Organization Tips for Mail Clutter at Home

Sort Before Bringing Inside

• One of the easiest ways to avoid mail clutter is to sort it before you even bring it inside your home. When you check your mail, organize it into three piles before bringing it into the house. Your categories should be something similar to: "needs immediate attention," "deal with later" and "trash/recycle." Your bills should go into the immediate attention category. Any junk mail that you do not intend to keep should be shredded or recycled immediately, so it does not become an issue. all other mail can be placed into the "deal with later" category.

Stop the Junk Mail

• Contact an organization like 41pounds.org to stop your junk mail for you. Experts at 41pounds say that the average adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail each year, which wastes trees and other natural resources. 41pounds.org will reduce your junk mail by 80-95 percent each year by contacting dozens of marketers on your behalf. The fee for this service is $41 for a five-year junk mail reduction service, or $8.20 a year.

Centralized Mail Location

• Having a central mail spot in your home can help reduce your mail clutter dramatically. Designate one area and put all mail in that space, so your dining room table can still be used for eating meals. In this space keep items such as a mail sorter, stamps, envelopes and pens so you can respond to urgent mail immediately before it piles up.

File

• Keep an accordion file folder to organize all of your correspondence. You can sort your mail by month of the year or you can use categorizing tabs for bills, letters, coupons and such. You can also buy a document scanner so you can scan your originals and then recycle, keeping an electronic file of all your important documents.