I hate papers too....all the ones you mentioned and more paper stuff! I go through as much as I can stand everyday....all the junk or stuff not important or needed any longer goes in a bag for the bonfire. Receipts for groceries/gas etc. get thrown out right way- other purchases (clothes-shoes) usually end up on the fridge for a week or so....until I decide if I am keeping them or returning. Paystubs and insurance papers go in a drawer. My big bad mess is the phone table with monthly bills....not that there is much physical paper anymore as we do a lot of online banking....but it still gets messy and out of control. I think the worst is all the papers/flyers that come home from school every week- I try to make a decision about those right away- keep them or pitch! My hubby dumps all his receipts (and other junk from pockets) on the dryer every day....drives me crazy! I try to keep up- some times it works...some times it out of control.

Sort into three stacks as it comes in: 1) important to deal with soon, 2) it can wait, 3) straight to the trash can. Stack 2 will grow over time. Plan certain time intervals to go through it, and when you do, play some good music. If you have some sort of filing system set up ahead of time (like Receipts, Manuals, Cards you want to keep, etc) it helps a lot.

I hate paper, too. So much so, I feel like a paper hoarder, I can't seem to let go of it.

We moved our paper shredder from upstairs to close to the door. When we bring in the mail, all junk mail is immediately trashed and as soon as bills are paid, they are shredded. No more day-long shredding activities from not doing it all year long!!!! :)

I love paper and used to be an archivist before I became a real estate agent. But paper gets the best of me and there are piles all over (I'm a piler though I'd like to be a filer and have multiple [ugly] file cabinets).

One big part of it is the newspapers and I've got big piles of unread newspapers. Years ago my brother used his key to my apartment and strung a blow-up of a Robotman cartoon across my living room. It featured Monty cracking open boxes of unread newspapers the movers had just carted into his new place. And yes - I have moved unread newspapers though lately I've become a bit more ruthless in anticipation of recycling pickup.

PS - I really like the office photo at the top of the page. Those on-the-wall files are a stylish and organized option for pilers who like to *see* their paper.

You need to sort as it comes in. I have an accordion folder sorted by month for receipts. I put important receipts (ie ones that I might want to keep for a warranty) in December and file everything else by month. Then, if I need a receipt for short term stuff, I can find it easily. At the end of the year, I can throw everything away and keep the important receipts.

You need to do the same for school stuff. What's important for this month (what they need for the upcoming field trip) versus what's important all year long (teacher's e-mail address). Start a new folder for the short term stuff every month and throw out the stuff in the folder from 2 months ago. If you sort well, you don't have to even look when you pitch it out.

If you have trouble sorting and consigning stuff to a short term folder, you'll still have paper piling up, but the quantity will be much lower. You need a filing system for the stuff you keep, but this is a way to reduce the amount of short-term papers adding to your pile of long-term papers and turning the documents you want to save into needles in your haystack of things like forgotten permission slips for last year's school play.

Our firm bought a few old filing cabinets from Craigslist and used leftover wallpaper to recover them, now we have a stylish storage solution for all of our neverending collections of paper :)

We have six two drawer filing cabinets and one three drawer lateral filing cabinet in our large double home office, and somehow we STILL have papers everywhere!
(Plus we have three four drawer filing cabinets in the basement--it's hopeless)

Wyndyacre...I love your solution...very smart. I also remember the room from your dilemma concerning matting/framing your bird prints. Very nice.

We made this from an Ana white template.

Well, if you looked at my filing system, you'd realize I don't have the answer. But I do have a suggestion. I have controlled the inflow of paper by aggressively removing our household from mailing lists. I call, email, write to every organization I can. It takes time but has definitely produced results. Some days I get only one first class letter. However, I'm still challenged by organizing the things that do come in. Sometimes time is my friend. If it hangs around long enough, it outdates and becomes easy to throw away.

Maybe someone has already suggested this, how about getting a scanner to scan to papers that you need to keep, either keep record of them in the scanner, or on a disk, then write what is on the disk on the disk its self. Go through old receipts, and throw them out. There is no time nor need for all the free papers and magazines we get, since we have the internet to find whatever we want. I look at them briefly, and a couple of days or so later I throw them out, if I had no interest or time to look at them up again. You can also scan childrens' art and keep it on a disk and refer to it anytime you want, (ooops ;0(!, which reminds me, I think I need to get the little scanner out, because I have some scanning of the little ones to do.)

I have the same problem. It seems like so many papers are too important to throw away, but I end up with piles all over my house. I'm appreciate all the feedback, as this issue is really not addressed in my decorating magazines, which are in piles around the house too.

My paper organisation isn't perfect, but it works for me, all i have is an A4 size shallow box on top of the freezer in the kitchen to put any papers that arrive in the house unsorted. Usually I go through the mail daily and look at what I want to and then throw the adverts out, bills and other papers go in the box. At the end of the month I go through the box and pay all the bills for the month and file what needs kept in our household ring binders, receipts go in a plastic wallet, and usually a few papers get kept in the box, it's like a no-mans-land for paper!! If it gets too full during the month I edit it a bit, and that's it. I agonised about what to do with it all after we moved and my habits were out of sync and looked all over houzz for paper sorters, wall mounted boards and any ideas, but in the end what works for me is a box. Simple.

