How do you organize paper?

[boltfam]

My office desk is in my kitchen, which has helped me tremendously. It's much more inviting to sit and go through paper during the day than at night in a room by myself . We moved it there because the table was too small for 5 and now we eat at the counter or in the dining room.

Anyhow, on my desk is a Desk Apprentice from Staples. I have hanging folders in it: bills to pay, things to file, coupons, receipts, coming soon (invitations, school things), and one folder per person in the house for things that will be kept and just need to go to the right place (certificates, etc).

There are also slots on the sides and I limit my magazines to what fits in those slots. If I get a new one and it's full, one has to go.

I try to go through mail right away, but if I don't get it until we're coming in from the bus stop, it sits on top of the DA until evening and I do it then. I go through the school stuff the day it comes in and I fill out/sign anything that I need to immediately and it goes back in the folder and into the backpack.

I have a household notebook, but just couldn't figure out how to use it last year and I'm trying something new this year, but don't really know what yet.

Every now and then, I do have a pile of papers and just spend a bit sorting them to where they go.

Also, each kid has a drawer in the desk and school projects, special toys, etc go in their drawer and when the drawer is full, we go through and purge together. They get to pick what we save, although at times I keep something they said to toss.

Great ideas!

[kijip]

I recycle most of it on contact. Literally don't get the mail unless I am able to stand over a recycle bin and shredder. Then the bills go in a bill binder, the personal stuff gets read and either saved or discarded (usually on the fridge or bulletin board for a bit), and the periodicals go in their spot in the living room. I am obsessive about recycling things as finish them or if it is clear after a week or so I am not going to read it at all. Things we need to keep but not look at go in a filing drawer in the office. I file rarely, but I get it done. Anything we need to keep about the estate we managed, we put in 1 drawer file. So a place for everything and everything in it's place.

School papers have cubes in the dining room (Expedit) and Activity papers (like BSA) have another bin.