Receipts, Coupons, and Other Little Papers

Another category of papers we need to discuss is what to do with the little, bitty, insty, weeny tiny papers in our lives. OK, maybe they aren't microscopic but what do you do with some of these kinds of papers?

Little papers come into our lives almost as easily as little pieces of dust. Seriously. Am I right?

Things like:

 Receipts

 Coupons

 Gift Cards

 and Frequent Shopper Punch Cards 

Just when you think you might have a handle on how to deal with your big papers, you start realizing that those might not be anywhere close to your biggest problem. Little Papers come into our lives constantly and, if you don't have a system for them, can quickly take over!

Just like there are lots of ways to Set up a Filing System (see it here), there are also millions of different methods, plans and theories for how to handle and deal with the little papers in our lives. And similar general principles also apply to these as well...namely, you've got to be careful to not keep EVERY one of them. Be careful and really scrutinize what you keep. One way to look at it is every time you "keep" a paper instead of immediately dealing with it and throwing it away, you are taking on more stress in your life.

That being said, there are plenty of little papers that are keepers and need a HOME, at least temporarily, and that is where something like the small binder or folder comes in:

What I use is my old Franklin Planner that used to be my brain (now the Iphone has taken over). What I like about it is it is small and durable and holds a lot. It fits nicely in my purse and makes it easy to find things in different categories. I don't use much of the "lists" section in the Franklin Planner (although it is nice to have some key information I have put in there) but because I still have this small binder and it is in great shape, I see no reason to buy something different. If I were going to go look for something else that could do the job, I might look at something like one of these:

The key is that you have a specific place for your small papers and that your "system" is mobile, meaning you can easily take your important small papers with you. Why?  So you aren't caught, for example, without them when you make an unexpected stop and need a coupon or receipt.

Speaking of receipts, there are many ways to handle these particularly abundant small papers. I have found that even though I don't like to keep a lot of things, I do keep my receipts. It is just worth it financially to be able to return items for the amount I paid instead of for whatever the store wants to give me for it. I keep all of my receipts (yes, even grocery receipts...I have needed them every once in a while) for 9-12 months. Once the month is over, I take a minute to take the receipts out of my small black binder from that month and put them into a white envelope labeled with that month.

Then I put that envelope in my file cabinet for safe keeping. If I was really, really limited on space, I might do two things differently: 1) before I put away the receipts for the month out of my planner I would throw away the grocery receipts and anything else that are for items that aren't returnable and 2) I would only keep the envelopes for receipts for 3-6 months instead of a year.

Last, but not least, I want to remind you of the many small papers that come into your life that should/could immediately be dealt with and THROWN AWAY! Anytime you come home from errands (or your spouse or kids come home from work/school) and have a slip from the library reminding you when your books are due, or an appointment card from your doctor, dentist office or hair stylist reminding you of when your next appointment is or a schedule of upcoming activities or a post-it note with a special phone number or other information on it you HAVE to take the time to deal with it and throw it away right away. Otherwise you'll find yourself drowning, right?  Small papers are dealt best with your secretary

(remember this?)
so just take the time right then to write it down and then THROW IT AWAY!
Phew....that felt good, right?

Here's to a better, more organized small papers life for you and yours dear readers!
It is a wonderful way to live!

Setting up a Filing System

Setting up an organized and functional household filing system has been the subject of numerous books, magazine articles and blog posts. There are almost as many ways to do it as there are numbers of people in the world. To say there is one method that works best for everyone and their individual circumstances is completely false and quite silly actually.  So much of how and what you file depends on YOU and your family circumstances, needs and desires.

But that doesn't mean there aren't principles involved in setting up and using a filing system.
In an effort to keep it SIMPLE (which it really and truly should be), I've narrowed it down to just two basic principles:

First Principle of Filing:
Don't file just to file. In other words, don't keep papers just because they are there and you have a filing cabinet drawer you "could" put them in. If you haven't noticed already, one paper here and one paper there adds up very quickly. Every one of them that is kept should be questioned, quite harshly in fact, to see if it really is "keep worthy."

