Tackle Your Paper Clutter in Under 30 Minutes

When it comes to paper clutter, the less paper you have, the better. To the best of your ability, get as much of your bills, mail, and credit card statements online. Not all of this is possible, but do your best to go as paperless as you can. Next is to remember that you only need to keep physical copies of your taxes for 7 years and your bills for 1 year. Get rid of the rest.

When organizing bills, organize them by month and not company. This limits the number of folders you need to have, plus it keeps everything all in one convenient spot in case you need to go back and look at a specific charge.

Label all of your folders and files (so you know exactly what is in each one). It can’t hurt to color code your paper as well, meaning you only put certain bills and papers in one color. Green can be monthly charges, red can be taxes, etc.

As you’re going through your paper clutter, follow four rules: scan, save, shred, recycle. For old documents, if you want/need to keep them, then scan them and save them electronically. Next, shred any documents with sensitive information on them. Then you just have to recycle the shreddings!

To the best of your ability, opt out of as much junk mail as you can. This may require calling companies or filling out forms, but the little bit of time now will save you so much in the future! You can opt out of pre screened credit card offers by visiting optoutprescreen.com, a site supported by the FTC.