Some moms are natural organizers, but the rest of us need help and advice in how to sort through big stacks of books, files, and paper. You know, the papers that you’ve been hanging onto from years ago, before cell phones were small enough to fit in a purse? And then there’s kids’ art projects and school treasures. How long are you supposed to hang on to those? The Household Helper’s sage advice on getting control of paper clutter.
How do you file paperwork? I have a mishmash of paperwork and files ranging from my first job out of college to thick files full of research on old projects I’ll probably never look at again. The same goes for school and art papers I’ve saved for my kids. All these files are ridiculously thick, so what’s a good way to simplify paperwork?
- First and foremost, just get rid of the old stuff. If you say “I’ll probably never even look at again” then what are you hanging onto it for? Keep the important items like diplomas, final research papers and thesis, etc. But the rest can be shredded. If you have any books to get rid of, donate them to the library.
- Now as far as kids’ school papers, this is tough. We get so emotionally attached to these treasures our kids have created. Being that my son is just a toddler in pre-school, I don’t have an overwhelming amount of school papers to keep, but I have set a plan in place to keep on top of it.
- I created a “gallery” to display current art work and worksheets he brings home. Create a gallery to show off children’s masterpieces. This can be your fridge, or someplace else. I hung cork-tiles on my coat closet door. Each time he comes home from school, we empty his backpack, hang his current papers on the gallery, take down old stuff and put everything away right in the closet.
- Inside my coat closet I have a box to hold the older pieces of paper. It’s just a large shirt box from the department store that I covered with wrapping paper and labelled “School Work”. Every so often, the box gets full. So I take a few minutes to reminesce the items in there and purge a few old things to make room for the new.
- If you have older children, make them a part of this process. They could have a gallery in their bedroom where they hang their favorite things, and keep a storage box to contain older things in their closet or under their bed. Teach them early on that they don’t have to hang on to everything. Every so often, sit with them to purge all the items.
For our second week of April, we talked to Leslie Truex. She has been running 
