Learn how to use the KonMari method of organizing papers so you can finally tame the paper monster in your home!
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New to this series? I’m decluttering my home once and for all using the KonMari method from The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up! Today, we’re moving on from books and tackling the third category – papers!
I can’t believe another month has come and gone and that we’re already on our third category of tidying! If you’ve been following along and tidying with me, I hope you are as excited as I am about the results you are seeing in your home.
Even though I read The Life-Changing of Magic of Tidying Up over 2 years ago, I didn’t tackle this category until this time last year. Yeah, I guess you could say it was this category that did me in the first time around. If you are anything like me, then this category can be a doozy! But, don’t give up – you can TOTALLY do this!!
The good news is that once I got this category knocked out last year, I haven’t rebounded one bit! And I can honestly say that we have a system in place for paper that seems to be working really well.
Going through this KonMari process again from start to finish this year, I didn’t have anything to tidy in this category. I may tweak a bit to help with the kid’s papers, but I’ve been really pleased with the results.
When I started this process last year, our papers were scattered in a few different places. The majority lived in 3 different file cabinets in our office, but bills and other papers also lived in the kitchen. As Marie suggests, I started the tidying process by gathering everything in our office – more specifically on the office floor! 😊
To be candid, I struggled with overwhelm at first even though I read this section of Marie’s book numerous times. Rather than following a specific strategy for papers (papers don’t “spark joy” – ha!), I dove right in and tried to discard as much as possible, one file folder at a time.
Most of the papers were files I hadn’t looked at in years, so I discarded a LOT (things like instruction manuals for items we no longer owned) very quickly off the bat. After that initial purge, I organized the remaining stacks into categories – monthly bills, medical records, financial statements, tax forms, etc. – so I could dig deeper.
This next phase took me a little time. Marie Kondo says to assume you will discard papers, since they don’t spark joy for anyone, but acknowledges you will have to keep some of them. I didn’t want to regret throwing things away in haste, so I took my time to evaluating what we need to keep and how long it might need to be kept.
Do I need to keep bills once they have been paid? If so, for how long?
Do I need financial statements? Or can these be found online?
Do I need to keep instruction manuals or can this be found online?
What medical records should I actually keep?
Can I find this information online if I ever needed to refer to it at a later date?
I ended up going through the papers a couple of different times until I finally felt comfortable. Marie suggests organizing papers and storing papers based on 3 categories: what needs attention, what should be saved (contractual documents), and what should be saved (others). She doesn’t recommend subdividing them further.
I knew this wasn’t going to work for my brain, so I decided to utilize the file drawer in my office desk to store the papers I kept. I also purchased trays to use as an inbox and a holding space. My system has been working out great for almost a year now.
Now that I’ve gone through the paper category, here are some tips and tricks that might help you to get started.
Tips & Tricks from the KonMari method of organizing papers
1. Gather ALL papers in one place
I already touched on this before, but please don’t skip this part of the process! I know it can be very overwhelming, but I believe this is part of why the KonMari method actually works. This forces you to deal with all the paper at one time, once and for all.
Put any sentimental papers in a separate spot that you will tackle later! That’s the last category and hopefully we’ll all be experts by that time!
2. Divide paper into subcategories
Next, divide papers into subcategories. This allows you to think through each category at a time, which is a lot less intimidating.
3. Evaluate whether a paper must be kept – most don’t! – and for how long
I took my time doing this because I didn’t want to throw away important papers on accident because I was hasty. I did a little bit of research regarding documents like tax forms and then thought realistically about what we should keep since so much can be accessed online.
One example is our medical insurance EOB documents. Once I realized that our EOB’s can all be found online, I decided to discard all of them. Now, as they come in, I check to make sure the electronic document is online and then I shred it immediately.
Marie Kondo suggests (and I agree) to keep only:
- Currently in use/need attention
- Needed for a limited amount of time
- Needed indefinitely
4. Determine a storage solution
Take time to think through what storage system will work for you. That being said, don’t spend all your time figuring out the perfect solution. You can always tweak it later.
Marie recommends storing the remaining papers in a single plastic folder, without any further categorizing. I knew this was not going to work for me and our family.
After purging a LOT, I consolidated to one file drawer in our office desk for the majority of our files. Our instruction manuals and home warranty documents are stored in plastic sheets in binders on our bookshelf. I hope to eliminate more of those manuals down the road when my “other half” is ready. 😊
I’m using two wooden stackable trays as my inbox. They sit on the top of my desk in the office and this is where all papers go to that require further action.
Recipes are kept in a makeshift recipe binder that I keep with my cookbooks in the kitchen. At some point soon, I plan to organize that notebook but it’s working okay for now.
I created a kids school box to store special school papers for the children. I won’t bore you with all the details of my system in this post, but I do plan to share more in later posts!
5. Store papers based on frequency of use
When placing the files back in my drawer, I put the frequently used items towards the front and the infrequently used items towards the back. My files are organized like this:
- Bills (keep 1 year)
- Insurance documents (keep 1 year as policies update)
- Tax returns (8 years worth)
- Financial documents (keep 1 month)
- Medical documents (forever)
- Important documents (birth certs, marriage cert, car titles) (forever)
- Personal papers (forever)
6. Develop a system for upkeep
Once you’ve discarded and stored the papers you are keeping, it’s crucial to develop habits for upkeep. You don’t want to relapse only because you didn’t have a plan for maintenance.
We try our best to deal with mail or papers right as they come in. I quickly recycle or shred most of the mail that comes in (so much junk mail!). I do the same with the children’s backpacks, discarding the vast majority of their work.
After my quick purge right away, I place the rest of the papers in my inbox to be dealt with at a later time. I can take action on them at any time during the week, but I designate Wednesday as my “office” day. I go through my inbox at least every Wednesday.
Once I’ve taken action on the item, I discard it or file It away in the appropriate place. This “system” has been working really well so far, even though sometimes my inbox gets too full for my liking. 😉
Conclusions
This process has been really eye-opening for me. Being forced to make decisions about what papers I need to keep has made me think through the purpose behind every piece of paper in our home.
I’m not ready to go paperless yet (although this works for some people!), but I simply do not need to keep as many papers as I originally thought.
Most instruction manuals can be found online. Many of our medical insurance documents are kept online as well. Bank statements are useful when reconciling accounts, but aren’t needed after that (and they can be pulled from the internet if they are ever needed down the road). The list goes on! Once a paper has served its purpose, I feel a newfound freedom to discard it immediately.
This might make some mothers cringe, but I discard the vast majority of papers that come out of my kids backpacks. I admire their daily work, review any mistakes that might need attention, and then recycle the rest. I keep important forms and special pieces of work, but almost all of it ends up being discarded.
Now that I’ve practiced this process of letting go of papers, I’m much more thoughtful about what we need to keep. By forcing myself to let go of my items, it’s becoming easier to keep doing it!
Let’s Get Started
I hope you’ll stick with me and give this a try because I think you’ll find the results to be worth all the effort. To help you along in the process, I’ve created a short checklist to help you use the KonMari method to organize papers.
I’m giving you an entire month to work through this process with your papers, which should give you enough time to get it done and not completely disrupt your entire home.
Check back next month for the next category we’ll tackle – kimono! We’ll specifically be addressing kitchen & bath, so get excited!!
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Here are all of the posts in the KonMari Method series:
The KonMari Method: Organizing Clothes
The KonMari Method: Organizing Books
The KonMari Method: Organizing Papers (you’re here!)
The KonMari Method: Organizing Komono in Living Spaces
The KonMari Method: Organizing Bathroom Komono
