The 5 Bad Habits That Kill Paper Organization

Do you have bad paper habits that cause clutter? I mean, paper piles seem inevitable. But I’ve learned there’s a “right” kind of paper habit and a “wrong” kind of paper habit.

There are 5 bad habits I’ve identified that causes paper to pile up. If you want to break that paper hoarding/paper pile habit you got going on, you’re going to have to make a point of breaking these bad habits.

Here are the 5 bad paper habits (and how to fix them!).

Bad Habit #1: Keeping EVERYTHING

Do you keep all the papers that come in because

1. a) you might need it later,
2. b) you feel guilty throwing it away, or
3. c) you don’t know what to do with it?

If you answered yes to “a,” ask yourself:

1. How hard would it be to replace this document? Is this something that can be replaced if I ever needed it by making a phone call or online request?
2. Will I get in legal or financial trouble for not keeping this?
3. Is the information up-to-date and recent?
4. Is it worth my time and energy to hang on to this paper? Will I actually miss it if it’s gone?

If you answered yes to “b,” I’m going to guess this is stuff that belongs to your kids. In that case, you need to decide what your goal in keeping the kids’ papers is. (I go in depth about this in this post).

And if you answered “c,” please keep reading.

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Bad Habit #2: No plan for incoming papers

The number one rule of organizing is having a home for everything. You know papers are going to be coming in with the mail and school, so have a place to put those things!

Set up a station for where all that stuff is going to go. For now, just use a basket you already have and put it somewhere that it will actually be used. Once you get the hang of it, you can create a pretty space for all your incoming papers.

Bad Habit #3: Not shredding/throwing away papers

So, to go with bad habit #2, you probably have a bunch of weekly ads that need to get recycled and a stack of credit card offers to be shredded.  Those papers are just taking up valuable space!

Keep a shredder and recycle can near your incoming paper pile so you can filter through your mail and throw that stuff out. Set yourself up to succeed with a new good habit.

Bad Habit #4: Not filing the papers you need

There’s nothing worse than feeling frantic that you lost an important paper. Save yourself time, energy, and stress. File away those important papers! Label the files in a way that makes sense so you can find them again.

Bad Habit #5: Not having a system for actionable papers

You know those papers that you need but not right now, exactly? Yeah, I know those end up in piles too, and they get hard to find. What you need is some kind of system for going through those papers.

One system that works really well is an Actionable Paper Hub. Basically, you go through your papers once a week to decide what you need to work on, file, throw out, or save until later.

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Paper organization can be tough. It just keeps coming and coming every single day. So learning to manage it the right way is so key!

Changing your bad paper habits of keeping everything, making a plan, shredding/throwing away papers, filing what you need, and using an actionable paper system can definitely make a difference in the number of piles in your house.

To implement a system that will prevent paper piles in your home, use this paper organizing checklist.