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Newsletter Archives
June 2010
Expert Organizing Tips
May 2010
Tips from my Clients
April 2010
Tips for Setting Up a Garage Sale
March 2010
Unusual Ways to Organize
February 2010
Staging your Home for Sale
January 2010
Favorite Places to Buy Organizing Products
December 2009
Wrapping It Up
November 2009
Prepare the Pantry
October 2009
Costumes & Decorations
September 2009
Enough
August 2009
Help for the Home Office
July 2009
Getting Crafty
June 2009
A Better Bedroom
May 2009
Eco Organizing
April 2009
Getting Ready to Garden
March 2009
The Path To Clutter
February 2009
Easing Into Downsizing
January 2009
Organizing For Renovation
December 2008
Organizing For Next Year
November 2008
More Of My Favorite Organizing Tools
October 2008
Making Life Easier
September 2008
Clearing The Closet
August 2008
How To Let Go Of Stuff
July 2008
Managing Medical Records
June 2008
Road Trip Organizing
May 2008
Collections Instead of Clutter
April 2008
Getting Ready for Tax Time
March 2008
Where to Begin
February 2008
When You Want to Help
January 2008
Top Ten Causes of Disorganization
December 2007
Organize for Air Travel
November 2007
Organize for Small Spaces
October 2007
When Life Happens, Reorganize
September 2007
Bathroom Organizing
August 2007
Paper Organizing
July 2007
Uncluttered Kids' Rooms
June 2007
Top Ten Organizing Tools
May 2007
Grapple The Garage
April 2007
Managing Your Time
March 2007
Spring Organizing
February 2007
Help for Caregivers of Aging Parents
January 2007
National Get Organized Month
December 2006
Year End Organizing
November 2006
Give Thanks for Being Organized
October 2006
Holiday Kitchen Organization
September 2006
In Case of a Weather Emergency - Organize!
August 2006
Back to School Organizing
July 2006
Declare your Independence from Summer Clutter
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ORGANIZING TIPS OF THE MONTH: AUGUST 2007
Paper, Paper, Everywhere
Paper is one of the biggest sources of clutter. It enters your home every day through mail delivery, school papers, advertising flyers, work projects. As summer ends, it is a good time to begin a new season clutter free. Contact me to help you get in control of paper flow. Cheryl@organizeatlanta.com
- Deal with mail daily. Some people assume it takes a long time to go through mail. Test the theory by timing the process. You will be surprised how quick it is to toss junk mail, put magazines and catalogs in a basket, open bills and file them in a To Pay holder. It is much more efficient (and safer for your credit report) to tackle a daily delivery of mail rather than a monthly mountain.
- Separate files by frequency of use. A common system is to divide files into three categories—action, reference, and archive. Action papers require you to do something, such as bills and invitations. Reference files are for information you will refer to occasionally, such as health records and instruction books. Archive files contain information you need to keep long term, such as tax and legal documents.
- Place files you use often near your primary work area. Do not clutter prime real estate in your home with archive files you rarely, if ever, access. There is no need to pile boxes of old files next to your desk or kitchen table.
- Have a Yikes! Box in a prominent place to hold papers you need to deal with immediately. A tax form that is due, a school permission slip, an impending invitation requiring a gift are all candidates for the Yikes! Box.
- Use your computer as a file cabinet. Instead of printing emails and internet articles, create files for them on your computer. You will be surprised how much paper, printer ink, and drawer space you save.
- Store papers and magazines vertically. Horizontal=Hidden. As soon as you place paper or magazines on top of another, you cannot see what is below. You can easily flip through papers in hanging files and magazines standing up in a basket or magazine holder.
- If the information is readily available on the internet, do not keep articles for reference files. After you read something, it is highly unlikely you will pull the article out to be read again.
- Overwhelmed by packages of photos yet to be put in albums? Take the photos out of envelopes and file them by year in photo safe boxes. They may not be in albums, but they are at least safely and compactly stored. The boxes are also much more visually pleasing than old laundry baskets and dilapidated cardboard boxes.
- Coupon flyers, inserts, and mailings are a constant challenge to paper management. Two cures come to mind. Toss them—decide coupons are not worth the time of going through, clipping, sorting, and filing. Or deal with them immediately. Keep what you want, file them and toss the rest. Do an experiment. Keep your coupon flyers and mailings for one week. How much paper piled up? How long did it take you to go through the pile to clip and file the coupons? Email me and let me know the results.
- Invest in a good cross cut shredder. It is sad that we have to protect our personal information from dumpster divers, but that is reality. Shred any papers you are tossing which contain account numbers, social security numbers, or other personal information you want to keep out of the hands of identity thieves. For more information about preventing identity theft, visit www.clarkhoward.com. Also search online for commercial shredding companies if you have a large quantity of papers to shred.
©All Sorted Out, 2007 All Rights Reserved
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