Even an organized clutter-free home can become a slave to paper clutter. Follow these tips to get your paper under control once and for all. We'll follow a fictionary character named Sue to see how she can gain control over the paper in her home.

Sue was a stay-at-home mom with two kids. She and her husband were drowning in paper. She paid most of her bills online, read magazines and catalogs, when she could find them, in the living room, and donated to charities at certain times of the year.

Because of Sue's lifestyle, I would recommend that she follow the following steps to get her organized:

1. Bills

As soon as they come in the mail, mark the date and amount on the outside of the envelope. Whatever bills that were due that she need to pay through the mail, she should put on her calendar to pay them a week before they are due. I would also recommend that she create a bill toolbox.

-----Bill Toolbox contents-----

Stamps
Envelopes, small and large (keep full supply elsewhere)
Return address labels (keep only 20 in your toolbox)
Bills due

2. Magazines and catalogs

Put these where you will look through them and then purge monthly. I would recommend that Sue put a basket beside a chair in the living room or make a space in an end table. As soon as the magazines or catalogs come in they should be put in that location and the old issue should be taken out and pitched or donated.

3. Junk mail (including charities, credit card mail, etc.)

Open your mail over the wastecan. There is a lot of mail that should just be pitched before it creates clutter. In Sue's case, I would recommend that she speak with her husband to determine his preferences. If he wants to read mail from a certain charity, etc., she should find his "reading spot" and put the mail in that location immediately after opening it. If she wants to donate to a charity that just sent her mail, she should treat it like a bill, put a date on it that she wants to contibute by on the outside of the envelope, put the amount, mark her calendar and drop it in with her bills due. If she wants to apply for a credit card or needs to fill out a form, I would recommend she also assign a due date to these things, mark it on her calendar, and create a folder called "Sue's working file" in her drawer. Drop any paperwork that requires action in there.

4. Invitations, Personal Letters, etc.

Check your calendar immediately when invited somewhere. If you are available and want to attend, mark it in your calendar and respond as soon as possible. I would recommend that if Sue could not call or respond at the time she opened the mail to put it on her running to do list or her calendar for an aappropriate date with the phone number and name of the contact. As far as personal letters and cards, if you would like to respond, and cannot do so immediately, put aside time on your calendar to send a note or e-mail back. Retention of this information should be at your discretion. I would set-up a modified tickler file system for Sue for purposes of keeping the invitation handy.

-----Modified Tickler System-----

Set-up hanging folders or an expandable file with slots for January through December. Put the invitation in the appropriate month's folder and when you go to attend the event if you need any information, it's right where you need it to be.

5. Insurance Paperwork and Papers you want or need to keep

If you don't have a home filing system, establish a simple one to keep this information separated. With Sue I would work to create files for all of the paperwork she would encounter in her particular home. If this task overwhelms you, simply make a file for paperwork as you receive mail. (ie. health insurance paperwork - make a file labeled "health insurance" and stick it in a file cabinet). Do this for about six months and by that time you should have most of the files you would need for your home. Then take ten minutes a day to go through old paperwork and put in the appropriate files or purge it until your filing system is up to date.

Use these tips and apply changes to your paper sorting according to your lifestyle and I guarantee, you'll be in control in your paperwork in no time!

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Tammy Burke is the owner of Organize it all, LLC and provides residential and business organizing consulting. Visit her website for great organizing ideas, product information, and a FREE newsletter.

Reprinted with permission from Tammy Burke’s Organizing Newsletter. You can subscribe to her newsletter by simply visiting her Web site:http://www.organizeitall.com.