless bills for everything except our municipal bills, which you can't do here. The last thing I wanted to say is a huge thank you for mentioning Dave Ramsey on an earlier video. I checked him out and since Christmas we've completely overhauled how we budget and spend and already have our emergency fund and paid off our first debt! Totally changed how we thought about debt and energized us to get rid of it, not live with it!! Thanks again!!!
Thanks for this video, Dawn! When I saw the “Over the door” paper holder, boy I was excited!! But then, almost sadly I realized we already HAVE Two wall organizers for paper already on the wall now!! They’re just FULL! So, we need to go through each one so we can start fresh for this new year!!
So helpful, Dawn! What a timely video when I’m contemplating how to get a handle on my paper clutter. Thank you. ❤️
Thanks for these great tips! Always looking for good ideas to tackle the paper clutter. Take care
I love your minimalist approach to paper decluttering, and I will definitely be using some of your strategies!
Love the idea of keeping coupons and gift cards together in a small holder! I’ll be picking one up today at Target- thank you!
This came at such a perfect time! We are in the process of moving to our first home this week. So I will be able to incorporate this into our new house. We have a filing system now but the system you have in place seems even more easier! I will be giving this a try! Thanks Dawn! I have been loving your channel and learning so much!
I really like the simplicity of this. My 2020 goals are paper and digital organization
What a cool video! Natural total natural! Thank you for sharing
I'm in the middle of clearing all my bags of papers this very moment...well I'm watching the video and trying to get this stack under control.
Well that’s crazy good timing! I just pulled up your old paper clutter video (which was the very same video that launched my binge watching of your channel🥳 last year) last night. I was tackling my paper that had built up the past year. I got a really good start, but needed this! Thanks for the videos!
Wildly helpful! Thanks again, Dawn!
I purged some boxes for my kids artwork and I love the idea of giving your items boundaries. Thank you for your 💡!!
I live alone, so I realize this is easier for me than it is for a family. I have a four foot long “kitchen cart” a few steps inside my carport door. My purse lives there as well as a rectangular basket large enough to lay magazines flat. All of my mail and receipts go there. Next to that I keep one of those plastic bins designed to hold magazines upright. That holds three Manila folders labeled Action, Reference and To Be Filed. At least once a week I sort through the in basket, dump or shred the junk and put the keepers in their respective folders. The action file is handled weekly and the other two at least twice a month. Works for me without looking cluttered or otherwise annoying me.
uggg! i cannot get over your pillow cases I love love love them!
Wow, I love your help with this. This is a great time of year to tackle it too. I think my struggle has been actually working at it weekly - setting aside the time. And also working in tandem with my husband as he will pay a bill and then stack and stack it with more paper until we are both overwhelmed.
Thanks to u I am on my way to a simpler, easier home! Now I can focus on other things! 💞
Hi Dawn! I just found your channel and I love it! I'm a mom to 5 grown kids and as they were growing up, I saved EVERYTHING for them. When each one moved out, I gladly gave them all the bins I filled to the brim with so many wonderful things from their childhood, highschool and so on. My one son decided to clean out his bins at my house so he didn't have to lug all of them to his house. Well, I'd like to tell you and anyone else who's reading this, that he threw 90% of it away and only took home a small box of things! That was an eye opening experience and I just want to emphasize that saving stuff really is a waste! I can't wait to declutter my entire house and I've gone back to watching all your videos! Thank you for saving my sanity while I'm still kinda young :)
You are the best - I am so similar to you and I really like the way you simplify things. Mahalo for posting your categories, I needed help with my categories, seeing yours helps me. I can use what you use, but add what works for me. I love watching your show. Thank you so much.
I use a 3ring binder with the pocket inserts for a 'file' system. I have a couple pages of college lined paper that I've accordion folded 12x and added these vertical columns for each month with my spending categories along the far left horizontal lines. I have 1yr/page so I can see it easily. I start up top with the rotating bills like mortgage and internet and cell and water, because they're the same every time, then I put the alternating like electric and gas and then at the bottom any medical expenses and finally any 30 day credit I use so I've gotten my loyalty discounts and keep up my credit score. Then year after year I can see everything laid out on that paper. I keep a page in the front with all the account numbers and phone numbers which are now in my online banking system. Since going online to pay bills, I keep less and less. I feel like just placing a trash can with a flag on it out where the mailbox is!
I love your videos. Most of my paper clutter are brillant ideas and research so its really difficult to get rid of. Im not a minimalist as i like my things, however your videos are making it easy for me to purge through a lot of piles and keep what is necessary. I love how you say it has to work for you!
