Tips for Organizing Mail

1. First and foremost, make it a habit to toss the junk mail IMMEDIATELY. Don’t even let it sit for a minute. When you bring the mail in, make a first pass to pull out junk mail you do not need to open and immediately discard. Don’t even waste your time looking at chain letters, solicitations, advertisements, and other items that are unsolicited and in which you have no interest.

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2.  Next sort your mail into:

• what needs to be opened/acted upon immediately
• what you need to review within a few days
• and what you can look at in your leisure.

You can use a system that is stacked horizontally or vertically for this purpose. This temporary staging will organize your mail until you can go through items when you have the time. You might set aside one particular day to work on bills and paperwork. Some people prefer early in the morning, others in the evening. Some don’t want to look at anything during the work week, except urgent mail, and will go through through the rest during the weekend. Once you open your bills, you may further organize by type: housing, utilities, car, etc.

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3.   Often you will get catalogs and magazines you want to look at, but not at the moment. Don’t just toss them on the kitchen table. Rather, an attractive wicker basket or similar item can make a great place to stash catalogs and magazines until you have the time to look at them. Purge periodically, from the bottom up to keep them from building up.

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By making it a practice to sort your mail, discard junk mail immediately, and prioritize and file mail accordingly, you can keep mail organized. You won’t waste time sorting through piles of junk mail that has accumulated over weeks for a bill that might have accidently gotten buried in the mix. You will do a much better job on staying on top of your payments and other obligations when you organize your mail as soon as it comes to your home.