Thousand Square Feet: Organizing Paper Mail

The office was a mess. Correction. The office was a disaster. Seriously, a massively messy place. Papers everywhere. Stuff everywhere. It was embarrassing. So, I have been cleaning. 'Decrapification' is the technical term, thanks to Thrifty Decor Chick and I think it fits the bill. The amount of . . . well, crap that was in here is totally ridiculous. And I will show you in a "Keeping it Real" post very soon. There has to be an "After" in order to show you the "Before" and the "After" is currently in process. However, in spite of all the mess, we were very good at sorting the mail that came in the door. You know, all the bills and flyers, bank information, receipts, etc. Everyone needs a proper sorting system to deal with the massive amount of paper that enters the house. About a year ago, I discovered ours and it has been working wonderfully. I thought I would share it with you.

This wonderful set of rolling stacking drawers has been a life-saver for us. I found this one at Office Depot, called a Realspace 10 Drawer Mobile Organizer, when I was redoing our office a while back. I also saw some in primary colors almost identical to ours at Costco the other day. It was much cheaper, about 30ish dollars, than what I paid, which was $59.99. They also had a black one with two rows of seven drawers - a bit shorter and wider. Both of them would be fantastic for this purpose.

As you can see, each drawer is labelled with a label that identifies its contents (I just bought the label maker yesterday and I love it!!). For us, the labels are:

RECEIPTS - self-explainatory

UNPAID BILLS - any bills needing to be paid; once they are paid they go in the receipts drawer

FLYERS - you could eliminate this drawer if you do not receive flyers but we shop sales a lot so this is important to us. It also gives our kids pictures to cut out for school.

BANK INFO/MONEY - all bank statements, investment information and excess cash go in this drawer.

COUPONS/GIFT CARDS - need I say more?

RECIPES - when I see a recipe I like on-line I print it out and stick it in the drawer. Very handy for a recipe-lover like me!

MOPS - I am the coordinator for the local Mothers of Preschoolers chapter so I need a place to put that stuff.

BEAUTICONTROL - in my wealth of free time, I sell BC. That stuff goes here!

CRAFT IDEAS - just like the recipes, when I find an idea on-line that I like, I print it out and stick it in here.

empty drawer for ???

This system works really well for us and we don't have to empty the drawers too often because they hold quite a bit of stuff. We always know where to find things and it looks so neat and tidy. I tried using one drawer for magazines but the weight was too much causing the drawer to fall off its track. Keep lighter things in them and they work great. It has a metal shelf across the top that is the perfect fit for our scanner. It would also be a great place to hold a basket so you can throw all the mail in there and sort it when you have time. For us, it goes straight to the drawers. I also love that you can take out a drawer and walk away with it to wherever you want. From the reviews I read, some use it for makeup storage, some for craft supplies. The possibilities are endless. Do you have a system to deal with the paper mail that enters your house?

I will be linking this post to Thrifty Decor Chick's So Fresh, So Clean Party. Check it out for all kinds of cleaning and organizing tips!