Second Principle of Filing
Once a paper is filed, it doesn't automatically stay forever. In fact, very few papers should EVER stay FOREVER. Birth certificates? ok, yes. Those can stay. Vehicle titles? yes.  Credit card statements? absolutely not. In fact, a good rule of thumb is to go through your filing cabinet at least once a year and CLEAN OUT. I find this works the best during Christmas break, when a new year is about to start. It's always amazing to see what papers I kept and how irrelevant a lot of them are even 6-12 months later.


As far as setting up a filing system, as I mentioned earlier there are a LOT of different ideas and "plans" out there. The only thing I can do here on this blog is show and tell you about what I have done and what works for me and my family.  So here you go:

I have found that there are basically 4 general categories of things that need to be filed and so I have one in each file drawer of a standard file cabinet.

1- Household Business (that is papers having to do with banking, mortgages, cars, insurance, etc.)
These are papers that, if your family was a business -- which, in reality, it kind of is-- what papers do you need to keep in order to keep the family finances organized and efficient and family activities and commitments taken care of? That is what you would keep in this file drawer.

Something else about this file drawer...remember my post about marriage and being married to a "keep everything person?" (If not, you can read about it here). Well, the same principles I talked about in that blog post obviously extend to papers as well. Can you see the first half of this file drawer? These are the papers that my wonderful husband regularly stacks on TOP of the file cabinet. I, of course, can't stand things PILED anywhere but especially not in prime spaces like that. So, we compromise. He stacks and I gently place them in no particular order in the front of this drawer. Then, when he is looking for something he has a great idea where it might be AND I don't have to look at it. It's called compromise and it's a truly wonderful thing. I highly recommend it. :)


2- Subject Filing (the Pinterest of your Filing system) These are the "ideas" papers that aren't household business related but you still want to keep to refer to. Because this drawer is the "Pinterest" of today, I might seem old-fashioned by having it still. But there are still articles in magazines or handouts I receive in a class that I like to keep. Do I clean this drawer out as well? Absolutely. Like most areas in my house, one thing that happens is periodically I have a little bit of extra time and I happen to be using something in this drawer and think "I probably don't really need that anymore," and then toss it.

3- Instruction Manuals and Warranties
I know some people toss these kinds of things and assume they can get online and look up any kind of information they need to. And that is true usually. You have to remember that, relatively speaking, I am OLD. And I remember when there was no such thing as the internet and I have been keeping instruction manuals and warranties since 1989. SO, since I have an available drawer and do occasionally like to have the information on hand, I keep and file them. Truthfully, if I had something else that needed to take over the third drawer in my file cabinet, these would probably be the first things to go.
AND, does this drawer need to be cleaned out sometimes too? Do gadgets, tools, toys and appliances come and go? YES. So their instruction manuals and warranty info do too!

4- Keepsakes
What do I mean by "keepsakes?" You can see here that I have a file for each one of my children and also one for myself and then my husband. It really is true that through the years certain papers come along that are special and important in that person's life and should be kept. They might be a little different for each person but I keep things in there like: report cards, special awards/certificates received, special letters they either received or a copy of one they wrote to someone, newsletters or newspapers where they are mentioned, talks or presentations they have given, etc etc. Hope that makes sense?

 Do I ever clean these out? Of course. Periodically things start looking full or as I go through a file to find a certain thing and see that something really doesn't seem as relevant or important anymore.

5- Household Records/Pictures
This set of really important papers and pictures I keep in this fireproof safe. There is a file for birth certificates and social security numbers. There is a file for vehicle titles. There is a file for school transcripts and diplomas. And, as you can see, there are closed files (three sides are closed) for pictures--one for snapshots and one for professional portraits.

