A Simpler Life Series 2: Eliminate Loose Paper
Last week when we began A Simpler Life series and opened our windows, I started to laugh. It was pretty obvious what the next issue was that we needed to address in our home would be: paperwork.
When Martin opened the window, several kitchen sketches blew to the floor. We had no idea where they came from, and we started looking around. I couldn’t believe how much we had been neglecting the paperwork at our house as we remodeled. We didn’t even have a filing system set up yet. It was a bad case of being the notorious pilers instead of filers.
Here’s the challenge I took on and urge you to do the same to simplify your home just a bit more this week. I love following this strategy:
First collect all the loose papers in your house. All of them. Like a scavenger hunt?
Try attacking the problem head-on and gather all of the papers you have laying around the house. Don’t read any of them yet or you’ll never finish. Just go around and pick them all up. Make a pile on the table or your desk. Since our house is so small, I did it in one sweep and made one large pile. You may want to got room by room so you’re not hauling papers all across the house. Don’t touch anything else. Just keep focusing on all those papers. It’s amazing to me how many little notes and manuals we have tucked in the corners of our house. This project should have been done weeks ago!
Second get comfortable and start sorting.
It’s easy to overlook papers in our homes when we see them one by one. When you put them in a pile, my gosh! You see just how much they were cluttering up the house. Now start sorting everything in the way that best works for you. Don’t forget the recycling pile and scratch paper pile! You’ve also got between December 1 and February 28 to submit card tops to St. Jude’s Ranch so the children there can use them for a fundraiser.
Life always feels a little more under control when the papers are put away. Give it a shot. Make an Inspired Room. Walk around your house and scoop up any loose papers, then tell us how it goes. We’d love to know about any tricks you have. Goodness knows we’ll be re-doing this Simpler Life project again many times at our house, and we’re all about shortcuts.
(Image by Goldsboro)
February 24th, 2009 at 6:02 am
we have this pesky spot on our kitchen counter (and we only have as much counter space as you do!) that seems to collect all the junk mail, to do lists, weekly menu lists, etc. etc. i just cleaned up the area the other day and took as much off the counters as i could- it made the whole kitchen look bigger!
February 24th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Oh what a great idea Katie! I try to do this most weekends, but I’ve never made a concerted effort to pick up ALL the papers around the house. I will do this weekend and let you know how it goes. I’ve actually got a really funny picture of me surounded by paperwork (in the midst of developing a filing system) — it was taken five years ago, on my 30th birthday — a day I stayed home from work to take care of Matt after dental surgery. Not the most fabulous birthday ever, but we were together all day nonetheless…I’ll email it to you for a laugh if I can find it!
February 24th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Great idea, Katie! We are always fighting the battle of the paper at our house, too. Today I blogged about my *new* filing system that is working great for me.
February 24th, 2009 at 9:03 am
This is a huge fault of mine. I am a piler, not a filer. I can’t find anything. And I’m afraid to get rid of any piece of paper that may be important later, so I save them all. How long do I need to hang onto old bill statements or bank statements? And add into the mix papers that my children bring home from school…it piles up fast! You gave me a nudge in the right direction!
February 24th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Oh, no! I can’t! Don’t make me! Paper is the bane of my existence! It takes over! I want to run screaming at the very though of sorting through the gazillions of pieces of paper that are slowly conquering my house. Now that we home school it’s even worse! Okay, now I’m freaking out just looking around. Also, there is Fasching confetti everywhere. I’ve been vacuuming all evening, but I swear it is multiplying.
February 24th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Paper takes over so quickly, doesn’t it! What a great idea – off to round up the paper~ :-)
February 24th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Katie,
I sent off some card fronts the other day… but it’s actually to St. Jude’s Children’s Ranch, which is a homeless shelter for children (and from their website I can’t see any affiliation with the children’s hospital). Still a worthy cause but I just wanted to make sure you knew.
February 25th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Thanks for correcting me, Jenna. I appreciate it. I’m glad to hear you sent cards, too.
In other news, you have all brought me such smiles with your responses. I read other blogs and swear we must be the only ones with too many papers. I’m not alone! Yeah.
Katie
February 25th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
AH! Paper, the bain of my kitchen and office! I can’t handle it and when it keeps piling up it about kills me! So many exclamation points. I’m rounding up today, thanks for the advice.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Do NOT come in here and look in my office. YIKES! I get some clutter on the kitchen counter when I’ve been cooking a lot…just the recipes stacking up. But my desk has been a disaster zone for months now. Since I had Mack I guess. But not really because I have been busy with her (which is true) but because my mom was here for 6 weeks and used that computer all the time so I was never in there. Stuff just started stacking and stacking…I’ve tried to get a hold of things but everything else just seems more important.
I MUST get control of the clutter soon…it’s just killing me! :)
February 27th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
You know what I do? This has always worked for me…with 5 kids we get tons of stuff home from school and the mail lady is always dumping off tons of junk mail and mags. Everytime I open the mail and go through our school communication envelope, I stand right over the waste basket/recycling bin, and only keep the stuff I want. I can not believe how much I throw away every day. Only a few bills go in a bin, and the absolute important stuff on the bulletin board. Any kid’s stuff I want to save go in a special box that I sort once a year.
February 27th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Paper trails are not something we have to deal with here. We have designated spots for pesky papers and I deal with mail as soon as it comes in the house. My husbands mail goes into a holder on his desk, bills into a “to be paid” file in the desk drawer, junk mail straight into the trash, and we have a simple filing system for all other types of paperwork. I think the key to conquering it is to deal with it as it drifts in. Great tips and thanks for sharing them.
February 27th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I need to do this… it’s so easy to just pile them in a basket or in a closet. It’s absolutely a chore that is always front and center, yet never completely accomplished. Thanks for the suggestions.