Keeping your Mail Organized
One of the biggest challenges I hear from clients and on social media is how to manage mail. Even though most of what’s in our mailbox is junk, it comes everyday and deposits more and more on our already lengthy to-do list.
While we all thought paper was going away 20 years ago, it is here to stay and has a much stronger effect on our well being that we realize. If we don’t deal with it in a timely manner, we can face late charges, fines, fees, in addition to a mountain of papers cluttering our home.
To manage your mail most effectively you need to set up a system for storing and processing it quickly and easily.
Here are my tips to organize your mail so it’s easy to process so you can go do something fun!
Do not bring junk mail in your home! Go through it if you can before you bring it in the door and throw away any junk. Drop it in the recycle bin so you don’t have to process it again.
Get a pretty basket or bin that you can use to put the mail when it comes in your home. It should be large enough to hold magazines and large envelopes so get something that’s at least 10” x 14” but no taller than 4”. The larger it is the more stuff will get dumped in there.
Open mail as soon as you can. It’s good to separate the bills and important financial statements from the personal and toss any unnecessary paperwork like extra envelopes or fillers.
Designate a location and time for paying bills. The location should be close to where you will actually pay the bill so that might be your desk where your computer and/or checkbook and stamps are. Once you pay the bill, file the statement in the appropriate folder (see #6).
Process personal mail as soon as you can. Put social occasions and appointments on your calendar. I like to keep the invitation and personal letters for a while on a bulletin board but it’s not necessary.
Set up a filing system for the bills and mail that you want and need to keep.* Life is much easier when you can just drop the statements or letter in a labeled, open top hanging file. The more actions you have to complete to put papers away (such as pulling out boxes, opening lids, lifting papers out, etc) the less likely it is to be completed.
Overall, it’s best to minimize the amount of unwanted mail you receive so that there is less to process. To take yourself off of credit card and insurance offer lists, go to optoutprescreen.com and register your address to opt out of receiving credit or insurance offers. For catalogs, call the company’s Customer Service department directly and ask to be taken off their list.
While people aren’t sending as many personal letters these days (hey, let’s bring that back!) we certainly do have more papers coming in to our mailbox than our parents did. Take a few minutes to set up a system and you’ll spend less time dealing with it later when you’d rather be doing something fun or productive!
Happy organizing!
*If you're not on the list already, go to Neatsmart.com to get your copy of my Paperwork to Keep resource which tells you how long to keep important papers like bank statements or financial documents.