October 20, 2016

6 Simple Ways to Eliminate Paper Clutter

I’m a paper person and a list-maker. I love using a paper planner (the Clean Mama Planner is coming soon!), a homekeeping binder, a wall calendar, writing hand-written notes and cards…. I tend to err on the side of more paper than less, but I loathe paper clutter. There’s a difference!

If you are looking for ways to eliminate paper clutter, start here:

• Deal with it daily. The #1 secret to keeping paper clutter to a minimum is to deal with it daily. Processing mail, school papers, and any other paper that makes its way into your home right away is the best way to keep it from becoming overwhelming.
• Get rid of unwanted mail.  There’s a free app called PaperKarma – just scan your unwanted mail, they contact the sender, and the mail is gone. TrustediD is another company that gets rid of unsolicited magazines and junk mail (for free). If you’re sick of getting those pre-screened credit offers you can go to OptOutPreScreen to get off that list.
• Scan important papers.  Save them to an external drive or cloud storage. Here are a couple I like:
  Evernote – a way to digitally remember everything
  Neat – digital scanning and cloud storage
  Doxie – digital scanning made simple
• Send cards and invitations digitally. Paperless Post is adorable and they have a free section too. I send out paper Christmas cards and birthday cards to family but for kids party invitations or just cute little birthday cards to friends, I like a quick emailed note.
• Store photos digitally.  I’m sure that this is another post, but I use Shutterfly and DropBox, but there are lots of options out there for slimming down the picture stacks. Print a book once every year or two and you’ll be on your way to keeping those photos updated. If you’re behind, start with the current year and work backwards.
• Store pdfs and printables digitally.  I store pdfs in Dropbox too. Set up a folder for each category and you can quickly find any printables you need. Everything’s stored in the cloud and can be found on any device – easy peasy. Did you know that if you have a tablet, like an iPad you can use printables paperless with an app like Notability that lets you digitally write on your pdfs and take notes with you anywhere?

Curious on how long you should keep paper for? Check out this free printable guide!

How about you? What’s your best tip for staying on top of the paper clutter?

This post is part of a CLUTTER MINI CHALLENGE – go here to check it out!