Like many of you, we like to take care of and sort our mail first thing when we come home. But sometimes we are too tired or busy to get around to it for a couple of days. It was after our pile built up to an embarrassing height that we developed our system with handy accessories.
What You Need
Materials*
Acacia tray, $32 from Crate and Barrel
Stainless steel shredding scissors, $8.99 from The Container Store
Expanding file, $10.00 at OfficeMax
Noticeboard, $4.99 at Ikea
Stockholm document box, $12.99 at The Container Store
Lettro Wall-Mounted Organizer by Umbra, $12.99 at The Container Store
*These are just the specific materials we use. You can find trays, boxes and shredders appropriate for your home.
Instructions
1. Get your mail every day
2. If you're often too tired or busy to sort it every day, have a drop-off area in a convenient location. Our hallway is too skinny for landing strip table, so we have this tray on our dryer in our kitchen.
3. When you do have time to sort mail, do it where you have places to put each category of mail: 1) garbage, 2) recycling, 3) coupons
4. When recycling pieces of mail, make sure to shred your name and address and any other secure information. This also prevents a build-up for an electronic shredder.
5. Put coupons away in a spot that you can easily access the next time you go shopping.
6. At this point, we carry the mail that needs action over to our desk. (As you can see, organizing the wires under the desk is another project on our list.) Postcards, invitations and correspondence can be tacked to our bulletin board.
7. We handle mail that needs urgent action, such as bills, right away. Checkbooks and stamps are stored on the shelf under our desk. The rest of the mail that's not urgent, such as catalogs we'd like to flip through and bank statements, go in a designated box on a shelf. When we have time and energy, or when this box gets too full, we sort through these and file paper away in
8. Mail that needs to be sent out goes by the door in this mail and key holder. When we grab our keys to leave, we grab our mail too.
Also Check Out:
Organizing Tip: Open Your Mail Every Day
How To: Kiss Junk Mail and Telemarketers Goodbye
How To Organize an Eco-Friendly Landing Strip
Images: Lindsey Roberts
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Comments (18)
Who really gets that much mail these days? My bills, bank and brokerage statements are electronic. I have managed to get off most catalog mailing lists and I only have one or two magazine subscriptions.
I could probably open my mail once a month and be fine.
I try to deal with it all immediately, so I don't have to sort it. Anything recycleable is put directly in the recycling. Anything that should be shredded is put directly into the shredder. I pay bills immediately using online bill pay.
Moving it around into boxes just seems like an unnecessary intermediate step.
great tips! I love the shredder scissors.
I get SO MUCH JUNK MAIL, Kathryn. And while I do all paperless billing and have written to every "take me off your mailing list" contact I can find, I still get gobs of junk mail every day. Not to mention all the stuff to prior renters. If we go 2 days without getting the mail our box is jammed. But I don't really need too many mail organizing tips either--most of mine can be dumped straight into the recycling.
I receive on a weekly basis multiple offers from credit card companies and charities that I've donated to a couple times in the past (I wish they would stop). I usually just take all my mail to work and sort through it with the convenience of a recycling bin and shredder within reach.
We actually keep a shredder in the entryway, plugged in. Mail goes directly from mailbox to shredder. Very efficient.
Awesome and efficient. Like your creativity - the shredder scissors was a good one
When sorting mail qualifies as a Home Hack, the apocalypse can't be too far off.
The overarching "Home Hack" banner really grates on me.
I agree with p(too) and Indy Jeffrey
heather77's idea of a shredder right in the entryway is a great one! do you hide it or leave it out in the open?
WOW Maybe the OP has too much time on their hands, but kudos on the grade A system.
I lucked out. My new high rise has a box for unwanted mail in the mailroom. I sort my mail there, and leave all the junk mail in the box. I only take my bills and personal mail upstairs. Then after I have paid the bills and deposited the checks, I put the remnants in a box, and don't see them again until tax time. Works for me.
No amount of organization will make my husband actually stop leaving random piles of mail around the house. I have tried every trick in the book. I noticed where he normally leaves piles of things and placed baskets there, and he would just put the mail somewhere else. I've tried nagging him, yelling at him, and threatening to smash his guitar if I find one more piece of junk mail sitting on the table NEXT TO the recycling bin and not IN the recycling bin, and still nothing. I have demanded that he leave the mail in the mailbox for me to get, and that worked for about two days. Let me know when you devise a system that not only organizes the mail, but also administers an electroshock for non-compliance.
viviangrrrl, we keep it out in the open most of the time. If it's in sight, we're more likely to use it. When we're having company, we tuck it into the entryway closet.
WOW @ aemorgan - in case you haven't noticed, your situation is about waaayyyyy more than the mail. Passive aggressive about the mail is not the norm.
Get off mailing lists, recycle even before you enter the doorway if possible, take bills directly to the place where you make payments (computer, in my case), read greeting cards and letters and decide whether to answer them, ASAP. No sorting system needed, clutter is reduced, peace and serenity rule! (As long as you act on thse darn bills right away! ;^) )
aemorgan - lol! have you tried putting pictures of naked women on the inside of the recycle bin?
Thanks for the tips, now where did you get the hanging mirror in the final photo-- next to the mail and key holder???