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Even if you have a Felix Ungar (the neat freak of TV’s Odd Couple) personality, you may still find yourself overwhelmed by the steady, growing pile of paper clutter. One thing for sure, those darn receipts are one of the top culprits, along with mail and papers you want to keep handy for a week or so, which end up sitting on your desk in the inbox or to-do box for weeks, or even months!

You have a lot of reason for saving those receipts. You might intend to go through grocery slips to monitor your household costs, transferring the data to a excel spreadsheet. Pressed for time, you seem to defer the task until it’s bulging out of the slot in your desk organizer. Being a worthy cause, you save receipts in case you need to return an item. Long after that toaster has proved itself to be a competent appliance, the receipt still languishes, adding to your paper clutter collection. You’ve already did what that mail had you to do, but you’re in a hurry and simply put a red check mark in the upper corner to indicate completion and toss it back in the organizer. You say to yourself that you will file it later. How many times has that happened to you?

Here are some tips for slaying the paper clutter beast, once and for all! It’s simple, easy, and often takes no more time than it does to just allow it to pile up to begin with. When you control clutter of the paper variety, you’re going find that you feel better, simply because you don’t have to look at it and you no longer have those nagging thoughts of the unfinished task at the back of your mind.

First, get a hold on that organizer by gathering a few large paper clips and a few lightweight rubber bands. Take on one bin at a time. The job can be accomplished in segments of just a few minutes, if you don’t have large block of time like an afternoon to devote to clearing your paper clutter all in one shot. Sort all your categories by type, binding them together with your paper clips or rubber bands. There are bound to be items you can simply toss, like grocery lists or notes with outdated info, so keep your trash basket handy. If you only have fifteen minutes to spare today, do what you can before you have to fly out the door or make dinner.

Go through each bin in turn. When you’ve organized all of these papers, determine which should be filed. If a paper needs a new folder, make it now. Finish your filing tasks. You’ve doubtless cleared a substantial amount of your paper clutter via the trashcan. Now get on with the next thing.

If you track grocery expense, sort those receipts separately from receipts for other items, like appliances, office expense items, or furniture. The grocery receipts probably form the large part of this type of paper mess, so leave it for last. File or toss the remainder of your categories as appropriate. Don’t save receipts that no longer serve a purpose. For example, you don’t really need that year-old receipt from the Laundromat, do you?

The last step in clearing paper clutter from your desk and on nearby furniture, if things are really out of control then organize your grocery and household expense receipts by date. Clip a month’s worth together and start to wade through it. As you complete transferring each month’s worth to your spreadsheet, go and toss this pile.

Now that your desk is all cleaned up, keep those paper clips handy! Sort your papers on a daily basis and dispense with it all weekly. You’ll feel super organized and won’t ever have to make a frantic search for any important item ever again!

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