As a side note, pictures are a REALLY hard thing to deal with and have a system for. So if you feel that way, you are not alone. Over 20 years ago I embraced the hobby of scrapbooking and truly love it. So a lot of my pictures are scrapbooked and journaled in binders (see the pictures below). However, I found early on that there are quite a few instances where non-scrapbooked pictures should be kept on hand for other activities (i.e. your child is "student of the week" in their 2nd grade class and needs to bring 20 pictures of himself to share.) So, I keep copies of my most favorite pictures of my kids in a separate file for such an occasion.

Lastly, when they turn 18, I make a "Childhood Poster" of my most favorite pictures (also shown below), because I love to see the pictures and can pretty much assume that they won't be needing constant access to them as much anymore once they leave the house (which has been accurate so far.)

Scrapbooking, in varying different styles and requiring different levels of time and amounts of supplies, is one way you could "journal" for your family and enjoy memories.

"God gave us memories so we can have roses in winter."

That's what scrapbooks do for me.
They give me roses in winter...and remind me of the many, many good times we have had.

And here are a few of the "Childhood Posters" I have made. We keep them hanging in a "gallery" down the stairs into our basement.

I hope some of these ideas will help you in your quest to get control of the many, many papers, pictures, and keepsakes that come into your life. 

The Papers to HOLD

Discovering the idea of the "To Hold" file might have been the single most important discovery I have made in my quest to really accomplish dejunking and organizing in my home.  As we have talked about before, papers are a BIG problem when it comes to keeping homes looking neat, clutter-free and organized. There are just so many of them. And one of the mistakes a lot of people make when it comes to papers, is not having any kind of system to deal with papers. Another mistake people make is they might have a "system" for where to put bills to pay or things that need to be filed but what about papers you need to keep on a short-term basis?  They don't require action at this time and you don't need to keep it long term--they just need to be held on to for a bit. 

That is where the beauty of the "To Hold" file comes in.

In my previous post I talked about how, at my house anyway, the top file is for supplies, next is the "to file" tray, 3rd down is the "Action" tray and the bottom is the "To Hold." 

Most everyone knows what "to file" and "action" would be for 

but you might be asking 

"What kind of papers are your talking about that just need to be held?" 

So here are just a few real-life examples from our home:

Recently I found an offer for carpet cleaning that was too good to pass up. The offer required pre-payment and then when the services were rendered, this paper was to be presented to the company that came to clean the carpets. I printed out the paper, called and made the appointment for a couple of weeks out and then needed a place to put the paper where I knew it would be safe and I would be able to find it again.

Ta-dah....the "to hold" file. This is a perfect example of a paper that needs the "to hold" file. The other option is for this paper to be just sitting out on your kitchen counter or desk, floating around and getting wet, dirty, lost or ripped. PLUS, it's in your way and making your spaces look cluttered! Right?  The "to hold" file is the best way I have found to keep papers out of your prime spaces. It gives you a place to keep things that need to be kept short term but don't require any action at this point.

Here's another example...

In our house, we trade the kids' chores or household jobs around every six months to help give variety and make it so everyone learns different skills and doesn't get too bored or feel too picked on (bathroom jobs are everyone's least favorite). When we trade jobs, we have found it to be imperative that we write them down so that everyone is clear and in agreement on what their responsibility is. Otherwise serious arguing ensues and we are going off of people's memories (never a good idea). This paper is kept in the "to hold" and can be referred to any time its necessary. Then back in the "to hold" file it goes until it gets replaced in 6 months with a new list.

And here is yet another example:

Medical bills are a pain in the neck and a lot of it is because we are dealing with three different entities--the medical provider, the insurance company and our flexible reimbursement company (they keep and disperse pre-taxed money that is set aside for medical expenses). Often, but not always, a bill is being disputed and all of the paperwork involved needs to be kept out until the dispute is resolved. Or the situation might be that when I use the flexible reimbursement card to pay a bill, chances are the flexible reimbursement company will want to see a copy of the bill to okay the expenditures. Both of these kinds of things belong in the "to hold" file. They are in limbo....not needing action but not ready to be filed away. Make sense?


