Paper Clutter

Organizing Children’s School Papers

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My decluttering tip week in my newsletter is about organizing and controlling children’s school papers. I have listed several links with more information for you. Check it out at: http://www.aweber.com/b/1emGI

In my research for the links I have found a website that is very helpful with many areas of decluttering and organization. It is written by Marilyn Bohn, a professional organizer. Check it out at: http://www.marilynbohn.com/

If you have a good way to control and organize the huge load of school papers that come into our homes each year, I would love to hear about it. Please leave a comment.

Janice

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How to Declutter the Junk Mail

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When I opened my mail box today there was one lonely envelope in there. A sad feeling came over me for a second. Then I remembered this is a good thing! In the past I use to get all kinds of junk mail, catalogs, bills, and lots of magazines. Now it is reduced down to a few pieces of junk mail occasionally, a few bills, and a couple of magazines that actually get read.

I use to love getting a full mailbox because it made me feel like I was important enough for people to send me mail. But most of the mail was just trying to get me to buy their product or service. They weren’t giving me anything, they wanted something from me. Then there was the fact that it took so much time to go through that pile of mail to find the few pieces that really were important.

If you feel this way then it’s time to take the steps necessary to reduce most of the unimportant mail. The sites below will help get your name off the lists that fills your mailbox with mail you don’t want. It can take several months before you see a big difference so now is a good time to start.

To reduce general junk mail:   DMAchoice.org

To reduce unsolicited catalogs:   Catalogchoice.org

To reduce the credit card and insurance offers: Optoutprescreen.com

 

To a lighter load along the way

Janice

P.S. For more support on getting control of your paper clutter, please join the free Facebook group “Controlling Your Paper Clutter Support Group”.

http://facebook.com/CutClutterWithScissors

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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How To Make Room in Your File Drawer

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This week I went through several files in my file drawer. Here is the pile of papers I decluttered from the draw and put in the recycling bin. It measured over 3 inches. There’s a lot more room in the drawer now!

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Below is this weeks’ newsletter on how I went about decluttering the files that contained warranties, instruction manuals, and other papers on products I own. This project is easy to do while watching TV. Doing a little each night will make a big difference before you know it.

Decluttering Tip Newsletter – Paper Clutter (stuffed file drawers)
Volume 2, Issue 28
July 28, 2009

I’ve been working on my ebook on paper clutter. It should be ready for purchase mid to late August. While doing the research I come across many ideas to help control the paper clutter. One of the main questions that keeps coming up is how to declutter all the papers we store in our file drawers or boxes. If your storage drawers are anything like mine then they may be stuffed to the gills. It is time to declutter them.

I figure I have to walk the walk to be able to help you with the best tips. I decided to start with the file folders containing all the warranties, instructions manuals, and other papers for all the products I own. With separate files for kitchen appliances, outdoor/lawn equipment, small household appliances, toys/game instructions, TV & stereo equipment, and small personal appliances, it took a few days to get through all of them.

I now have a pile of papers almost 3 inches thick to go into the recycling bin. That has opened up a lot of room in my file draw.

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So how did I do it? It’s easy. I worked on the decluttering while watching TV in the evening. These kinds of papers don’t take a lot of concentration or big decision making. If you have been in the habit of filing all the papers that come with a product then you probably have a lot of papers you don’t need to keep.

Follow these steps to a less stuffed file drawer.

1. Tools you will need: scissors, stapler, and a staple puller is helpful if you have one.

2. Take one file folder that contains warranties and instruction manuals for products you own.

3. Pull out all the warranty cards that have never been filled out. I fill out warranties online for major purchases. Your original receipt with date of purchase is usually the only paper your need.

4. Pull out all papers for products you no longer own. If you haven’t gone through your files for a while you will probably find a few. I know I did.

5. Look at each instruction/owners manual. Most are in several languages, one part English, another part Spanish, and possibly more languages. Tear or cut out the languages you don’t use. This is were a staple puller comes in handy along with the scissors. Once you have separated the papers then staple the ones in the language you are keeping and recycle to rest.

6. If you want to eliminate even more papers you could just keep the information on the model you have and contact information. Most manuals can be found on the product’s website. Check first before you get rid of the information on how to use the product and the trouble shooting page. These are the main pages you may need at some point.

If you have any other ideas on how to declutter these kinds of papers please leave a comment.

Please feel free to forward this entire blog post to friends and family that may benefit from this tip.

Also, if you are going on vacation soon and are traveling by car with children you will want to check out my blog post : http://organizebythemonth.com/?p=236
I have a lot of websites listed for car travel games. Plan ahead to keep boredom from ruining your trip.

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice Scissors
https://cutclutterwithscissors.com
http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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Paper Clutter – Receipts

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After I finish my taxes I work on getting my files in order for this next year. I have a file folder in my cabinet where I put most of my receipts. These can be for clothing, misc. household items, and most charge card receipts.

At this time of year I go through all those receipts from the previous year. It’s easy to do while watching TV in the evening. I only keep those that are for products that have a warranty or if there is a reason to know when an item was purchased. If there is a warranty card or instruction book for a product I will staple the receipt to it. If the item belongs in a specific folder such as “small household items”, or “TV’s, Stereos”, it’s put in there for easy retrieval.

All other receipts are kept in a manila file folder labeled for the year. They could also be kept in an envelope if you don’t have too many.

The ones I throw out or shred are for the athletic shoes that are already worn out or the receipts for the groceries and household products that are long used up. It’s an easy decision to throw away those receipts.

Janice S.

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://cutoutthebreastcancer.wordpress.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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Best Laid Plans

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I had forgotten to post the April newsletter on the sidebar last week. I did post it today around 1:00 PM, about five minutes before the electricity went out. It was raining outside but not storming. We’ve had a lot of outages over the last few years and it involves around 10 – 39 houses in the middle of a subdivision of 119 houses. I think there is a bad electrical box that needs replacing.

I called the electrical company ( they said 39 homes were out) and a little while later I saw several trucks going up and down the streets. By about 5:30 PM I still didn’t have power nor had I seen any trucks for a while so I called the electrical company back.

The recording said power had been restored to the area. Yea, right. Why was I still without? After punching enough buttons I finally got a live voice and asked her. She told me that they had closed out the service call because power was restore. I think there is a problem with their system. I knew of at least 6 homes on my street that didn’t have power. They came out again a I finally had power around 7:00 PM.

I had planned on finishing my taxes this afternoon. Oh well, I will be working on those tomorrow. There is only six days to finish your taxes if you haven’t done so already.

Easter is this Sunday. Here are a couple of sites with crafts and other ideas to do with your children.

http://holidays.kaboose.com/easter/

http://www.holidays.net/easter/

Check out the April 2009 newsletter (on the right sidebar) for upcoming holidays and events.

Hope your day went a little better than mine.

P.S. I did declutter several file folders of papers so the whole day wasn’t wasted.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

http://cutoutthebreastcancer.wordpress.com

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