I am a financial planner and registered investment advisor, so I have many trade journals. What I have found that helps is to go through the magazines and tearing out just the articles that I care about and then I recycle all of the rest. I bought that neat scan for the purpose of scanning in these articles so that later on I don't even have to keep them. I am constantly covered in paper. I bought an A-Z folder and a monthly folder and a daily folder these are accordion style, They seem to help tremendously. All of you had good ideas, but keep them coming because the paper tiger has not been vanquished!

Ah yes !
Papers and more papers,I too have that problem ,not easy to control them at all ,I pile them up on the desk until I decide to go trough them and run them trough the shredder once and for all to see a bit of space ,this is a lost battle they keep on coming and I bring them in from one door and out the other for recycling , I got the idea a couple years ago to purchase from the Dollar store clear envelopes with an elastic and store all the the paid bills in there and find this rather helpful if in case i shall need to find one . I was thinking of reorganizing the desk and purchase baskets that would hide all these papers from card stock to envelopes so that I wouldn't have to look at them and feel overcrowded in this very small room , My real problem is trowing out nice magazines like decorating and crafts magazines for example ,yet I know that I cannot hold on to them for much longer , Here is an idea that I like and will consider for my desk top ,the bins/baskets.

Would you consider a Receipt Scanning? - http://www.neat.com/solutions/neat-solutions/receipt-scanning/ I have a paper shredder and shred everything I don't need. I keep the receipts digitally (unless the store requests an original receipt). I keep a recycle centre in the kitchen and get rid of any junk mail immediately. I also scan all artwork and only save a few special original pieces. I have an artwall for the special ones and rotate them out after a year and put them in a plastic filing bin.

I also pay the (paper) bills as soon as they come in and then shred them. I pay all bills on-line so I can post date them to the proper date.

Pick a place for everything. I actually don't keep much. Basic kid work comes home very week. Most of it goes in the recycle bin. Kids choose a piece to display (they don't always have one they love so it all goes in the recycle bin). I have a basket in my closet with Manila envelopes for storing a few pieces every year. Some art gets framed and hung. Most receipts don't get saved once recorded. Bills get paid quickly and go into the shred basket, which is hidden in the desk area ( we shred when full) I still get two drawers that get messy and stuffed that I go through every few weeks. I don't save magazines, catalogs etc. It gets read and passed along to a friend or recycle bin. I also put junk mail in the recycle bin before I walk in the house.
I am naturally organized and really have trouble when there is clutter, however if I can't see it (ie the drawers) I do fine. I tend to stuff the junk.

To those of you who speak about throwing out/burning your excess paper, why do you not recycle?

I do not have a paper problem. I actually stand over the garbage can^^ ahem recycle can as I read my mail;) I am confessing that I throw out all those Christmas photo's people send, birthday cards upon reading... boom in the trash, lol. It kills me when people send $4 or more for a greeting card. I quit buying them after$2.99.

I speak for the Lorax who speaks for the trees: please, please RECYCLE! It's the same thing as throwing it in the trash; it's just a different bin!

Why do we have to RECYCLE?

Margo, Dollar store greeting cards $ 1.00, boom! done! Hubby buys me, and for others $4, 5, 6, cards, rolling my eyes. Lol.
Too bad we can't just draw cards on paper and send them to whomever.

Love your idea and couldn't come up with much better, but I will try to share what I do, or inspire to do, lol I have a couple

Clips, that add to the decor by placing them near candles, and important reminders will go there. I sort through papers and receipts as much as possible and throw away (or recycle) depending on what the "papers" are. I file what needs to be kept in a file cabinet. I try to do this at least once a week.

I recently bought a nice fabric hanging piece with criss-cross ribbon for putting cards and notes.

I have thought of a cork framed unit as well above the computer.

Some time back in an office catalog I saw colorful plastic racks that you can put on the wall. They look like magazine racks. Also reminded me of what the Doctor's offices put your chart in on the door before they come in to talk with you.

WIll have to see if I can find those for our new home.

Touching on the greeting card comments, I usually buy a small gift card like a Starbucks, car wash, ice cream, etc. and give that kind of card. At least it is usable;))
We get together for lunch on our birthdays (husband's family) they all bring cards and hand them to the birthday person. The birthday person reads them and then passes them around. All I sit there thinking is how stupid this is, and how much money is laying on the table in paper to be thrown away. I hand them my car wash gift card and I know they at least use it. For some reason I can't seem to get them to take the hint?? my guess is that I am not a favorite in law... to opinionated *shrug*

tw- why do we have to RECYCLE? Where do you live? Under a rock? A cave somewhere desolate, perhaps?

I use Martha Stewart pockets on the back of some cabinets above my desk. I have two different size pockets. A full size one to hold all current year medical papers, receipts, and EOBs. Another full size one has take out menus, and local coupon magazines that come in the mail. Two smaller ones are for bills to be paid and other upcoming info that's not done or over. The second is for outgoing mail. I prepare my greeting cards a month at a time and just note the date it should be mailed on where the stamp goes. I put them in order in the outgoing mail file and add any bills as I pay them.

