What To Do With Paper Clutter And How To Manage It

Do you have paper clutter in your home and you just don’t know what to do with it or even how to get rid of it?

You might worry about how to organize bills and paperwork, but sometimes it’s more than that. There are notes and lists of the things that you need to do, there are notes from classes that you took years ago.

There just is this never-ending pile of paper that grows each year instead of reducing in content.

So, what do you do to get it organized and out of your home?

Overwhelmed By Paper Clutter

You are overwhelmed by all the paperwork, you just don’t know where to even start with the amount of paper in your home.

After all, you wrote those notes for a reason, you made that list for a reason. You possibly paid for the paper and the ink on that paper so isn’t it a waste just to throw them out or recycle them?

You can’t get the money back for the ink and once you have used the paper it’s no good for anyone else.

It’s about changing your mindset for the paper that you have in your home, the ones that you wrote on, and making a more informed choice of why you think you need to keep the paper and the benefit of keeping it or getting rid of it.

Paper Clutter Solutions

What you need is to find solutions for your dilemma, what did you need to keep it for, and what is the purpose for keeping it?

Let’s dig into our thought processes here:

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You made a list of things you wanted to do, not everything is crossed off the list so you can’t possibly destroy the list until everything is done? Am I right? This is what goes through my head too.

So, what can you do? Well, you can transfer the items that aren’t crossed off to another more current list, and then this paper is obsolete and then can go, or if the task has been on the list for a long time maybe you don’t need to do it or you could hand it off to someone else.

Notes which were taken years ago for a class that you are now qualified in or don’t require are kept because they were important to you, you needed them. But now you don’t you can let them go.

Related product: A4 Paper Storage Unit

How Do You Deal With Paper Hoarding

The first step that you will take is to identify that you are hoarding paper, this might look like standing in front of your paper and looking at how much is there.

It could be touching the paper and remembering the need for this paper. Actually acknowledging how much paper clutter you have and what type of paper clutter it actually falls part of.

If my family starts to question my paper stash I do have to look at it with fresh eyes, it becomes an important part of my life and I don’t always see it when it grows which is why having a system does help to identify when it gets too much.

You then need to take the steps possible to reduce how much is there. I have tried to remove paper lists I write lists on a program called Notion, an electronic system because it means I don’t need to rewrite lists.

Not only does this help with the amount of paper I use but it also means I have access to it on my phone and this helps me have my to-do list with me at all times.

Too Much Paper Clutter

It’s hard to work out when you have too much of anything and that is why you need to find ways that will allow you to see when there are too many pieces of paper and that you need to do something different or go through them and remove items you no longer need.

Maybe when the paper fills your current system and you start to think you need more storage, this is the time that you need to stop and declutter the paper you have.

Going through the paper you have is going to be tough and not one that you are going to manage in a five-minute session unless you are just dumping paper without thinking.

Related article: 15 Simple Home Management Skills That Will Make Your Life Better

How To Declutter When You Have Too Much Paper

The concept of decluttering paper sounds so easy and it sounds like a task that isn’t going to take long to do.

However, the exact opposite is true, going through paper is time-consuming and emotionally draining and this is one reason why you should only aim to tackle a small handful of paper on a daily basis.

This is because you will have to separate the paper into the different categories that you have and then each of these categories is going to require storing or recycling or just throwing away.

Related article: 10 Ways On How To Deal With Clutter

Paper Clutter System

Moving forward you are going to require a system that alerts you to the potential problem before it gets out of hand.

You can look at the storage options you have and when you reach a limit you need to get rid of paper.

You can ask a friend or family member to help you identify when you have too much and again talk with them about the ways that you can identify when things get too much.

Learning how to sort the paper into categories will help you identify where you are creating potential recycling and how you can remove this paper rather than storing it with the paper you do need to keep.

Related article: Simple And Easy Tips For Organizing Paperwork

Let’s Recap…

When you are overwhelmed with paper and you realize that it’s become clutter it’s difficult and uncomfortable to admit that you have too much.

However, it’s important to take action and work out how to reduce the paper that you have and to put systems in place that will help you in the future know when you are getting too much paper and need to reduce it.

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