Last week, I shared the steps I take with clients to empower them to regain control over their paper clutter. Once they have established a paper system, the real challenge begins - maintaining that system. I never feel fully satisfied until my clients are fully able to maintain their paper system confidently on their own; I never want them to drown in papers ever again. Now we’ve set up a home for their papers, their next step is keeping on top of the papers coming into their home.

Depending on the size of your home, it works well to have either a command centre (this works well for families) or a pending station to provide a temporary home for your incoming papers.

TIP ONE: Create a home for incoming papers if they can’t be processed immediately

Option One: A command centre is a designated spot in your home that serves as the central place for organising daily clutter and keeping things that have the potential to get lost easily (examples include your keys, purse, wallet etc.). A command centre works well for keeping on top of papers; each family member is assigned their own tray or magazine holder to store their papers temporarily. The key word here is temporarily. There is no point having a command centre if you can’t take command of the contents! So the key to achieving ongoing success in your battle with paper is to process your incoming papers on a regular basis. If you receive and accumulate a lot of papers, I’d recommend checking in with the contents once a week to get those paper jobs done, recycle the papers and/or file the papers you wish to keep. If you receive and accumulate a small amount of papers, try checking in once a fortnight. You have to find the right balance that works for you.

Option Two: If you live in a small home like I do, then a command centre perhaps isn’t an option due to limited space. We make a big effort to deal with papers the day they come into our home (just by recycling the envelope straight away makes a big difference!). I like to use the mantra: ‘Don’t put it down, put it away’. This means deal with the issue the paper represents, before either discarding/recycling the paper or filing it away. It helps that our paper storage system is located in our office, which is very close to our front door. The further away your paper storage system is from your front door, the less likely you are to store these papers, increasing the likelihood of paper piles forming all over your home.

TIP TWO: Set a time on your calendar once a week (or fortnight if you prefer) to check in with the papers in your command centre or pending station. We don’t want this task to become arduous so I always tell my clients to set a timer for up to 10 minutes and do as much paper processing in that time as they can. When the timer goes off, that’s it for the week! 10 minutes sounds like a short amount of time but it’s surprising how much you can achieve in this time!

TIP THREE: Follow the mantra ‘Don’t put it down, put it away’. My clients always make me laugh because they tell me they hear my voice saying this to them when they’re going through their mail!

Katrina's Kitchen Windowsill which used to be a magnet for paper clutter!

TIP FOUR: Adorn your potential ‘paper clutter magnet’ areas with items that bring you joy. To prevent paper accumulating in the kitchen on our windowsill (which has on occasions become a dumping ground for papers), I have placed a beautiful orchid and one of my favourite candles. It seems like such a simple thing to do but it’s incredible how protective we’ve become of this space. We’re more committed to keeping it clutterfree because some of our favourite items are stored here. Overcrowding these items with paper devalues their beauty so we work hard to give them the space they deserve.

The next six tips deal with reducing paper clutter once you’ve successfully KonMari’d your paper category. Unlike the other contents of our home, we can never fully prevent the flow of papers coming into our home, but we can take some simple steps to stem the paper tide.

TIP FIVE: Update your bills to paperless. This means signing up for e-statements and e-bills instead of receiving paper copies through your door. You can do this for your banking, utility bills and memberships/subscriptions. It takes a bit of time to set up this new system as you would need to visit each company’s website, but you will see a reduction of paper coming into your home immediately. That’s got to be worth the effort right?!

TIP SIX: Refuse unnecessary receipts. Most companies and businesses offer a digital alternative to paper by emailing you the receipt. It’s surprising how many receipts my clients and I come across in their homes; by making this small change, you can prevent these tiny, unsightly slithers of paper taking up space in your home.

TIP SEVEN: Go digital for your household manuals (and try to register your products online within a day of purchasing them). Most products now have a digital manual available online (along with plenty of YouTube videos) to get to the root of any problem you may have. Furthermore, products now have an option for your to register your ownership online in regards to its warranty.

TIP EIGHT: Shred and recycle like a boss! Keep in mind the National Association of Professional Organizers estimates that we never look at 80% of the papers after seeing them for the first time. You can probably shred or recycle most of the papers that come into your home on a daily basis.

TIP NINE: Rethink your subscriptions and say no to junk mail. Cancel any subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, organisations and businesses that no longer bring you joy to reduce the paper coming into your home. This is a good opportunity to reassess the content coming into your life and cancel any subscriptions that don’t seem worthwhile and in line with your vision of your ideal lifestyle and living environment. When it comes to junk mail, I’d recommend investing in a ‘no junk mail’ sign which you put on your door, mailbox or letterbox.

TIP TEN: Take a photograph of an interesting flyer, leaflet or business card instead of taking a physical copy. This works for me as I’m far more likely to process my digital photographs regularly and when I come across these ‘information photos’, I’m reminded to do something with this information and act of it. If you’re someone who has over 20,000 photos on their phone (like many people I work with!) then this tip probably wouldn’t serve you in the same way! Perhaps it’s time to look into your digital clutter…?

I know tackling the paper category can seem like an overwhelming task. But I also know how liberated and empowered my clients feel once they’ve invested the time to take control of their papers once and for all! And I promise, you will feel this way too. It’s incredible how a pile of papers has the potential to drag us down - they’re just papers after all right? - as they are a constant reminder of the tasks we need to get done. In a world where we are bombarded with never-ending information, we owe it to ourselves to reset our relationship with the papers that seem to dominate us. Don’t be afraid to seek out support if you need it.

So how do you feel about the tips above? Can you implement any of them within the next couple of weeks to regain control of the papers currently in your home, along with the thousands that will probably take residence in your home in the future? Let me know in the comments.

Katrina's Tips To Reduce Paper Clutter

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