photo by ms.Tea

Organizing papers and incoming mail is a common household problem. Maybe your system is that you don’t have a system, or, if you have one, it’s not practical. Welcome to Mount Paper Piles. Luckily, readers share their methods to help control paper, so you can climb that mountain and conquer it once and for all.

GO PAPERLESS: I scan all my papers (except for papers I must keep) into my computer and then shred and ditch. I have a removable hard drive that I store all of it on so that I don’t take up space on my computer. — Frugal girl, e-mail

BOX SYSTEM: I put all my paperwork in a box when it comes in. Then, once a month, I go through everything. I write all my birthday cards for the whole month on that day. There always seem to be items that don’t fall into any category, or that I’m not sure whether I want to throw out or keep, so they stay in the box. Once a year, this box is completely emptied, usually in February, when I fill out my tax form. I also have a file called “sentimental.” This is for items that have no financial value but are nice to keep. Don’t put a second box next to the first one (or start putting things in a second drawer). Make yourself clear out the first one first. — Siebrie, e-mail

IMMEDIATE ACTION: I open my mail right next to my file cabinet. That way, any bills that need to be filed (after pulling off the return portion, of course) go right in their file, and the envelope goes right in the trash. — AmyBoz, New Jersey

PRIORITIZE: I pay all of my bills online, so there is less paper. I have a desk that is “paper/mail central.” I gave up using paper clips and use staples instead. I also use a hole punch and binder system to store clippings and printouts. If it’s not important enough to go through the trouble of storing in a binder, it’s not worth saving. — Gina, via forums

PORTABLE FILE: Set up a file, bin or basket for each member of your household. I find that I do better with a portable file than a file cabinet. When I worked in an office, I learned to let each piece of paper pass through my hands only once. When I get a piece of paper, I decide what to do with it: File it or toss it. Create broad file categories and not 100 detailed categories. — Cricket1, New Hampshire

SELF-DISCIPLINE: Don’t waste time filing papers you don’t need to save. I used to carefully clip stuff I wanted to keep and put them in files. Very few I’ve ever used. In fact, every time I dejunk, those are often a good pile of what I let go. Now I don’t bother. It was a way of hanging onto a good idea. Don’t let that one go; I may need it someday. With the amount of good info on the Web, chances are I can resurrect 99 percent of it somewhere should I ever really need to use it. — Margery, via forums

CREATE DEADLINES: I have a tough time with catalogs and magazines, so I bought a magazine rack. They come into the house and go straight there. I created a deadline of holding onto them for only a month, and I stick to that because anything procrastinated is clutter. — Stephanie R., Ohio

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!