I notice no one has any piles of papers(letters, bills, articles they photo copy to read when they have time, journals they are keeping, minuets from meetings they attend, volunteer manuals, study materials for projects they engage in or old holiday greeting). I have a full size horizontal file cabinet, three slotted sorting wall units,7 bookcase and a storage room with 5 more bookcase with sorting slots. I still have boxes, bins and piles of papers in every room.
Where do these folks put their papers? Don't tell me they shred and shed everything.
Hawaii pawn

I do all of my banking online, scan every important document and even with hard copies of taxes and junk mail I only have 2 or 3 small "piles" that I store in boxes out of sight. There is no reason to an insurmountable pile of papers unless one has a hoarding problem.

I am so with you, Hawaiipawn. Not to mention the "casegoods"-type dressers etc for clothes (due to a NY apt w/ little storage space).

Yesterday there was a housetour with a layout that showed one room that was not photographed. It was the largest room on the floorplan and I bet it serves as a big closet. Makes you wonder about whether these spaces have the same room.

I have the same problem. The thing is that I can't stand looking at them so I usually put them in a closet and then tell myself I am going to go through them when I have the time. The problem is, when that happens, there are so many papers it's overwhelming.

Sounds like a new blog post in the making... "Creative ways to organize" ... or something to that effect... I'd read it.

I'm with you, lovelyleelers. I'd read a blog post on "Creative ways to organize." I don't think I'm really a hoarder but we get so many warnings about stolen identity, etc., that it is difficult sometimes to know what is safe to throw away and shredding can become a monumental task. I quit taking the newspaper and try to reduce paper as best I can but it just multiplies like rabbits!!

It would be a full-time job to organize my papers. Unfortunately that means my house is left a mess until we get word that someone wants to visit. Then we frantically start hiding stuff. For people who don't do this, please reveal your secrets.

It's simple, really. Everything needs a home if it is really going to get put away. I have a rule that I "only touch something once." Like when I get mail I read it and take it to its home (trash, file) immediately instead of flopping it on the entry table, and then picking it up to read and throwing it down on the coffee table. Then two weeks later if someone is coming to visit, that same piece of mail needs to be picked up and put in a pile that will rest somewhere until all of the papers are collected and ready to be thrown haphazzardly in a closet because now you're in a tizzy to get everything done. See, that's 4 times touching the same paper and wasting your own time... and it's still not properly filed.

Cut out the middle man (er, middle storage places) and if it doesn't have a home - get rid of it! Shoving unwanted documents that have social security numbers into a shredder takes seconds when done individually instead of moving it 5 times and then deciding one weekend to spend hours shredding documents that have been piling up for a year.

I also have the "touch it once" rule about shoes and other household clutter. My house was constantly a mess until I realized I read about the technique on some blog and realized how much time it would save me. For example: instead of piling up 10 pairs of shoes by the door, I take them the shoes from my feet to the closet so I won't be bothered by them later. Seriously, try it.