How to Organize Papers & Documents at Home (Part 1 of 10 Paper Clutter Series)

Hello everyone. I'm Alejandra from alejandra.tv and in this

series

of videos I'm going to share with you how to

organize

all your

paper

s at

home

. So we're going to talk about folders, files, your most important files, sentimental

documents

, taxes, mail,

documents

to scan, any open project documents, information you want to remember, and any articles you've taken out of magazines. to read someday. We're talking about all of these things, how to

organize

them so you can find them, you can stay on top of them, and most importantly, you can focus on what matters most. But first, if you have piles of

paper

work, you have piles of paper, documents are piling up on every horizontal surface in your house and you feel overwhelmed and are putting off the task of reviewing and de

clutter

ing and you can benefit from support, There is a link below to help you, guide you, and give you the accountability you may need so you can de

clutter

, let go, and get organized.

Because it is always easier to organize if you have first organized and eliminated all the noise and left space for the things that do matter. Okay, so the first tip is to declutter and make space. And I know you've probably heard this a million times, but you really have to make room if you want to start setting up your organization system. So if you have piles of

papers

, piles of papers on all kinds of horizontal surfaces, the best thing you can do is go little by little. So if you think about it, all your papers didn't arrive overnight.

It took months, years, decades to enter. So the same way they entered, the same way they are going to leave, although it will not take decades, but they will do it little by little. For example, let's take a file folder. Maybe you have to leave your office because there is a lot going on and you can't concentrate, take it to the kitchen table or take it somewhere else. Go through the files, find out what can be destroyed, what can be shredded, find out what can be recycled and just do one file folder at a time and eventually you will make progress, eventually you will make space and it will be a lot.

It's easier to start setting up your organizational systems. Okay, the second tip is you've probably heard this a million times, but you need to give all your papers a

home

. So it doesn't have to be a fancy house, you just have to have a place to put every type of document you have. And once you clear out the clutter and are left with only the things you need, it will be much easier because there will be fewer papers to sort through. So even a simple box like this one that you labeled Front Tax Documents for 2020, so that you now have a place to put all of your tax documents for 2020, can save you time and energy when it comes to searching for these documents.

So give everything a home. It doesn't have to be sophisticated. All it has to be is functional. The third tip is that once you have gone through all your papers and sorted them, you let them go and keep the papers you need, then you will realize that all these papers fit into two categories. The first category is active articles. So active documents are things that require action that you are going to use as you are using it now or in the immediate future. It could be open project documents, information to remember, something you want to hang up because it's some kind of reminder or an important note for you.

So all of these things are active documents and you want to keep your active documents nice and visible within your reach. If you identify as an out-of-sight, out-of-mind person, keep them open on surfaces to remind you to view the documents and consume the information. The second category of items are inactive items. Therefore, inactive documents are documents that you do not need right now, but are very likely to need in the distant future. These are reference materials, any type of records, medical, financial, pet records, home records, car records, all these things. Keep these things behind closet doors, keep them in drawers, keep them out of sight, but keep them accessible, but not in prime real estate.

Well, tip number four is to take all incoming documents with you, that is, any incoming mail, documents you bring home from work, from school, newsletters, brochures, literature you bring home from church activities, any other extracurricular activity, as soon as possible. When you get home, grab your stack of papers and sort them into recycling, trash, and shredding. So you don't have to take action on the things they were keeping, you just need to delete the things you don't need. Because once you get rid of this stuff, you'll never have to look at it again, you'll never have to mix it up again, and it'll make your life a lot easier.

So I have this stack here and I'm going to go through it quickly. Well, I need to hold on to that. I don't need this receipt. Receipts cannot be recycled because of the paper, so they are thrown in the trash. I need to hold on to this. This I want to read. This is action. This is action. These two are action. Well, this is shredding. Get rid of it. The envelope has my address on it so I'll show it to you. This is a coupon. I do not need that. Recycle. Recycle. I'm not going to read that.

I'm not going to read that. A coupon that I will not use can also be recycled. A credit card offer. I can destroy it too and it has my address on the envelope so I will destroy it too. So I removed about half the stack. I will never have to deal with those papers again. Now I can take all the papers I need to open, read, pay, take them, take them to my mail center or anywhere you operate, which can be your kitchen, your office, a desk, anywhere. your home and then take action when it becomes a priority for you.

But the most important thing is to remove anything you don't need immediately or soon after when you get home. The fifth tip is to always leave notes for yourself. So whenever you have some kind of active document or just any document and there's something you want to remember, when you go back to the document, you have clarity, you can eliminate the confusion and just take immediate action. So, for example, if there is a task that you are responsible for doing once a month or once a year, and since it is not every day, you are likely to forget it, take a sticky note to write instructions on any task.

This is so when the time comes, you have clarity about what needs to be done and you don't have to waste your time and energy remembering all those thoughts about how to perform a certain task. Another example is if you have a problem with a bill or something and you need to call a company and you talk to someone and they give you a confirmation number and they give you the amount they will refund you, write yourself a note. When you review your account in a week or so, you'll have your notes to fall back on if there's still a problem or if there's some kind of information you still need to remember.

Or another example is if you have a lot of receipts and you went out and bought a gift for someone and you want to find the receipt again because they want to change the gift, write at the top of the receipt, Ed's birthday gift, or something like that, so When you're shuffling through all those receipts, the one you may need will stand out among all the others. These are my five best tips for organizing paper. Again, if you have stacks of papers or piles of documents and they are piling up on surfaces and you are having a hard time starting to go through paperwork, there is a link below if you need support and accountability to get started on your project.

Thanks for watching and see you in another video. Take care. Bye bye.