Thursday, May 21, 2009

paper chase

The one thing that causes me most grief, in the never-ending quest for a tidy home is paper. Piles and piles of the stuff. From bills, cards, school paraphenalia, magazines with articles I want to refer back to... it's easy to feel overwhelmed. I've been trying to deal with it as it comes, but I've still fallen back on my old, 'make a series of small piles, sort them, alternate them, move them...' mistakes.

But my in-laws, just back from the UK, told me a tale about my brother-in-law, Philip. As soon as he walks in the door, he sits down with the mail, a diary and the recycling bin. He opens the mail, notes anything of interest {such as bills to be paid} in his diary and then immediately throws the paper in the bin. If there's a magazine, he'll take it, read it after dinner, then, again, it's in the bin.

I'm inspired. So yesterday started my new habit of "deal with it, then ditch it". I have an exercise book where I write all my bills, including their statement numbers, due date and amount due, then I'll also put the date due on the calender. After reading through any statements and ensuring they're correct I can then shred them, and toss them straight in the recyling - saving any envelopes for notetaking.

With magazines, I'll give myself a week to read it, and if not - how important can it be? I now have a box in the study where magazines will go to be taken to the Salvos, and this, along with the clothing bag in the bedroom {for ditching clothes I don't wear, or that don't make me feel fabulous} will help streamline my home - and help the Salvos raise funds.

Baby steps - but I'm getting there...

2 comments:

  1. I know this is just going to be a point of contention with me for the rest of Eva and Owen's schooling, but I simply CANNOT stand how much paper they send home with kids. I swear she comes home with 3-4 notes, reminders, calendars, updates from her teacher, her school, the school board daily. Why not start a danged website? Or send parents emails? Tell the parents its their job to check the website regularly for updates, etc, send emails about events, etc going on. I love that they send her art work and projects home with her, but the rest? I can live without.

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  2. Our school's just started emailing the newsletter - hurrah! And apparently everything's going on the website - but I can never get the damned thing to load. Much, much easier to check it all your convenience - and it's always there when it's on-line and doesn't get water-damaged from leaky drink bottles, or "lost"...

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