I have papers everywhere in my house. They are shoved in drawers, stacked next to where I work in my dining room, and in boxes in my closet. At any given time, I have an inch or more stacked where I work.
I don’t have a filing system nor do I have a filing cabinet. I do have a portable file container that holds hanging file folders. But it’s maxed out.
I’m home alone this week so I wanted to declutter in a big way. Eliminating papers is one of the things on the list. I pulled out one of the piles and was making quick decisions about them. If I was keeping it, I left it on the table, otherwise, it went into the garbage. I didn’t use time to organize them (unfortunately) so now I’ll have to touch them a second time.
But I’m happy that I got rid of probably one hundred papers.
I’m creating this clutter
One thing I realized through this is that I write down things all the time. Too much. There is something so satisfying and calming to me about sitting and writing a list. The problem is I write the same things on my list every single day.
I don’t include the usual things like making dinner, showering, etc. but I include a lot of redundant things like “film, edit, and post a TikTok video” which is part of my routine like brushing my teeth. Or, “post 3 things on Poshmark”. I don’t need to write these things down every day.
In addition to a lot of redundant things, I continue to write down the same procrastinations each day. Some of my current ones include:
One-time things:
- Write and mail sympathy card to X: It’s March, and my cousin’s husband passed away in January.
- Write nice happy birthday letter to Y: My former neighbor and my family’s great longtime friend turned 80. As a surprise to him, the sons asked all of us to write special memories or something. (We did something similar for my mom.) The birthday was over three weeks ago! I’ve known about this for a month and a half!
- Call and make (overdue) mammogram appointment: I got the referral in October. It’s March, and I still haven’t called.
- Get bloodwork done: Got the order for it in October. Still can’t get myself to do it.
- Schedule appointment with new dentist: We are changing dentists. Why can’t I just make an appointment!?
Recurring things:
- Rake yard: What am I waiting for? It would have looked so much better if I did it in the fall.
- Sweep patio: This is something I need to do 2x a month at a minimum. Why I’m not doing it? I do not know.
- Wash windows: I should be able to manage this a few times a year but do the minimum, and it shows.
- And on and on it goes with house cleaning tasks, decluttering, clean out the garage, etc.
Do it instead of writing about it!
So my new thing is trying to refrain from writing so much. I don’t want to use my phone all the time (my eyes! my phone memory!) but I can’t have all these papers cluttering up my life. The “write it down” method needs to help me feel less frazzled, not more stressed.
I’m going to try keeping one master list. I can do one list for the week and add to it as necessary. If I have to post 1 – 2 times a day on TikTok , then on Sunday, I can do this:
TikTok 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
If I want to list seven things a week on Poshmark, I can do this:
Poshmark 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I am walking every day. There’s no need to write it down every single day. I can do this:
Walk 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
If I can write it down once, and cross off as I go, I know it will help me be less anxious. Plus I won’t have all these papers everywhere. It will sure help save paper (even though I often use scraps).
I just need to get more organized. As much as I try, I’m not a planner / organizer person. Probably because I don’t do the things I need to do on a certain day.
I’d love to know what you do. Do you write a lot down on paper? Do you save a lot of papers? Let me know in the comments. We have our bills online but I tend to save other random things that I need to get rid of.