Paper and related items claim the prize for our number one clutter problem. Most of us don't know what to keep, what to get rid of, what to file, where to file it and, well, the list goes on.
The best place to begin is with the filing cabinet, then next the daily paper that comes into the house. After that, how to get control of finances, and then what to save for tax purposes. It really isn't hard, but if you have a mountain of paper, it's going to take some time that may stretch over many days.
Everyone needs a file cabinet. If you have no place to put one except in your living space, then disguise it with a folding screen, fabric, or whatever, just get one. You can probably get by with a 2-drawer cabinet unless you have a lot of business papers or craft items you want to sort. Along with this file cabinet get hanging file frames, hanging files, and file tabs. I use colored tabs which I will explain as we go along.
I suppose, however, that I am getting ahead of myself. You've got a mountain of paper to deal with. Here is what I want you to do first. Sort all your dated papers into years. This will be things like purchase receipts, bank statements, utility stubs, and the like. Sort papers with no dates into a separate pile. This will be things like warranty information, recipes, craft instructions, newspaper clippings, and such.
Once this is done, go on to the next step which is setting up your file cabinet and storing the dated papers.
The Organization Station Newsletter
Special Thanks to Country Lane Graphics for these Busy Bees!
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