This week’s task for Monday in the Weekly Household Planner:
Sort Mail
Okay, come clean….how many of you tend to let the pile of mail get higher and higher before you tackle it? This can be a huge stress for you and for your family. If you tend to stack today’s mail on yesterday’s pile, then tomorrow’s mail will likely go on top of that and so on. Before you know it you have another larger project that will take more time to accomplish and will be easier to procrastinate doing.
So, if you have not already changed your habit of allowing the mail to clutter up an area in your home, today is the day to tackle the mail! When you bring the mail in today put everything in it’s place.
Put junk mail in the recycle/trash
Catalogs, magazines and sales flyers need a spot. If you have a ‘to go’ bag (a bag you take with you when you know you will have idle time to browse these items – ex. practices, waiting in carpool, appointments) put them there so you won’t be distracted and begin browsing now, when you are needed elsewhere!
Put bills in an area/file where they will be found when the time comes to sit down and pay them
And if you are lucky to get REAL mail, like a card or letter – by all means – sit down right now and read it! This hardly ever happens anymore, so when it does take the time to truly appreciate the kindness.
Allowing your mail to pile up will be something that ends up hanging over your head. Don’t allow the negative energy to drain you, each day sort through the mail and put everything in it’s place.
Do you go through your mail daily?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Susan! Subscribed to your site about a month ago and downloaded the daily tasks chart. Love the check list format! Have to mark it DONE! I print it weekly and put in in a cute clipboard that rests in an easy to access spot in my kitchen.. Thanks for “thinking” though my day for me!
Joyfully
Lisa
I am so glad you have found a helpful resource! You are not alone, so many moms have shared how this has helped them regain control!
This definitely happens in our home – the clutter! We tried a basket system in our kitchen table because our counterspace is too small to allow for a mailcenter, etc. Problem with the baskets is my husband would take the one for bills with him, rather than just picking up the bills and receipts. The baskets rarely, if ever, return to the table. So a few weeks ago, I was picking up some items for work, at Staples, and perused their new organization line by Martha Stewart. She has file folder/pockets that stick to the wall and will come off without ruining your walls. I bought a few in varying sizes – for bills, important school/work notices, receipts, and mail to sift through. Stuck them to the wall and hopefully they will help keep the clutter of the table. And even if we pile for a couple of days we now have a place for it to go that will stay put.
Not as well as I should….
I hate mail clutter, we used to be really bad and would just put everything into one big basket which became a headache for finding anything.
We have recently moved houses and have a chance to start again! Now our mantra is that we touch a piece of mail only once. Whoever opens the mail has to do something with it, they can’t just put it on the hallway table. The options are to either bin it, file it or act on it.
I’ve tried to reduce the amount of mail we get too – where I can, I get bills electronically. It saves more work because come tax time all our bills are filed and easy to retrieve.