Systems for Organizing Your Mail

Organize Magazines and Catalogs

• Separate these bulky items from your other mail before you even take off your coat. Put them in a designated basket or magazine tote so you can transport them easily from room to room for perusing, then to the recycling bin when you're done. Pick a container that's big enough to hold the month's required reading but small enough to force you to purge the old issues to make room for the new.
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• If you find you're often loath to part with certain recipes or months-old magazine articles, tear out the pages and store them in an expandable file, divided into sections based on the kinds of things you save. Do the same with catalog pages that feature perfect gifts or your own wish-list items (just be sure to get the 800 number or website address so you can place an order later on―and you'll probably also need the cover page with your address, for those pesky code numbers the operators always ask for).