I have the Freedom File system and I LOVE it ❤️❤️❤️
Thankyou! This is the category of decluttering that stacks up for me. I avoid dealing w it. This episode helped me to throw out empty envelopes and obvious mailed trash. Now I can come back to the stack another day and start shredding the stuff that is confidential trash... Thankyou.
Yes teaching our babies these skills is so important. Amen Bless u. I so enjoy your channel 💗
I was SOOO excited to see this! I just did this 2 days ago! This easy macro filing system is SO easy!! And no headache and I don’t have papers lying around to file because I don’t want to figure out how to file it!!
Thank you for sharing! This has been on my to do list since the new year!
One of Your Best videos Dawn, organized and visible. Really overall super organized 🎉🎉🎉🎉‼️
I recently did this from watching your other paper clutter videos and it is a GAME CHANGER. We condensed our files to the plastic bin (and still have plenty of room) and used color files so we color coordinate categories and then label them with the year so I don't have to go through everything in order to purge. Thank you!
Thank you Dawn. I have no system. I’m working on it. God bless. Keep sharing !!!!
I need to start a system for all the paper that comes into our house. I want to get file folders. I think that will be much easier than throwing everything into a box. It's so hard to go through everything to find what we need. Thanks for all the great tips! I look forward to more from you about organizing my home.
Thank you for this! I so needed your help on this subject!
Great video and looking forward to the next one! I have similar folders as yours except I don't even bother with the year. I just go through them every once in awhile and shred the oldest items I no longer need. Most of my bills are paperless but I do have folders for medical, auto, receipts, insurance, etc.
Great job on your paper clutter system videos, very helpful! As for kids art work, it helps to take a photo of it, then you can let it go. You can even have the child holding it for the photo if you like.
omg. so many of her ideas on files, are ones that works for me too. yay
Thank you! This is exactly what I have been searching for the last week. It couldn't have come at a better time for me. I'd love to see what kind of filing system you'd recommend for small businesses.
I know this was posted 10months ago but I just found your channel and have been addicted to your channel tips as we are going minimal especially since I finished school and going back to work full time. One of the things I do for papers including my child's artwork is to either scan it in or take photos if it doesn't fit in my scanner. I was then able to make scrapbooks of their photos. I also use an organized system on my laptop for scanning documents that I access any time and backed up by flash drives. I love this because It's never lost, I scan them as soon as I receive them.
Good tips. I just need the motivation and energy to tackle the huge piles, at least seven, two feet high, of paper stuff. I keep planning it but never get to do it! Procrastination! Your home is so bare! I don't think I could ever have a place that doesn't look lived in but I would love to be as organised as you are!
I consider myself a very organized person in general, but I haven't yet found a system that I like for filing paper clutter. I love the idea of macro categories, and am definitely going to set aside some time to go reassess my file folders later this week. Thanks!
New Mantra for 2020. " There is no perfect system!" Thanks for saying this out loud for all to hear. I so needed this today as we buy another business. SO MUCH PAPER! 😁
Your kids artwork looks great!
My town has a free shredding day twice per year. I also have a shredding bin close by where the mail and kids’ papers come in the house. The bin gets emptied twice per year on shredding day- it feels amazing!
SOOO needed this video. I feel like we’ve finally reached the point where everything is seamless except this one area! The constant stream of incoming paper is too much!
Thank you for your video and time. It is simple and easy to follow. I have used a similar one. I bought a mobile scanner that connects to my computer to scan important medical or other reports that add to the paper clutter. It is new so I will use it soon.
Great information 👍
I needed to watch a video like this because I need to tackle mine again
This is what I decided to do this year. I’d always held onto everything. Including paid bills from years ago. I used to keep all receipts and categorize them by date with my bank statements. Now I realize that’s overkill, I never needed them etc. And because I kept so much it takes me forever to find something. I also had so many categories and would sometimes file something different because of a particular issue. I love the idea of minimal filing. I’m actually excited for this year. Nowadays you can print off at least a years worth of things stored online.
Thank you for this video Dawn! I'm a "macro" filer, except that I have macro files from the last 10 years (each folder labeled with the year on it) 😳😩 so I'll be working on getting down to just one file drawer (or less) of files... The guidelines in the description are helpful 👍
I have a three-slot hanging wall file for the mail that comes in. The categories are ‘inbox’, ‘To-Do’, and ‘File’. My husband has a habit of bringing my mail right to me wherever I am in the house to open, so the ‘inbox’ gives him a place to put it so that he doesn’t distract me with it. Our taxes are on a 10 year rotation (that’s the rule for making changes here in Canada), the paperwork is minimal enough for me to keep each year in a sheet protector and all ten years go in a plastic folder (one for me and one for my husband). We do have an original documents file drawer. Things like my *mother’s* birth certificate, mine and my husband’s hand-written report cards and a copy of our wills are kept in that. We do also have a utility house binder, but at the end of the year, we shred any bills lingering from the last year (except property taxes).
