How I Conquered the Mail Pile

I don't like piles.

It is very hard not to have piles when the mailman brings you mail every single day.
This is how I have solved our mail and paper problem

When I get the mail I figure, most of the time, it falls into these categories:

• bills
• coupons
• something that goes on the calendar
• magazines

If it is not one of these things it's probably trash.

Here is what my mail center looks like:

Coupons go in the pencil box.

Invitations on the calendar or write the info down and toss it. Calendar/corkboard above, $9.74 Walmart, and it is magnetic too.

Magazines in their bin.

The notebook is just for when I need to write something down it's in a handy spot.

I keep all my bills in the binder. It has dividers and I put all my water bills together, electric bills....etc. for one year. At the end of that year....well, when we do our taxes.... we put our tax information in the pocket and write the year on the side and put it up on a shelf. This is my 3rd year of the binder system and it helps me so much. Things like the packet of information that tells about your auto insurance policy....goes with your car insurance bills. In addition to keeping my bills in the binder it also has a divider for these things:

• car maintenance paperwork
• medical receipts
• voter registraiton cards...pocket
• receipts from charitable donations...pocket

Sometimes you might get something in the mail that needs to be dealt with at a later time. For example, we got a letter from Reliant Energy offering a special. They are not our electric company, but Chris wanted to call them, so I put that letter in the front pocket.

We do not have a file cabinet now. Only the yearly binders.

Now here are the rules:
If you get the mail you are agreeing that you have the time right then to sort the mail and put it where it goes. If you do not, then don't get the mail. I assure you the process takes about 5-7 minutes.

I recommend doing a pre-sort on your way back in the house. Before you even get inside you should have two separate piles in your hands. One pile has things that you know, without even opening, that are trash (recycling). Some should be shredded and if you have a shredder then you should shred them right then. Shredders make me nervous. I have these nifty shredder scissors that my grandmother gave us. If you don't have either then tear it up and put half in the trash and half in recycling.

Your next step is to get all the things you know you need to keep down to the bare minimum. Take everything out of the envelopes and get rid of the envelope and any extras inside. Cut the coupons down to size or sort your val-pak. Then you put the bills/receipts/pertinent info behind its divider and coupons in the box and put your invites on the calendar or the fridge.

Done....no pile of mail.....aaahhhh.