Are you a Chucker or A Pile Maker

Maybe you’re a filer and recycler extraordinaire?

No matter what your relationship to paperwork, we all have to deal with it on a daily basis.  Whether it’s bills, tax (this years, last years and next years!), school notes, business paperwork or something else, how we deal with paperwork is directly related to our stress levels around it.

Seeing the electronic age seems to have brought us more paperwork than ever, how do we deal with it, how often and, the most important question, how long do we keep it for?

Dealing with Paperwork

First things first – be brutally honest with yourself. Do you have a system for your paperwork or not? If so great! If not, it’s time to create one.

Why? Because without a system that works for you, your paperwork is always going to be a big fat mess!

There are essentially five parts to any paperwork system.

• Paperwork that comes into your home – for example, letters, school notes, junk mail
• Paperwork that needs some kind of action – for example, bills to pay, invitations to reply to, insurance to renew.
• Paperwork you need to keep and look at again – for example, utility bills, medical records, insurance documents, car registration, birth certificates, marriage certificates, wills and much more. (This is the kind of paperwork that usually lives in a filing cabinet.)
• Paperwork you need to keep but probably rarely look at (if ever) – for example, tax returns and supporting documentation.
• Paperwork that needs to leave your home because it lives somewhere else – for example, letters to post, school notes to return.

Now you know these five sections it’s time to set up your system.

I’d start with #3 above – and usually do with clients – because it’s the biggest section of any system and usually where there is a lot of blockage (aka paperwork you don’t need to keep but for some reason you thought you should).  Also, by starting at #3 you will find paperwork from #2 and #4 – so you can start to create those piles while sorting.

How often?

This is completely dependent on how you run your home.

I prefer to look at my incoming mail and work out what to do with it on a daily basis. This means I get it from the letterbox (actually, I don’t – our son does because that’s one of his jobs!), open it (sometimes straight away, but definitely before bed!) and work out what to do with it.  If I can action it quickly I do; if not I put it on my desk to action at some stage in the next few days.

A friend on the other hand collects her mail once a week from her post office box and deals with it all in one day.  She’s said to me she couldn’t deal with it daily – and that’s fine!  It works perfectly for her so there’s no need to change what isn’t broken.

No matter what your approach, my theory is that if you let paperwork pile up it is less likely to get done, bills will become overdue and the pile grow – and for me that equals stress! So work out what works best for you and stick to it.

One important note here – if you’ve decided you don’t need to keep a certain piece of paper, please shred/destroy it if it has any personal details on it at all.

How long do you keep it?

Here’s the thing. I can’t actually tell you.  I know what I do in my own home but in this world of professional indemnity insurance I am not actually “allowed” to tell you how long to keep it for.

I can, however, tell you that a majority of my clients choose to keep their paperwork records for seven years, with exceptions for some paperwork which they keep longer.

To be on the safe side, check with your Accountant.  They’ll be able to give you proper advice which suits you and your personal circumstances.

Setting up a paperwork system in your home can take a really long time, depending on how long it’s been since you last went through it and how much you’ve got to deal with.  But I guarantee that if you set up a system that works for you it will be a joy to use – and will make your life a lot easier.

I promise!

Owner and Director of Clutter Rescue, Helen Butler is an Expert Professional Organiser who works with Mums to move them from BUSY to Balanced by helping them organise and declutter their space and time. Sign up to receive a copy of the Eight Traits of an Organised Mum and discover your Mum Organising Style now.