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Last updated on November 19th, 2023 at 05:04 pm
How do you get rid of paper clutter when you don’t know what you can get rid of? Even worse, what if you file papers away to get rid of them and it turns out you need to take action and do something with them?
That’s my story —I’m a forgetful organized person. If I file away a paper that I still need to do something with, I’ll forget about it completely. So instead, I’d leave the papers in a pile that I’d never do anything about.
Then I learned about a system called the Sunday Basket. How it works is that you use a literal basket to collect all your papers, then you sort through it all on Sunday. Whatever you don’t need yet, goes back into the basket.
I used this system as a jumping-off point for creating an entire paper organizing system that works for me. Thus, it all began with a little paper hub called the Actionable Paper Hub.
This is a system you must know for getting rid of paper clutter.
Here’s how an Actionable Paper Hub works to get rid of paper clutter.
- First, find a tray, basket, desktop file, or anything you like to use as your Actionable Paper Hub. Then, gather up all the loose papers you have in your Hub.
- Next, choose a consistent day and time to sort the papers in your Hub and mark it on your calendar. Then, throughout the week, place all the loose papers you receive into your new Hub.
- On the day you chose, sort the papers into 3 piles: take action, file, or shred/recycle. Then, take action on each pile!
What’s the difference between this and a Sunday Basket?
With the Sunday Basket system, it’s recommended to use slash files or manilla folders to sort the papers in your basket. This is a problem for me because if it’s in a file, I’m not very likely to look at it. If I have to pick up and look at every single paper each time I sort, I’m more likely to do what needs to be done.
Also, this one Hub is part of my larger system for storing long-term papers, making sure that papers go in the correct places.
Does this system help other people get rid of paper clutter?
Here are two case studies of clients I worked with to implement the Actionable Paper Hub.
Case Study 01
This client had a lot of paper on the counters and other work areas around the house. We first sorted through the papers to decide what could be tossed (expired coupons, old lists, random notes), what could be filed for the long term, and what could actually go in her Hub.
Next, we made folders to categorize her papers. (Personally, I skip this step because I won’t look at things in folders.)
After the Hub was organized, we decided on a day that the client would go through it. She chose Friday.
From then on, all mail, school work, artwork, paperwork, things that need to be filed away, etc go into the hub. Everything is sorted through on Friday to be dealt with, put in permanent homes, or put back into the hub for next week.
After two additional sessions, each a month apart, the hub is still going strong. My client did admit that life got crazy and she had to catch up a bit, but I didn’t see any random papers floating on the counter. And the to-do list appears to be getting done rather than stacking up.
Case Study 02
A friend of mine has a desk out in the living area of her home. It was cluttered with papers and driving her crazy. Her husband works at the desk to do bills, so it wasn’t really something she could tackle without asking if he had some sort of system going on.
(Always get permission before organizing another person’s stuff.)
Since he didn’t have a system, I recommended trying the Actionable Paper Hub. When she sent her after picture to her husband, he said, “Why didn’t we do that before?”
I cover a lot of ground when it comes to organizing papers on this blog. These posts can guide you in getting rid of paper clutter:
Or, if you’d rather, you can get all the steps to paper decluttering and organizing in one handy organizing guide …
Download The Paper Hubs System Organizing Guide: The paper organizing guide that teaches you how to declutter and organize your papers and implement a simple weekly paper management routine in 7 days —check it out here >>>
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