How to Sort, Digitize & Organize Your Paper Clutter

How to Sort Through Paper Clutter

Paper is always coming into our lives. Your mailbox is full of bills, local coupons, and junk mail encouraging you to sign up for a new credit card. If you receive any magazine or newspaper subscriptions, you have those taking up space in your home. Your children’s backpacks are full of homework and permission slips that land on a kitchen counter and never leave. And all that doesn’t include the paperwork you actually want and need. Finding a way to sort through paper clutter can feel like a weight off your shoulders.

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Your first step is to sort through your existing papers and organize them into a few categories:

Functional paper

Functional paper refers to documents that you need because they serve a very specific purpose. This might include:

• Documents that identify you, like your passport or Social Security card.
• Legal documents, like a marriage license or birth certificate.
• Healthcare records.
• Documents that indicate ownership of your home or vehicle.
• Documentation about your appliances or technology.

Sentimental paper

Sentimental papers are documents that you want to keep. They may invoke certain memories or feelings.

• Photos of family, friends, and memorable experiences.
• Drawings and artwork.
• Newspaper clippings with personal or historical significance.
• Cards from loved ones that commemorate experiences.

Documents that don’t explicitly fit into those categories can probably be thrown away. For instance, most appliances have user manuals online, so keeping the booklets of instructions is typically unnecessary. Your banks, credit cards, and utilities will keep statements online, so the paper copies of the bills may not be needed. However, this exercise is important to identify documents that you want to keep and need to keep.

Organizing & Reducing Paper Clutter

Initially sorting through your paper clutter can be a freeing task, but it’s also important to take steps to reduce the incoming papers that can pile up around your home. Here are a few tips for organizing paper clutter at home:

• Unsubscribe from junk mail. This make take a little bit of effort, as many companies purposely make it difficult to get off their mailing lists. But reducing the incoming flow of papers that you’re just going to throw away can be a satisfying endeavor.
• Set up a paper clutter organizer with different slots for different types of documents so that everything is contained. Make a point to regularly go through this organizer and throw away or shred documents that are unnecessary.
• Recycle any bulk mail and newspapers.
• Pay all your bills online and opt to go paperless.
• Invest in a file cabinet and set up an organizational system to keep track of the documents you choose to keep.

Digitizing Paper Clutter

One great way to manage and reduce your paper clutter is to start storing your documents digitally. If you’d rather not worry about a file cabinet or figuring out what to do with physical photographs, cloud storage might be for you.

Here’s how to start digitizing your paper clutter:

• Choose a program to use for digital storage. An app like Microsoft OneDrive offers cloud storage for photos and files. Create folders and subfolders for organizing your documents and photos.
• Gather all the papers from around your house. This includes what you’d stuffed into a file cabinet, in piles on your desk, and scattered around your home.
• Find a comfortable spot to start sorting through your papers. If they’re not already sorted as functional or sentimental papers, do so at this time. Make sure that any trash papers are handled accordingly.
• Make sure you have a scanner or smartphone ready to upload digitized documents and a paper shredder for any identifying documents that you no longer need to keep. As soon as you’re ready, start scanning and sorting the documents into the folders you’ve created!

Storing photos online has grown in popularity in recent years. You no longer have to worry about finding physical storage solutions or worrying about damage. Scanning your photos to cloud storage can be a fun, nostalgic experience and can clear up paper clutter in your home. You can even create shared albums so that other family members and friends can view and upload photos.

Other documents that should be scanned and then shredded include:

• Healthcare records and information for you, your family, and your pets.
• Tax documents that are more than three years old. Talk to your accountant before taking this step and shredding hard copies of your tax returns.
• Employment information.
• Bank statements and investment records.
• Auto maintenance records.
• Educational information like certificates for completing trainings.
• Warranty information for electronics.

If you prefer to keep hard copies of those documents, you can absolutely do so, just make sure you implement a system of keeping your papers organized.