Cut Back On Paper Clutter

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.

What do you use to clear up clutter?