You know that feeling you get in the spring time? You have been cooped up all winter and you just want to open the windows and enjoy the sunshine and sing like a Disney princess because you are finally free from winter? Okay, maybe I exaggerated a little bit, but I think you get the picture. That is how we feel this week in Arizona! We have been cooped up in our air conditioned houses all summer long and now we just need to burst free!
With that freedom comes the overwhelming need to organize and spring clean my house. Please tell me that someone else out there has this problem:
I received compensation for this post, all opinions are my own.
At our house we call it horizontal surface syndrome. If the surface is flat, it will get covered with stuff. Mostly mail and papers. We are the worst about it. We have a few rules that when we follow make a huge difference in our clutter build up.
-The One Touch Rule- When you get a new item or piece of paper only touch it once! Open your mail. Does it need to be filed, file it. Is it garbage? Throw it away! Seems pretty simple, right? It is if you just do it.
-Have a Place for Everything- If you don’t know where something goes, make a place for it. Someone once told me, “If it doesn’t have a designated place to go, it will never be put away.” talk about an uphill battle.
-Don’t Bring It Home- Paper/mail is our biggest source of clutter. When I grab the mail I go through it at the mailbox and throw away what I don’t need. Junk mail and ads? They all go straight in the recycling bin.
-Go Paperless- You can’t create clutter if it doesn’t exist right? Go paperless as much as possible. If you bank, credit card, bills, and statements have a paperless option- sign up!
We went paperless a while back, but I hate having to go from site to site to get the information I need for bills etc. We just started using FileThis. FileThis is a web service that connects you directly to your documents. You can use it on your computer or on your phone.
FileThis securely gathers all your documents like bills, statements, and others and stores them exactly how you want them to be stored. They can be stored on the FileThis Cloud or be sent right to your pc or whatever cloud storage it is that you use. They are searchable and easily found instead of being spread out across the internet. All your stuff securely in one place, and more importantly not on my counter!
They have different plans available that range in price depending on your needs, but the Forever Free plan should be enough for the average household. It is such a cool app, easy to use and saves me a ton of time and eliminates so much clutter. Try it today here.
I have been wanting to go paperless for a long time but haven’t found a good option. Checking this out now!
If you could see my desk right… #Embarrassing I needed to read this for sure!
Paper clutter is definitely a problem for me. I’m such a stacker!
Oh my goodness, we have pile upon pile of papers… we totally need something like this. Thanks so much for sharing.
We are getting there slowly! If you saw my table and desk the papers are unbelievable!
We have gone paperless and do not accept flyers or junk mail. That has cut back on paper greatly for us.
This sounds like a great way to cut down on the MAJOR clutter I have going on in my files. Thanks for sharing.
I started going paperless a long time ago. I love it. No more stacks of paper. It’s so nice.
We cut back by going paperless with bank and bill papers, that would save a ton. We used to get so much!
these are great tips! I always go through and get rid of junk mail right away. The issue for me is having bills that i don’t want paperless cause I can never remember the due dates for each one, with them all different. So I like getting the paper bills so I can track. But I do keep it organized with a “to pay” pile and then it gets filed away. 🙂
This is really interesting. I saw quite a few companies we have accounts with. I will check it out and see if it would help me de-clutter the paper!
These are great tips. I’m all about throwing out every spec of mail that I don’t need to keep.
I’m paperless on everything possible. I can’t stand having to dig through files when I need to find something.
Yep, I do hate paper clutter too! It is the worst feeling ever to be so overwhelmed!
This would be really handy for us. The paper clutter drives me crazy. Plus, we are moving in spring, so no need to have extra paper clutter to move again!
I love the one touch rule! I am a paper hoarder, so this was perfect for me.
I definitely need to cut back on paper clutter. It’s getting out of control in our home, especially with all of the political mail that we have received lately.
I love this idea! The one-touch rule is a good one, and having your own paper shredder is nice so you can just those old statements and what not and shred them up.
I am a total paper hoarder. I keep EVERYTHING. I need a better system!
I need this app! I don’t know how the stack of papers continues to grow but it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I would love to be this organized. I will have to check out this app. Thanks!
We have cut back on paper a lot, we use digital billing and everything now a days, I can’t stand clutter and piles of paper.