The Paper Solution
$18.00
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Description
From the “Marie Kondo of paper” comes a simple and accessible guide to paper management.
Americans are drowning in paper. We keep stacks of it on the kitchen counter, stash it in drawers, and store file cabinets full of documents that we never even look at. Studies show that fully 85 percent of the paper in our lives can be tossed–but which 85 percent? And how do we organize and manage the 15 percent that remains?
With The Paper Solution, founder of Organize365 Lisa Woodruff delivers a proven, step-by-step guide for what to shred, what to save, and how to sort what’s left behind. With her method, you’ll learn:
• What documents you must absolutely hold on to
• Which papers you can dispose of today
• How to ditch your bulky filing cabinets and make your vital documents accessible and portable
And at the heart of it all is the Sunday Basket: a box that sits on your counter and corrals those stray bills, forms, coupons, and scraps into an easy-to-use paper-management system. The Sunday Basket will become your new weekly habit–one that leads to less paper, less stress, and more time to spend on the things (and people) that matter most.”If you like the idea of binders to stay organized, the new book The Paper Solution has a lot of good information about organizing paperwork.” —The New York Times
“If the phrase “paper-organizing retreat” makes you breathe a little heavier, [The Paper Solution is] the book for you.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Yes, even in the digital age, paper remains the bane of most people’s existence. Whether sorting through your own, or or someone else’s backlog, Lisa Woodruff’s book will cheerfully guide you in how to confidently eliminate 85% of the paper in your life, while retaining the 15% you really need! What a gift!” —Julie Morgenstern, New York Times bestselling author of Organizing from the Inside Out and Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life
“Systems are the engine to create efficiency in the home. The Paper Solution gives practical tips and tools that allows us all to free up our precious time to focus on what truly matters.” –Eve Rodsky, author of Fair Play
“Drowning in paper? With Lisa’s ingenious methods, you can take control, get more organized, and free up incredible amounts of time. You’ll never lose a day to hunting down a permission slip again.” —Laura Vanderkam, author of Off the Clock and 168 Hours
“Professional Organizer Lisa Woodruff brings a fresh and realistic approach to paper. I loved that she didn’t tell me to get rid of everything. Lisa shares a method for handling paper in a way that eliminates the unnecessary and keeps what’s needed right where you’ll easily find it. A must-read for anyone that has ever struggled with too much paper and wondered if they are keeping and shredding the right documents. Read this and you’ll know what to do with everything that comes your way.” —Becky Rapinchuk, author of Clean Mama’s Guide to a Healthy Home and Simply Clean
“Everyone can benefit from organizational advice in The Paper Solution.” –The Idaho Press
“The Paper Solution walks you step-by-step to conquering the paper dilemma in your home…Her tips are practical and doable, leaving readers feeling empowered!” —Maria Dismondy, author, speaker, and publisher of Cardinal Rule Press
“Lisa’s enthusiasm for productivity and organization shines through every chapter of this book. Her easy-to-follow implementation strategy makes quick work of overwhelming paper piles, and the comprehensive detail within each chapter assures all paper clutter questions have an answer. Lisa is the expert on all things “paper clutter” and The Paper Solution is proof! This go-to resource provides the information, structure, tools, and motivation to properly manage your paper clutter and stop it from taking over your home and life.” —Andrea Dekker, professional organizer and blogger at AndreaDekker.com
“Even in our digital age, paper remains one of the biggest sources of clutter both at home and in the workplace…In The Paper Solution, Lisa Woodruff has presented a practical, actionable approach to solving that problem. I found myself tabbing pages and highlighting sections that spell out easy-to-follow steps for clearing our homes and workspaces of paper clutter. I can’t wait to share this encouraging and truly helpful book with my friends, colleagues, and listeners.” —Laura McClellan, lawyer, productivity coach, and host of The Productive Woman podcast
“It’s a miracle! A system of managing papers (and my life) that works in tandem with my ADHD brain (and those of my clients). The Sunday Basket concept is so simple, yet so brilliant. The book takes you through the entire system, step-by-step. Great reference and great program. Highly recommended!” —Linda Roggli, award-winning author and founder of the ADDiva NetworkLisa Woodruff started Organize365 at her kitchen table in 2012, and today it has become the go-to brand for paper organization, offering podcasts, organizational products, professional certifications, and Sunday Basket workshops that attract people from around the U.S. seeking tools to tame the out-of-control paper in their lives. She lives in West Chester, Ohio, with her family.