Ahhhh! Thanks for the great ideas Dawn! Macro-filers unite! :-)
I’m in the middle of going through our paper clutter as well as my old letters, cards, memory items, etc. Getting near the end!!! Thank you for these tips!!
Hi Karisa!! Congrats 🎉 on your great accompaniment!!! Some of those can be hard to go through, for me!!
Nan Branham Thanks! It is really hard. I didn’t realize how much I relied on my stacks of papers and old conference notes and letters emotionally until I started letting go of them. It’s definitely the hardest category to declutter for me.
Wishing you the best in your decluttering endeavors!
Always enjoy your videos . I’m a 62 year old grandmother from the little village of Naramata , B.C. Canada . I use to homeschool , which created a lot of beautiful art work .
I would take photographs of all the art work and would send it to Walmart every couple years (or Costco’s) and make a book . The kids loved it as a Christmas gift , and I could dispose of the original .
Maybe this will help in some way
I sort the mail as soon as it comes into the house. Shred our personal information, recycle or place bills on desk. I want to simplify my filing system so looking forward to Thursday’s video.
I appreciate the macro filing vs micro filing. I always felt like why put the work into all the detail if you never need it again. And so many items I didn't know where to file that I would find it if I actually needed it. If we were to get audited, put the work into it then, just so everything is in a file or box. I have tried so many systems and never kept them up. Thank you for giving me permission to keep it super simple.
Yikes! This one is daunting. I can throw away stuff, no problem. It is dealing with the keep that I find hard. Thank you for the encouragement!
I think I need to have my husband watch this also. As for me, I am a micro-filer who would love to convert to a macro-filer.
I struggle with paper clutter also. For years I have implemented a macro filing system for paid bills, receipts and so on that self purge and is effective for me. However, making time to file paid medical bills that I keep for one year is another story. I ordered something from Amazon yesterday that I will use as my "Time Will Tell" as well as "Process" or "To File" or "Action" organizer. I am excited to start this process using your suggestions as a means to clear paper clutter once and for all because anything I have tried up to this point to organize incoming papers just piles into giant piles. I love the idea of using a digital scanner for various invoices and receipts!
I have been watching a lot of your videos,love them, and one of the things I did was order the label maker you used thanks
I love your decluttering videos, Dawn! Paper is far and away my biggest challenge. This was helpful. I have found “Current To Do” file folders that are years old! You are so right about checking the action papers regularly! I do not have a clear system, but ironically, it is I that people call to to find out where this event is and what time and how to get there! I have found, as you suggest, that putting the details to a wedding invitation or any other event into my phone has been very, very helpful.
I have a big challenge with correspondence, because I do a lot of written correspondence: I send birthday cards to our 49 grandchildren our eight children and their spouses plus my sisters and friends. There are always thank you notes to write and I am thinking of you letters, replies to personal letters, etc.. When I come up with a good system for that I will be very relieved! Any ideas would be appreciated. 😊
I look forward to watching Part 2. Thank you!
Great info! Also I really like your hair in this video! I tried to use the Freedom Filer, I still have it, it's somewhat aspirational for me. I like the "how hard to replace" idea. People think you can find anything online, but not true. I needed daycare receipts for tax purposes, my daycare had switched computer systems, and they didn't have anything. Same thing with investments, I needed records of original deposits into an IRA, and my financial institution only keeps things for so many years. Now I use dropbox for a lot of long term stuff like that. I have a hanging folder for each year in a portable file, and a couple of file folders for each year, one for items I think I need for taxes, and another for the rest. Then after taxes, or after a year as you mentioned for utilities, I keep things like dental and medical records, investments, the rest can be tossed.
I like the intake system, it avoids the piles (I loooove piles) and it's an automatic To Do list. I have something like that but with less levels...hhmmmm.... Thanks for all the ideas, glad I found you! --Kay
You are so smart! Making things so simplified, thank you! Re: kids paper/art work; I have the kids paint a file box at the beginning of the school year for that grade. They throw their best items they want to keep in that box. A couple of times per year we purge it down to the best stuff that goes in to their scrap book by the beginning of the next school year, or something like that.
Great tips for kids paper and art work, Sylvia 🙌🏼This one is the hardest for me...
I just spent the entire weekend going through paper clutter. I had tax returns from 1995 until now. Crazy!!! Found a system that works for me which is similar to yours - very macro. Thank you for this video.