Practical Ways to Eliminate Paper Clutter via Clean Mama

This week’s focus is paper clutter and hopefully you’ve filed or shredded something this week. On Wednesday I talked about a few simple solutions to eliminate paper clutter. Today we’re going to talk about practical ways to actually set that in motion. All the internet inspiration in the world isn’t going to file those papers or shred those old bills you have stacked up. What it really takes is you, a lot of time (not going to lie), a lot more motivation and a little bit of inspiration. So today I have a couple additional things that you can do to keep the paper away for good. Do one thing or all of them and you’ll be a little closer to getting rid of that paper. Ready?

  • Get a shredder (I’ve mentioned it in every post this week, but I’ll mention it again.)
  • Get a file cabinet, or file box, or an accordion file. Something, anything will help!
  • Get rid of unwanted mail. There’s a free app called PaperKarma – scan your unwanted mail, they contact the sender, and presto! The mail is gone. TrustediD is another one 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.

Want to go paperless or paper-less? I’m more of a paper-LESS person – I will never go completely digital. I love pens, paper, notebooks, planners, and all things office supply related. I do paperless billing when I can and online banking, but I still write down all my bill paying in my homekeeping planner. I don’t do a digital calendar or planner – I write it down on the wall calendar and in my homekeeping planner. There’s something about the pen to paper that makes sense for me and is more conducive to how I’m wired. Cleaning tasks? They go in the cleaning section in my homekeeping planner. You can see what I use by going to my shop here.

Here are a couple more options and ideas for paperless or paper-less living (I am not an affiliate for any of these, just putting the info out there):

  • Evernote – a way to digitally remember everything
  • Doxie Mobile Scanners – great for small items like receipts and checks
  • Neat – digital scanning and cloud storage
  • Want to send cards and invitations digitally? Paperless Post is adorable and they have a free section too.
  • Digital photo storage? 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.
  • How about pdfs and printables? I store those on Dropbox too. 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? If you have a Kindle or Android you can use Note Everything or Springpad for similar results.

Any other ideas to add? Leave them in the comments!

 

Follow along! Don’t forget to subscribe in the sidebar!

sig5