Paper Pileup

I was recently asked to do a post on papers. Oy, where do I begin? Papers truly are everywhere, from your bills, to old birthday cards, to the A+ history paper you wrote in 7th grade. So the question is: what kind of papers are we dealing with? Because depending on the paper predicament there will be different solutions. Due to my tendency for lengthy posts I am going to go ahead and split this paper palooza in half, based on category of papers. So let’s start with the papers we’re dealing with on a daily basis…

BILLS: This is the easiest kind of paper to get rid of. Do ‘em online! Nowadays everyone is obsessed with “going green” and doing bills online is one great way to join the trend. Some companies will even give you discounts if you do online bill pay to encourage less paper waste. Not only will you be doing something helpful for the environment, but you’ll also get rid of all the extra papers that are taking up space in your life. Done and done!

COUPONS AND RECEIPTS: These are also pretty easy to contain. Pick up a cute (or manly) coupon organizer, like this one pictured from Amazon and then you can sort out the coupons so they are easily accessible. Also, I always recommend using coupons as soon as you get them so that way you don’t shove them into your purse and then by the time you find them they are expired. Another thing I like to do is clip coupons to my fridge. That way they are in sight so I don’t forget I have them but they aren’t taking up space on my counters or drawers.

When it comes to receipts, if you know you aren’t going to return something, get rid of the receipt. There is no need to save it. For questionable items, or in case of breakage, file them away but don’t keep them for more than a couple of weeks. Again, you can buy a cheap small file folder and reserve a spot in a drawer for it. But make sure you clean it out every two weeks or so. My fave:

Stay tuned for part 2, plus more tricks and tips for containing paper piles!