5 File Folders Save the Day! No More Mail Piles

Don’t you wonder how that “paper pile” appears? The USPS told me this…

Each day an average of fifteen pieces of mail arrive in your mailbox. If you flip through and deal with only ten of the fifteen pieces, you are left with five dangling pieces a day to be dealt with “later.”

That’s why stacks of mail can appear from out of nowhere.
At the rate of five pieces of mail per day, that means 150 pieces a month, 1,565 pieces a year, or sixteen inches of guilt piled on your desk or countertops.

5 File Folders in a portable file from an office supply store like Staples or Office Depot will clean up any paper pile that accumulates during the day. A portable file holder is a key ingredient for a “Personal Organizing Center.” Every home needs one.

Do you wonder how those “mail piles” appear? The USPS told me this…

Each day an average of fifteen pieces of mail arrive in your mailbox. If you flip through and deal with only ten of the fifteen pieces, you are left with five dangling pieces a day to be dealt with “later.”

That’s why stacks of mail can appear from out of nowhere.
At the rate of five pieces of mail per day, that means 150 pieces a month, 1,565 pieces a year, or sixteen inches of guilt piled on your desk or countertops.

Five File Folders to Handle Mail

1) Calendar – Put an item in the CALENDAR file only after putting it on your monthly calendar. This cleans up “refrigerator clutter” and includes invitations, schedules, & upcoming events.

2) To Do – Only if an item takes more than 5 minutes to do AND you’ve listed it on a Master List on the countertop can you put it in this file. Assign it to the 3 days you can most control: Today, Tomorrow, or the next day.

3) To Decide – Place items that you are thinking about doing, ordering, or following up on in here. Then when you decide to do it, you know right where to find it! The last day of the month, toss the unused items for a fresh start next month.

4) To Pay – If you don’t have one place by your checkbook to pay bills, keep them in a designated file folder so they don’t get lost. Important!

5) (Your Name) – Keep anything of interest just for you in there. Now add a File Folder with each person in your family. Explain that no longer will there be visible paper clutter on the counter, and it needs to be emptied daily or by Saturday noon on the weekend.