Systems for Managing Your Mail

A few simple methods will keep bills, catalogs, and other mail from piling up.

Set Up a Workspace 

• Designate something as an in-box. It can be a basket, a storage box, a drawer―anything big enough to hold a week's worth of mail and no more. Locate it in a place that's convenient and not so out of the way that it's out of sight and mind.
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• Post a large trash can or recycling bin near the in-box to hold all the junk mail that you'll be purging. "Treat your wastebaskets like babies: Keep them in close reach at all times and feed and change them often," suggests Harriet Schechter, owner of Miracle Worker Organizing Service and the author of Let Go of Clutter. Helpful hint: Pitch junk mail the second you reach your in-box each day. Your ruthlessness will be rewarded with a significantly smaller pile of mail to contend with when you sit down to sift through it.
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• Consider buying a paper shredder. It will let you dispose of documents containing personal information and account numbers without having to worry about identity theft.
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• Decide on a regular time to sort through your in-box and distribute its contents to the organizational systems you create. Allot a few minutes each day or an hour once a week, whatever works for you: What's important is that you make it a habit.