Inside the cabinets I also have 2 bins for papers. The bottom bin is for stuff that needs to be filed, and the top bin has folders to organize papers I need on hand, close by. We have a lateral file cabinet in the basement for papers that I need to keep but don't access often. That's where the stuff from the bottom bin goes.

It's important to me that the papers I need be easily accessible but also hidden.

I use my smartphone to scan my important papers,receipts, documents, etc.
Than they're saved to the cloud. I use iCloud, and Google Drive as a back up.
That solves all the unnecessary paper clutter.

Just a couple of organizational habits I've developed over time:

Dedicate a drawer or basket for office supplies:

1. Stapler, paper clips,
2. Scissors, tape,
3. Envelopes & stamps,
4. Pencil, pen, yellow highlighter,
5. Check register and box(es) of new checks.

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Daily for A Year:

1. I agree with others, either shred 'junk mail' and/or recycle between your mailbox and your front door. Don't even bring it into your home.
2. Unless you need a sales receipt for the possibility of returning an item, shred it.
3. For the sales receipts that I think I might need: (a.) at the top of the paper, I write the store name, date and summary of items purchased; (b.) I carry an envelope in my purse, and while at the cash register, I place the receipt in the envelope; and (c.) I occasionally sort these when I'm watching T.V.; and (d.) Either 'file' or 'shred'.
4. Unless you need an invoice (hospital or doctor charges, mortgage payments, or 'home business') for taxes, pay month #1 (i.e. Sept 2015). When month #2 (i.e Oct 2015) arrives, and you see that your prior month's payment has been credited, shred month #1 (Sept).
5. Have one file drawer, basket, plastic container or accordion file for the current year. Label a separate file or accordion section for:

• Auto (purchase/lease agreement; payments; repairs; receipts - new tires),
• Banking (statements), attached receipts, deposit slips, ATM deposits or withdrawals,
• Credit Card monthly invoice & the receipts attached (try to get yourself down to one major credit card),
• Insurance (home/car/life),
• Investments,
• Legal (divorce decree, child support, will, etc.),
• Medical Insurance (Policy book and extra health cards),
• Medical Invoices & Payments (keep separate from the policy book and your personal medical history),
• Medical History,
• Miscellaneous (memberships, subscriptions, coupons, etc.),
• Mortgage, Escrow & Real Estate,
• Receipts,
• Retirement Funds statements (IRA, Roth, 403-B, 401-K),
• Taxes - Current Year (1099s, W-2, W-4),
• Utilities (one month for each: water/sewer, electric, gas, cable, telephone, cell),
• Work or School.

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At tax time -- annually:

• Everything you need to complete your annual taxes, should be in those file folders in your file container.
• Employers, banks, etc., are required to deliver your info by January 31 of each year.
• On February 1 you can either prepare your taxes, or take your file to your tax preparer.
• When your annual income taxes are completed, put into a separate file folder: the Fed & State returns and all forms, proof of payment (if you 'owed'), your annual check register, 12 bank statements, 12 credit card statements, medical receipts, annual calendar, mileage log if you are either reimbursed or itemize your work driving miles. Label with year: "TAXES 20**.
• Put this file in your long term / second file drawer or plastic container. Keep for 7-years, then shred year #8.
• Organize your annual file box/drawer (see above) and shred anything you don't need to carry into the next year.

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The Dreaded "I'll Read It Later Pile":

• With the Internet, I think there are very few things that you cannot access online. For example, I've cancelled ALL my magazine subscriptions, and google anything that I want to read.
• For journals or letters you want to read, put them in a container beside the chair or bed where you do your reading. As soon as you receive this item, write on the first page at the top, your "drop dead date". (If you haven't read it by this date, recycle. You're not going to read it ;-))

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Hope this helps. I know it works. I've had clients whose home office's (or guest room's) door literally doesn't open because of the stack of papers, grocery bags of junk mail, and boxes of files they've stashed and don't need to keep.

Spend 10 minutes a day; 1 hour a week; and 2 hours at tax time, and your personal home office will fit in one 'annual drawer' and one '7-year storage box / storage'.

I sort the mail in front of the trash can as soon as I get in the door. This reduces a good deal of the paper right away. Go to online statements with any company that offers them.

We get and pay bills electronically, and that cuts way down on paper coming in. We also opt out of catalogs, using a general website, or the companies website. Receipts for purchases are kept until the return by date lapses.

I use this software called Ivy, http://www.weareivy.com for my paperwork. It made my life a lot easier.

I also use Ivy - they have great templates and I now have a lot more space on my desk.

@Moon Grass Ltd. Yes, the space on the desk is definitely a nice side effect. What I also really like in having my paperwork digital is, that I do not need to print everything out! It's so eco-friendly!
What you say about the e-signing? I Really like that tool!

I love books, I love the smell of paper and I actually really enjoyed writing in school, but I am basically DROWNING in paperwork right now.

I'm not an organized person, never have been but now I feel like it even has an impact on my work...
I'll take a look at Ivy then ! Would you say that you "gained time" using this tool?

Carrie Brown