HELP! I'm overhwelmed with

[luvmyfam444]

PAPER!!!! Tell me what you do! When you get your child's school work in each day (I can't throw it away in front of her!) Where do you put it until then? Where do you keep you bills to be paid that if they go in a file may be forgotten? How do you remember when to pay your bills? I've GOT to get organized!!! We've just moved so I've thrown out TONS of old papers (payroll subs from 7 yrs ago til about 1 yr ago) I have a file set up for those papers that are finished with (paid, etc) that have a permanent home my problem is with the current to do papers (I don'thave a desk or anything - I pay the bills @ the kitchen table usually)

PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME BEFORE I drown in paper!

 

[mommaU4]

Sorry can't help you there. I just throw it all away. All of it. Cards, letters, schoolwork, bills, reciepts, check stubs, you name it. I can't stand clutter on my counters. Of course I don't reccommend this way of life since I'll probably end up on one of those commercials where people had their identity stolen....

 

[SleepyMom]

For the school papers this is what I do.... get an underbed box (cardboard or plastic) and after I look through them I have DD put them in that box which is stored under her bed. Then at the end of the school year, the attachment to them isn't as strong and you can go through and pick several papers from each subject throughout the year and toss the rest.

Bills to be paid go in one pile next to the computer.

Notes from dance, Girl Scouts, school, church and etc... can be a bit overwhelming so I finally got folders for each one and whenever a new note comes home I write the info from it on the calendar right away and then file the note away in the folder it needs to be in. That way I can go back and look at it if needed and it will be very easy to find, at the end of the school year I toss everything in the folders and start fresh. I keep the folders next to the computer desk so they are handy.

 

[diznygirl]

DS's papers go into a white file box in the study (okay, if you don't have a study put the box in your bedroom). DS thinks I am keeping everything. Later, some evening after he goes to sleep, I can go through the box and throw stuff away.

As for bills - they get paid when the past due notice in the mail. Easy!

 

[sleepyone]

When I check the mail, I have a wooden desk thingy (that's the technical name for it) that I immediately put my bills in and I shred the junk mail. After I pay the bills, I immediately file them.

When dd comes home with a pile of papers, I put up one example of her best work for the week and let her choose a piece of art/work for her to put on the fridge. If there is a piece of paper that is important to her, she puts it in her scrapbook. I get dd to correct any problems that were wrong or she didn't understand and then I let her recycle the "bad" grades; which she loves doing. The rest goes straight in the recycle bin. I deal with all the paper as soon as it comes into my home and get rid of what's not needed.

To recap:

• PAPER SHREDDER

• RECYCLE BIN

 

[Brianne]

I only hang onto important kid papers (report cards & awards)---each child has a file folder. As for bills---I have a bulletin board in my office where everything goes until it's time to be paid. Since DH is paid twice a month, all bills but the mortgage gets paid at the same pay period, and all gets paid via Billpay (BofA). Then those bills get shredded. DH has file folders for paystubs, taxes, etc.

Clutter drives me insane, so all mail gets sorted out right next to my shredder. It's my best friend.

 

[clh2]

We have a pendflex file folder for DD's school work, it's one of the larger ones, with sections for A-Z. We customize it every year, depending on what's needed. We save all weekly newsletters, all graded work that comes home. At about the end of each grading quarter, i.e. when we get report card, we toss out all the old stuff, and pretty much start fresh.

I like for DD to review the actual school work she did for unit tests, in addition to the study guides she gets.

In addition to having the work available for studying, occasionally a teacher will not correctly record a grade, and then you can politely discuss the issue with the teacher, with your back-up. It hasn't happened often, but it has happened.

 

[daisyduck123]

Papers you need to save? Have you got a spare wall? This works great for us!!


We have one wall in our kitchen that is sort of hidden from view unless you walk all the way into the kitchen & turn left. A few years ago, DH bought some corkboard squares at Home Depot or Lowe's (not sure which). He covered this wall with the squares so it is virtually one large bulletin board. We got a box of pins & TA-DAH..problem solved. Everything I need is up there & I know where to find it...coupons, school notices, business cards, newspaper clippings, etc. & I post some of DS7's best school work up there for a few days so he can see it from the kitchen table & know we're proud of him. (A week later I throw them away. ).

This has worked great & no one can see all this stuff from the main part of the kitchen. Everyone who sees it says, "That is the best idea". And I have nothing on my fridge...I hate a cluttered fridge.

 

[LynnTH]

I too have a box for each kid to save their special papers and assignments. The others get tossed away. I've told them there is no way I can save everything or we would have to move to a bigger house to store it all in. I do usually throw the stuff when they are not looking though or they tend to drag it back out of the trash.

As for bills. I have a wooden 3 tiered thingy that hangs on the wall where all the bills go to pay. I pay bills twice a month (as that is when DH and I get paid). So, the beginning of the month I pay all bills that are due the 1st through the 15th and the middle of the month I pay the rest. I actually made a list of all bills due during each time period (including those that are automatically deducted) so I can check things off as I pay them so as to make sure I did not miss anything. Most things I shred after I pay them, the things I don't go into a file cabinet in the basement closet.

 

[anut4disney]

I set up a folder on my computer for each one of the kids and any pictures that are not just scribbling I scan to the folder and then I can throw away the orginial. Now if it is one with any award I would keep the orginial too.

Kids love it because they can go on the computer and see their work and I have it by school year so they can see how their work has changed.

 

[jennyl772003]

I rember what my sons Kindergarten teacher told us at parent orientation.

She said, "I will be sending a LOT of papers home. You will not have room for it all. Feel free to throw it out, but PLEASE wait until your child is in bed."

Basically, I throw all of my son's school papers out. Tests that he got a good grade on go on the fridge. Nice artwork either goes on the fridge, or DS closet or bedroom doors. I did keep his "Journals" from early childhood and K, but I would have a whole room full of papers floor to celing if I would have kept everything!

Bills and important papers go into a filing box.

 

[ReadingBelle]

We make a point of paying the bills as soon as we get them. That way we don't have to worry about where we put them. They usually come on about the same day each month, so it's just shifting the pay date a few weeks earlier.

 

[PaulaSue]

I am still trying to figure that out.

Jst posting to get more ideas.

 

[Barb D]

GET A SHREDDER! I only throw away stuff that has no identifying info on it. All medical, financial, etc gets shredded.

I throw school papers away after DD is asleep.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Target has a letter-sized hanging file box, about 14.00. It's great for organizing your bills, and misc. household papers. I bought two. One my dh takes with him to work since he takes care of most of the bills, and the other I use for misc. things like warranty papers, manuals, insurance paperwork, that type of stuff. As for the kids homework papers, just make a nice neat pile, and when she's not looking, toss what you don't need. Easy as that! And toss everything you don't need - flyers, advertisments, junk mail. Another thing I do in our office is I have stacking paper trays - one for each person in the family. Any stuff I don't know what to do with, I put in the appropriate person's bin, and it goes from there. It's a great way to keep my papers separated from my dh's, and my dd's school flyers and papers that we want to hang onto.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

I usually throw out DD5's "art work" when she;s in bed and this weekend was going to buy a storage box to keep the keepers. For school events, hot lunch, this charity drive and that charity drive, I got myself a school assignment note book, so when she comes home from school with the papers of the millions of checks that are due in the upcoming week, I write it in my assignment book for the day before its due Then put the corresponding documentation in my file- I check the book everynight, then write the necesary checks and throw out the documentation- I've been doing this for only 2 weeks now, but feel much more organized.