Several years ago I was teaching a class on Household Papers and Organization and was talking about this concept of the "to hold" file. One of the students (Pam) in my class was a little older than me and had teenage and even college-aged children while mine were quite young. She shared that she kept a "to hold" file for each of her children so that when papers came in and couldn't be given to them right away (i.e for the college-kids) or if papers came in for any of her kids that needed to be kept for a while, she had a specific place for each person to put them in. I was really excited about this idea and started thinking about it. A couple of years later my children were old enough to start implementing this same concept in our home and now I am constantly praising Pam's name!

Here is our "to hold" file for each family member.  It sits right out in prime space on the kitchen counter. Why? Because it deserves to be there!

 It is used just about every day, usually multiple times a day!

You can see that each person in our family has a file...even my children that are grown and gone and married. Why? Because just like Pam told me would happen, there are occasional papers that come into my home for my older children. And to have a place for those to go until I see them next is really handy.

Just so you get the idea of what kinds of papers go in these "to hold" files, here are some examples from our files.

My youngest daughter is a huge fan of "The Cupcake Diaries" book series and as she started buying and reading each book she printed out a list of the books available and started checking off which ones she owned as she awaited buying the next one. This list will eventually not be needed, right? As in it doesn't need to go into long term files. And it doesn't require any action right now, right? It just needs to be "held" in a specific place where it can be found again when birthdays, Christmas, or other special reward opportunities come around for her. So this list is in the "Carly" file for when we need to refer to it.

Need some more examples?  Well, due to the personal nature of some of the info on the paper I can't include a picture of every one but here are a few:

* A copy of my child's class schedule that he receives at the beginning of the year goes into their individual file so that if I need to know which class they have during which class period, I can know.

* A print out of the ticket my son needs to take the ACT test in a few weeks. When you register to take this standardized college readiness test, they have you print out a paper that HAS to be taken with you on the day you take the test. You register several weeks to months in advance and where do you put the paper? In that child's "to hold" file? Exactly.


And just in case you need a few more examples, how about these:

The list of possible date ideas my then 16 year old son and his siblings and friends came up with to help with the always-present problem of "what should we do on our date this weekend?" 

A gift certificate my son received for his birthday to go sky diving that needs to be kept until he redeems it.

A copy of the receipt for the graduation tassel I bought my Class of 17 graduating senior. (Did you know that you have to order these in the fall and they aren't delivered until April of the next year?!  Well, it's true. And in the meantime, where are you supposed to keep it so you can find it in April?) 

Last but not least....

This new debit card and pin number came in the mail for my married daughter last week. I knew she was coming home for Thanksgiving and would be able to pick it up then. As I mentioned, even though some of my kids have flown the nest, it is nice to have a place to put their papers that need to be held onto for just a little while. Another example for another daughter was the recent Proof of Insurance card that came in the mail for her car. She will be here too, in a few days, and that card is safely tucked away in her file as we speak.

Remember your goal? To have EMPTY and CLUTTER-FREE spaces?!  My counters don't always look like this but, for me, this is the goal. And I have found that the best way to keep papers out of my prime spaces PLUS be easy to find when I need them is a "to hold" file.  It helps you give a home to those papers that are in limbo. Give it a try! It will change your life for the better!

Next post:  Creating a filing system that can really work

Papers that need ACTION

In our journey to win The Paper Chase so far,
we have talked about how to minimize the number of  papers that come in (aka The Mail Game)
and how we really should be doing all we can to keep as many papers as we can OUT!

We've also talked about how if a paper does make it into the house, we should always try to give the needed information to our Secretary and then immediately throw that paper away.

But there are some papers that really do need to find a place in our homes--usually NOT permanently but for some given length of time. These papers have three futures, in my home at least--and they are either
ACTION
TO FILE or
ON HOLD

In this post, I am going to be talking about the first on the list, papers that need "ACTION." (The "to file" and "to hold" topics both need some serious time and explanation so they will be addressed in the next few posts.)

When a paper comes in (as in you played the mail game and it made it into the house) and it wasn't something that could just be recorded on the BIG calendar and then thrown away, it usually requires some sort of ACTION. 

