Paper Management Tips For The Home

Handle incoming paperwork

• Paperwork will come into your home in many ways – usually in the mail, email, paperwork from work, travel and school.  Set up ways for dealing with the paperwork so it doesn’t build up and clutter your areas.  Decide what to keep, what needs to be actioned and what needs to be filed.  Be tough and hold no prisoners. 
•   Reconcile your bank statement every time you receive it.
• Reduce paperwork that you receive by cutting down on how many bank accounts you have if possible

Keep follow up documents in clear sight so you don’t forget about them. 

• Keep your gift cards in your purse so you have them readily available when you need to use them
• Write your bill due dates in your diary and file them in a folder designated to that purpose, or keep them in a tray where they are in clear sight and you won’t forget about them and can clearly see the due date.  Schedule designated times to pay and review your bills. 
• Keep invitations where you can see them and record the party date in your diary when you receive them and make sure you rsvp.  A great way to keep items in clear sight is to use a bulletin board.

Filing & Storage

• Always file your bills immediately after paying.
• Staple papers together instead of using paperclips.  Paperclips can easily get caught on other papers and muddle everything up.
• Store your valuable documents in a fireproof safe
• Regularly update your filing system
• Keep your business transactions separate from your household transactions and expenditures.

Bathroom Organising Tips

Step One: Clean It Out 

•  Begin by pulling EVERYTHING out of the bathroom – this will make your sorting and cleaning process easier. 
•  Clean drawers and shelving. 
• Dispose of creams, make up, hair products & various other products that you haven’t used for six months or more or have expired. 
• Dispose (or take to your local pharmacy) of medications that have expired. 
• Dispose of old razors and other items that you simply do not use any more.

Step Two: Create Extra Storage

• Only store what you use on a daily basis on (or near) the basin counter.
• Keep only what you absolutely need in the bathroom.
• Use a magazine rack for magazines.
•  It can be a good idea if you have the space to assign a shelf, drawer or container for each family member to store their personal items in.

Step Three: Organise Your Space

• Group similar items together.  For example, toothpaste, mouth wash, spare tooth brushes together; cosmetics, etc
• Make use of a shower caddy for your shower items such as body wash, shampoo, conditioner, etc.
• Hang your hair dryer on a hook to save on space
• Use wall mounted cabinets for extra storage space
•  If you are short on space you can use shooks on the back of the bathroom door for bathrobes and towels
• Dedicate a drawer or make up container for your cosmetics.

5 Minute Organising Tips...

Overwhelmed by the hours ahead that it may take you to free you from clutter and get yourself organised?  Stop stressing and start small.  Try these easy five minute organising tips to help you get started...

• Clean our your handbag - dispose of all the junk, file those receipts
• Take out the rubbish
• Put a load of washing on
• Fold a load of washing up & put it away
• Clean the bathroom sink
• Clean the toilet
• Sweep the floors
• Make the bed
• Pay some bills
• Clean out the fridge
• Load/unload the dishwasher
• Water the pot plants
• Recycle old magazines and newspapers
• Put your shoes away
• Dust the living room
• Write a shopping list
• Clean out your junk drawer (okay, this may take you more than 5 mins - but see how much you can get done in that time frame, you'll be surprised)
• Sweep the floors
• Reorganise a cupboard or drawer

What can you achieve in five minutes?  We'd love to hear *your* five minute tips....  You have five minutes --- now GO!

Organising Your Home

Organising your home can seem like a huge task if there is clutter everywhere and you have no idea about where to even start.  Create a plan on how to tackle organising your home and use some of the tips I've listed below...

Step One: Analyse The Clutter
Begin by looking and assessing each room - one at a time.  This can be daunting if you are surrounded by clutter, but persevere.    It can help if you can understand the reasons *why* you are experiencing a clutter problem.  This can be due to many factors such as family, time, over shopping, the list is endless - you need to see where the problems are and work on fixing them. 

To start this exercise, use a notebook and write down the problem areas in each room.  For instance, if your wardrobe and clothes drawers are overflowing - perhaps you need to reassess your wardrobe all together; you have magazines piled high under the coffee table - why are you holding onto these?.  While you are doing this exercise, it is important not to forget areas such as the garage, the dreaded junk drawer, and any areas that are out of sight.

Step Two: Create A Plan
Once you have discovered where the main areas are that so cluttered, it is time to find solutions for each area.  Address each area separately and create a plan that will help you tackle sorting through the clutter (what to keep and what should go), cleaning the space, what tools or storage items you will need, reorganising the space and most importantly - how to keep that space clean and organised.  Solutions are easy - you can donate unwanted items to charity, sell them on ebay or dispose and you can purchase additional perhaps more efficient storage solutions.

Plan how you are going to store things - do you need containers, hooks, shelves, labels?   Most importantly - are these storage systems going to be practical.  If you are finding this difficult - a Professional Organiser can always assist you.

Find the best solution to the clutter/organising problems that annoy you the most.  Research on the internet, ask friends about their suggestions - the most important system to implement however, is a system that is going to work for you and the people who use it.

Step Three: Put your plan into action! 
Unless you have a very large amount of time spare, de-cluttering and reorganising is going to take time!  The best way to tackle this is to perhaps allocate a few hours a day if you can spare it, or even a week to work on getting rid of the clutter and reorganising your spaces. 

You might even like to plan a weekend where you can enlist the help of your family - more hands, less work.

With any big task however, it is advisable to break that task into smaller chunks - you will get through it quicker and retain your motivation.

Step Four: Maintenance
Once you have de-cluttered and reorganised your home - allocate an amount of time per day/week to maintain it.  Taking five or ten minutes a day to put things away, quickly dust, wipe down surfaces will leave you more time on the weekend to enjoy your life instead of being bogged down with household chores.  Now is the time to develop good habits when it comes to clutter - be ruthless.

You may find that certain systems/storage ideas don't in fact work - now is a fantastic time to change this to something that does work. 

Good luck!

We would love to hear from you - share your experiences with de-cluttering, what worked for you and what didn't...