Sorting the Snail Mail in Three Easy Steps

Have you ever opened your cupboard to get a coffee cup and found a water bill? No? Just me? Okay.

When my husband and I first married I found mail tucked in the weirdest places. I often found mail in the car (his car). Important things, past due things. Not good. There were stacks of mail around like it was the North Pole in November. Mail was the bane of my existence. We didn’t a have a home office or a spare square inch for a workstation, where we could tuck it away. We had a computer desk, in the living room. Seemed like a reasonable enough place for mail but we always had a giant stack of mail on the computer desk. The probably important mail was mixed in with the could-be-junk/could-be-important mail, you know for easy access but mostly it was a disorganized eye sore that created some real problems when I was looking for an insurance statement.

But that's not all! There was usually a larger pile of mail on the counter because let's face it when you stack the computer desk pile too high it slides into the floor. Oh and none of these started out as a pile. Under the pile somewhere was a cute basket that had morphed into a pile. You could also find maybe one or two smaller stacks, bundles if you will of the more important papers I wanted to not forget sticking out from between the canisters. Placed there so I would remember them. And still other also important papers stuck with magnets or clips to the fridge.

About every 2 weeks, on payday, I would start searching for my monthly bills. It would take a Saturday morning and half a pot of Columbian Roast to find the mail I needed and I would re-stack what was left.

Growing frustrated with my "process" - I decided to pay more of our bills online, surely that would reduce the mail. It did in some ways, but then I became even less concerned with opening any mail at all. Since the important bills were all online what could I really be missing. Um, deadlines on health insurance? Increases on your car insurance? And my tale of woe over the mail continued...

The truth was, sometimes I ended up missing due dates because I couldn't find the bills. Maybe not on the utilities but the alarm company, the lawn care, the music lessons. I missed important notices about insurance claims, church events and changes to the trash pick up.

Finally, I was determined to deal with the mail and treat it as part of our family business. It was time to take it seriously.

When I began to take an active approach to the business of our family as it related to the mail I did a wee bit of math. Turns out all those little late fees- a few dollars here and there- add up over the course of a year.

THREE NEW RULES

1. Junk mail never, ever comes inside.

On any given day 50% -100% of our mail is junk. At least three days a week it's all junk. This step alone changed my life.

I added a garbage can for recyclable paper just inside the garage door. I check the mail and immediately remove ALL junk mail before I go inside. This eliminates a lot of mail before you even really begin. Don’t do junk mail. Don’t bring it into your house. If you don’t have a garage put a small bin on the carport, porch, or if you are in an apartment place one just inside the door in a nice bin you can dump into your garbage bin when it’s full.

2. Open every piece of mail, first thing.

If you leave it on the counter it’s over. It will gather it's friends, form a pile, stage a coup. It will go missing. It will mock and taunt you and make your life miserable. Just open it.

You have to open it because most of the mail in envelopes will also be junk mail. Credit card offers, advertisements for cars, loans and requests for non-profits. You may have won millions from Publisher’s Clearinghouse, you need to know these things!

This is the second wave of purging the junk but it also enables you to complete the third new rule.

3. Sort it, sort it now.

All the mail falls into basically four categories

· Things to Pay

· Things to Do

· Things to File

· Things to Shred

Create a small simple system to address each of the first categories. You can use a mail sorter, pocket folders, even office organizers, I use binders. I’m all about binders. Whatever you system you use label them and check them every payday to see what can be tossed. (Don't use baskets unless you are super disciplined. Baskets for most things is the first step in clutter.)

For the the fourth category, shredding, it’s pretty self explanatory. Shred any of those credit card offers, loan offers, or anything with personal information. Shred it immediately or it will multiply. Somewhere in your home preferably the kitchen, or living room create a small area for Mission Headquarters or Home Management or HQ whatever you want to call it. You need the binders, a shredder, and essentials for conducting the work of the family. A small area on the kitchen counter above a drawer is handy. You can keep tape, pens, checkbooks, stamps and envelopes in the drawer. It can be cute, it can be simple. It doesn't have to be an entire home office. But reclaim and manage the mail. It sets the stage for better home management and a more clutter free life.