Some examples might be: a bill that needs to be paid, a wedding invitation that a card or gift needs to be sent for, a letter that needs answered, a notice that needs to be called about, or maybe a bank statement that needs to be reconciled. Speaking of bank statements though, we are enjoying life in the 21st century now and one of the great things about that is there are many pieces of mail that we used to get on paper via "snail mail" that are now easily accessible on line ... like bank or credit card statements, utility bills, phone bills, etc. As with just about anything, I strongly encourage you to do whatever it takes to keep unnecessary items from coming IN to your home...and that especially includes paper. So if you haven't already, contact your bank, lending institutions, and utility or phone companies (or ANY other place that sends you paper on a regular basis) and ask about receiving your statements, notices and bills on line. (Then, for heavens sake, when you do get them online, DON'T print them out!)

In your quest for management of your papers that do need to come in, something like this little "contraption" is a must.  Some call it a file tray. I call it a "Paperwork Processing System."

I keep mine in the closet in our den/office.
But in order to really show you what it is and how to use it, I'm going to pull it out and put in on the desk for a minute.

 A "Paperwork Processing System" can be set up in all sorts of ways. It does not need to be in a file tray format. It could look something like this:

or this

or this

or this....just to name a few

 The possibilities are endless really....just go to any office supply store and look around. 

The key though is it needs to be something that your papers can easily be placed into.

So, nothing with drawers or lids like these:

Why? you ask

Because anything like that could easily stop you from putting the paper where it goes and instead invites you to place the paper(s) ON TOP of the file holder instead, of course with the wonderful intent of putting it away "at some future time." (Which we all know how that turns out.)

So whatever it is, it needs to be something that is open and easily accessible and helps you put that paper away quickly.

When a paper comes in (it passed the MAIL GAME test) and the info it contains can't just be given to the SECRETARY (and then thrown away), then it comes here to your ACTION file. When I put something into my "Action" folder or slot, it means it needs to be specifically acted upon in some way.  We'll talk even more about examples in a later post  but just know that it's a general category....things that need ACTION.

And that ACTION will occur on Paperwork Processing Day....a key ingredient in your paper chase success story.

Paperwork Processing Day is always Wednesday for me. But it can be any day of the week for you. And don't let the "Day" in the title scare you away...it really is about 15 minutes at most if you are the least bit consistent with it. On your Paperwork Processing Day, you simply take a few minutes and ACT on anything in your ACTION folder. You pay the bill, send off the card, make the phone call to ask the question or solve the problem, etc. Once the action is completed, if the item needs to be kept long term, it goes into the "To File" folder or space.

Important side note:  When you look at my files, you might notice that they aren't labeled. Which one is "Action" and which one is "To File?" And what are the other two for? Good job! Those are good questions. I am really big on labeling everything (just read here if you don't believe me) and yet you caught me today with something not labeled. Let me explain...up until about 2 months ago I had a black file tray that was labeled but eventually died (it was 16 years old after all and got cracked a few too many times) and that file tray was labeled. In all of those years, my husband and I (who are really the only two who use this Paperwork Processing System with any regularity at all--OK, let's face it, EVER) have been trained through the years by the previous file tray that was labeled to know which was which and now just know beyond any doubt that the 2nd from the bottom is "Action" and the next one up or 2nd from the top is "To File."  Always the top file is "Supplies"--so you can see blank paper, blank file folders, blank envelopes and blank cards. And always the bottom is "To Hold" which, like I said earlier, will be the topic of our next discussion.  Hope that helps.

One last word about Paperwork Processing Day...
when you take the time every week to address your paperwork, you are much more likely to stay on top of things and not be caught late or without. I really believe in this step. It's a must and, like I said earlier, only takes a few minutes out of your day. Choose a specific day and keep it consistent each week. And after just a few weeks, your paperwork will be trained and you will be too!

Next Post:  The papers to HOLD
In future posts, we of course will delve into filing and filing systems--such important topics on our quest to conquer papers! So stay tuned!