Organizing Mail
Do you ignore the the daily acts of collecting, sorting, and processing the mail? Dose it go away? No! It just keeps piling up. I find that a routine helps me keep the mail organized and prevents piles from forming.
My mail routine:
- Sort into my mail vs. my husband’s mail (he gets to open and process is own mail)
- Open it as soon as I bring it in the house, if not then, by the end of the day
- Put open pieces in their predetermined homes
- Bills go in bill pay box by computer
- Coupons go in box on top of fridge
- Flyers, advertisements, and solicitations get briefly viewed then recycled
- Junk mail gets immediately recycled
- Statements or the like, get filed right away
- Mail to read gets put in my “to read” location
- Mail that requires action goes into my action folder
Organizing guidelines help me stay on top of the mounting mail, as well.
Here are my guidelines:
- My timeframe to open the mail is right away or by the end of the day
- I have predetermined homes for pieces of mail to land
- I immediately recycle as much as I can
- I’m not the mail opener for the whole household
- I consciously make an effort to reduce the amount of mail I receive
Mail is delivered 6 days a week, whether we view it or not. So, stop ignoring it, and establish organizing routines and guidelines in order to stay on top of it.
© March 2014 Janine Cavanaugh, CPO® All rights reserved
Proud member of NAPO
I like to organize my email in many of the same ways you organize your paper mail. Read each email once and act on it immediately if possible. File in appropriately labeled mailboxes if it is just information you may need later. Read and delete if it is nothing you will need to read again. If it is something that requires action, but not by you, forward immediately to the right person. The goal is to have in your inbox, only those emails that you personally need to act upon, but cannot do immediately.
Absolutely. I agree with you completely.