Whether the clutter is in the home or the office—paper can be overwhelming whenever it has cluttered to an extent. There may be varied reasons why paper clutter occurs. All the more reason to prevent and tackle the paper clutter issue even before it starts to stack piles of paper to the point it is already difficult to manage.
Getting rid of paper clutter or decluttering, in general, can be a challenge, we have to ask ourselves whether to keep certain items or not, in this case, whether to dispose of the paper or to keep it.
Maintaining an organized home involves tackling the paper clutter relentlessly. In this guide, we have gathered the following tips to help you get rid organize the paper clutter in your home and office.
How to reduce and organize paper clutter
- Pay Bills online
- Scan papers into digital copies
- Unsubscribe to reduce mail
- Shred papers that contain personal information
- Dispose of old unused papers
- Store coupons in binders
- Desk organizer
- Organize papers regularly
- Consider hiring a junk removal service
Pay Bills Online
As they say, prevention is better than cure—or in this case, to declutter. The best way to organize and remove the paper clutter is to avoid and lessen the paper in the first place.
Banks and utility companies nowadays offer the option to transition from the classic paper bills through mail to the paperless option of paying them online. Take advantage of the option to transfer every bill payment through online transactions to avoid having to worry about piles of paper clutter from the previous bill.
Paying bills online doesn’t just help you avoid the paper clutter, but also provides convenience for its users through fast online transactions. You can pay the bills without stepping out of your house and save yourself from stocking up on envelopes and stamps.
Scan Papers Into Digital Copies
Reducing and organizing the paper clutter involves sorting through which to dispose of and which to keep. However, there can be papers that contain important information. Whether you need the information in paper form—there is always an option to get a copy of it digitally through scanning.
Scanning the paper allows you to digitalize the information from your computer while you are in the process of reducing the paper clutter in your house. A paper scanner is a handy tool to own, especially when you need those papers digitalized. If a scanner is unavailable, an alternative would be smartphone scanning apps.
Unsubscribe To Reduce Mail
Sorting through the flyers and catalogs within your mailbox can be frustrating when you have to go through the piles of paper you need to remove.
Retailers that send out the catalogs usually have a contact number to call to unsubscribe from the mail they send out. The Federal Trade Commission has a resource available online to help you remove yourself from the mailing list of the companies that send unsolicited emails.
Shred Papers That Contain Personal Information
When getting rid of the paper clutter, you must be relentless when tackling it. However, some papers may contain personal information, which can be a privacy issue. Using a paper shredder helps you shred away the documents which contain personal information, to safely dispose of them.
Dispose of old unused papers
Gather all of the old unused paper within your house—everything from—unused instructional manuals, flyers, catalogs, and menus. Once you have gathered every piece of old unused paper within the house, proceed in sorting everything whether to recycle, digitalize, or keep it.
Important papers such as medical files, tax returns, and insurance papers are best scanned to keep digital copies, in case you lose or dispose of the papers. Keep the photos or other sentimental letters, and cards. Recycle or dispose of the other papers that are unimportant or just considered paper trash.
Store coupons in binders
Store coupons are one of the major paper clutter contributors within our homes. Considering these coupons can be easy to collect, and as a result, it finds themselves in a drawer never to be used, awaiting to be expired.
One way to get through the coupon paper clutter, and have them be redeemed, Is to store coupons in large envelopes and have the envelopes stored inside a shoe box. Through this, you can leave the shoe box filled with coupons ready for grabs whenever you go to the store. Just remember to have at least one large envelope with you just in case you need to collect the coupons that you can find within the stores.
Desk Organizer
Nobody wants to see paper clutter on the desk. Setting up a desk organizer can help you organize and clean out the paper clutter within the desk. Organize the paper into categories with the desk drawer, and apply labels for each category of paper within the drawer. Sort the paper and categorized them( Work, Medical, Home, Kids, Finances, Tax Returns, and Bills).
Organize papers regularly
There is no other way to go around paper clutter but to declutter consistently and organize it regularly. It doesn’t have to be a regular major cleaning project, but a scheduled time to declutter anything from paper clutter and other things, to avoid the clutter to escalate.
There is no need to keep every catalogs, flyer, and take-out menu you can find. Constantly ask yourself whether you will need it or, will it just add up to the clutter.
Consider Hiring A Junk Removal Service
If the paper clutter has piled up to some extent—consider hiring your local junk removal company. Junk Removal companies usually include trash removal services from their list of junk removal services. There is no need to haul it away outside your house, as they will be the ones who will haul it away for you from the area, straight to their trucks. Most junk removal companies offer a wide array of junk removal services to their clients. You can even add in some other clutter or junk within the house that you want to remove to get the most out of the junk removal service.
