The biggest source of clutter in our home is likely the same as in yours.
Paper.
Seems like the first thought most people have is to organize it. Put it in it's place.
That is a good thought. But, let's leave that for our second line of defense. For the things you
do want and
must have.
Your first line of defense is to stop the paper from arriving in the first place.
I'm not going to tell you something you haven't heard before. I'm going to encourage you to take 10 minutes to do it - and save yourself hours of sorting, purging and piling for years to come. And I'll make it easy by supplying you the links you need to do it as fast as possible.
In our home, there are two big culprits in building the paper monster.
The school and our mailbox.
Lets tackle school first.
A few years ago our school went "paperless". SOOOO Glad. Prior to this, our oldest child would routinely come home from school with is folder overstuffed with newsletters, notices, announcements and other "important information". It came from community ed, outside organizations and the school itself. Each and every important notice would use an entire sheet of paper - maybe just to let me know that there was a play at the high school or that Karate instruction was available through community education. Most of the notices didn't even pertain to us. Yet, they sucked my time.
Now, almost all of the notices and newsletters are available once a week in an email. I can pick and choose which to read and then delete it when I've read it. Amazing.
I know that not all schools have this option - but if they don't yet, they will soon. But,don't assume your school doesn't do this. It's worth noting that our school requires us to "opt in", meaning we have to request this paperless option. So call your children's school office today and find out!
The mailbox.
I have a love/hate relationship with my mailbox. Usually it just brings me things I really don't want. (With the exception of December, when the Christmas cards start rolling in! I love getting the mail then!) Somedays I don't even bother to get the mail. It's just a box of things to do. Yuck.
Did you know you can stop much of this junk?
The obvious first choice is to
start getting your bills electronically. Each time a paper bill arrives, when you go to pay it, also elect to have the next one emailed to you - or better yet - auto billed. Less paper AND less work - two for one!
Step two -
stop all the other junk.
Here are some links to make it easy and quick for you.
For credit card and insurance solicitations (5 years or permanently):
www.optoutprescreen.com
For all other unwanted junk mail (5 years):
www.dmachoice.org
For catalogs (this is not a blanket opt-out, you get to pick and choose):
www.catalogchoice.org
We cannot overlook magazines and newspapers.
The newspaper.
Do you have a subscription each and everyday of the week "because it doesn't cost anymore than getting it just on the weekends?" If you do, how many of those days do you read it? If it is you read it less days than you don't read it - it's time to examine your subscription. On those days that you do not read it, you still have to retrieve it, and recycle it. Waste of time, bigger waste of paper.
Try just getting the paper on the weekends. I love to read the Saturday and Sunday newspaper. This is worth it for me. But would it be for you? Would you read it on Sunday?
If you already just have a weekend subscription and you aren't getting that read either, it's time to cut the cord.
But what about the coupons???? Really? You are spending more on the paper than you are saving in with the coupons. Or I'll give you mine. Even if I take the time to cut them out, I rarely remember to use them.
You can always read the paper online - and if you don't have time, you won't feel guilty like you do now.
Save a tree. Unsubscribe.
Magazines.
Magazines stress me out. Let me explain.
They arrive so crisp and beautiful.
So full of interesting good ideas! Pages of them! And, let's not forget that
I chose them. I paid for them to come to my house. I imagined lounging around, paging through them and enjoying them at my leisure. Yah right. Now I'm not going to say this never happens, but it's rare. And often out of guilt. "I guess I'll take this huge stack of unread magazines along for the car ride and try to get through them...."
To be honest, once the kids are in bed for the night, you are much more likely to be sitting with a glass of red wine in front of the television, watching a good show. Not reading a magazine.
So instead, when they arrive, I stack them somewhere until the day I have time to read them.
When I finally do read them, I find myself folding over bunches of corners
(remember all those good ideas???) and tearing out recipes I'll never get around to trying. Do you see where this is leading? Now I have read the magazines - finally - and I still can't recycle them because they are filled with all those good ideas I want to try or do! That just adds to my guilt. Great things we aren't doing! Great projects we are trying! Great recipes no one is making! Ugh.
If you have a magazine you get, love and read - by all means keep enjoying. But, if you are like me and have several subscriptions that are just making my paper pile bigger, cut the cord. Many magazines are sneaky and automatically re-subscribe you. You will have to call them. And they will try to entice you with an even better deal. Don't take the bait! Unsubscribe!
Ahhh.... don't you feel better now? Maybe someone will send me a card today. :-)
