For living a digital world, we have SO MUCH PAPER enter house every day. Our daily mail includes bills that we can’t seem to move to online form, ad fliers we don’t care about, cards for every holiday relatives can think of, and magazines gifted to our boys. Then between the three kid’s backpacks, we get multiple pieces of artwork, event notices, incident reports, and party invites. Not to mention the receipts and other scraps of paper that always seem to accumulate in my purse. Anyone else feel like they’re being buried under paper? Don’t lie, I know we’re not alone based on the amount of advice I’ve found on the internet:-) Over the years I’ve put together a system that has kept things under control and hasn’t been a pain to keep up. Big hint…I touch things twice. Only twice.
First Touch – Controlling the Incoming
Don’t give me too much flak for the twice. I know a lot of experts recommend touching things once. It’s a great option for some people, but I have found that it doesn’t work for parents with kids. When we walk in the door at the end of the day, it doesn’t work for us to immediately deal with the mail and school notices. We are focusing on getting dinner together for hungry kids (and parents!), and having family time. So we have developed a routine and system to collect everything and put it aside for later in an organized fashion. Here are the basic steps:
- Put kids, bags, keys, etc. down where you have designated as the unpacking zone. (Don’t have one of those? You should think about it. A post about school bags and routines coming soon!) Keep the mail in your hand.
- Have the kids bring you all paper and folders. We teach our kids to do this around age two. They love showing you everything they bring home including the paper detailing how they ran headfirst into a friend on the playground and reminders about labeling lunch items. Use this excitement to your benefit!
- Take everything only needs a signature and put it on the counter.
- Recycle all the junk that doesn’t needs to be shredded. Let go of the urge to go through the coupon envelopes or sales fliers. If you actually use the coupons for saving money and aren’t swayed to spend money on things you weren’t planning to, keep them in your hand. Otherwise just put them in the bin.
- Take everything else to the space where you pay bills or otherwise deal with the mundane parts of adulthood. I hope this isn’t the table that dinner needs to be on in 30 minutes. Don’t open anything. Leave it in a neat pile to come back to.
- Sign the folders, permission slips, and tests sitting in the counter pile. Immediately put these back in the appropriate bags or better yet, have the kids do it if they are old enough.
This all should have taken last then five minutes. Now go make dinner. Or play with the kids. Or whatever else your evening routine desires.
Second Touch – Dealing with Adulting
It might sound crazy, but I pay bills and do filing nearly every “school” night. After the boys are in bed, I go to my office and take care of the paper pile. I work remotely from my home office for my day job, so I have luckily been able to set up all my paperwork stuff in one place. If you don’t have space for a dedicated office, you can still streamline paper with a few simple changes that I’ll get into in a bit.
But first, here’s how I only touch things twice. I don’t organize the pile in front of me. I start at the top and work until it’s all done. Bills are paid online or checks written. Return mail is addressed and stamped or put in back packs. Mail to be sent is put on the kitchen counter to be put out in the mailbox in the morning. Events are added to the family calendar and RSVPs filled out or texted. The boys’ artwork is filed into their keepsake folders or lovely admired and recycled. About twice a month I find something I have to deal with during business hours making a third touch. These items are put on my keyboard to be in my face in the morning.
So No More Paper!?
Would that I could say this system completely eliminates the paper problem in my house. I still have to take a quick walk around the house every couple of weeks collecting those nefarious sheets that made it past my daily roundup. But I never end up with more than a few receipts, a smattering of kid’s artwork on these walks, and maybe a stray coupon that someone “misplaced” on these walks. Easily and quickly dealt with. I never worry about missing bills or permission slips, and I almost never have a pile of papers reminding me of unfinished business. In the end, that’s the measure of my success in taming the paper monster; I don’t have to worry about unfinished business.
Setting Up a Paper Station
If I’ve convinced you to adopt my two touch system, there are two things you must do. The first is adopt the habits detailed above, and the second is to set up a paper station. I am blessed to be a remote employee which means I’ve had an office setup in my house for several years. I keep a recycling can, shredder, mailing supplies. note paper, pens, my checkbook (yes, still have to write checks for some bills), a file system, and everything else I need to efficiently deal with our paper.
If you don’t have a full office space available, pick the place you most comfortably sit to pay bills. I’d highly, highly suggest a table or counter instead of the couch. Using the kitchen table? Create a basket of all your supplies so they are neatly kept in one place that can be easily stored away. Like always, if you can’t commit to an overall right now, make one small change every week or so until you too have no more paper frustrations!
How are you dealing with the paper in your house? Do you like to deal with a big stack once of week? Do you like to spend 5 minutes every day keeping it in check like I do? Have you developed an unusual system that has made ll the difference in your house? Let me know below!