Chapter 1
The Paper Tsunami
Why Paper Is So Important-and How to Keep Much, Much Less of It
A paper tsunami is coming, and we need to be ready. Some of us have already experienced it, and many more will soon face the deluge. Our houses are full of paper, our parents’ houses are full of paper, and some of us have grandparents’ houses full of paper, too. That’s generations of clutter waiting to crash down on our unsuspecting heads!
But there’s a better way. You can ditch the filing cabinets stuffed full of documents (that you may or may not ever need to look at again). You can find the papers you do need easily, effortlessly, and without stress or drama. You can create a system for organizing your paper that actually works for you, not against you.
I know, because I was once where you are sitting right now-staring down a paper tsunami, filled with dread and uncertainty-and I’ve come out the other side.
Why I Care So Much About Paper
My name is Lisa Woodruff. Yes, I am one of those crazy-productive, ultra-organized people you love to hate. Yep, I was born that way. My closets were always neatly organized, and I live for a finished to-do list. (Sorry.) But even I found myself completely flummoxed and overwhelmed when it came to dealing with one particular type of clutter: paper.
My own personal paper tsunami came at one of the most chaotic times in my life. In the spring of 2009, my father, after being ill for nine months, was sent home with hospice care. He died just a few short days later.
As I made the final four-hour drive home, I kept my mind busy making lists upon lists. My sister and I would need to make funeral arrangements. The house needed to be cleaned, its contents dispersed and sold-sooner rather than later was best, since neither of us had the means to hold on to it. The to-dos involved with settling an estate were overwhelming. A quick Google search helped with all but one major question: what to do with all the paper.
My father’s house contained a lifetime of paper, and each file would need to be sorted to settle the estate. Paper is tedious. The precious few days I had at my father’s house were not enough to figure out what to do with each piece of paper. So I swept it all up and brought it home. Boxes and boxes of paper.
With my sister finishing the physical distribution and sale of the family home, I set to work settling the estate paperwork. I never felt as overwhelmed as when I went through my father’s files. Part of me felt like I was invading his privacy, worried I would find something he didn’t want me to see. Likewise, it was hard for me to simply trash some of the paperwork that was precious to him but meaningless to me, like his car catalog collections.
Oh, those car catalogs! Beautiful cars were Dad’s passion, and he kept meticulous files full of bulky paperwork all about them. Cars he’d owned decades ago. Cars he wanted to own one day. That collection was his pride and joy, even though it had no monetary value or purpose.
It was also the bane of my existence.
So what happened to the bulk of Dad’s papers? They sat there, in my home. Taking up physical space, yes, but more important, taking up precious mental and emotional real estate. My home was filled with my father’s files and boxes of memories that I didn’t know how to process or enjoy. Every day was filled with anxiety. Something had to give.
On New Year’s Day 2012 (that’s almost three years after Dad’s papers landed in my house, for those of you keeping score), I made a vow to finally get all that paper in order. That included dealing with my own paper as well as my father’s. Because I found very few books or resources that specifically addressed how to organize paper, I soon realized I was on my own. I took a deep breath, dug in, and for the next three months-through trial and a lot of error-I dealt with the paper, sheet by sheet. (Even those out-of-date car catalogs, which I recycled in the end.) Eventually, my home became close to being manageable again.
I’d turned my paper problem into the Paper Solution.
I started blogging about my experience, with the goal of sharing advice with others facing the same sort of paper crisis. And people really responded! Some of them were, like me, cleaning out a family house or a loved one’s estate. Others were simply overwhelmed by the school forms, monthly bills, medical forms, and other detritus of everyday life. My blog, Organize 365, spawned a newsletter that attracted tens of thousands of devoted fans, then a hit podcast, and, eventually, a thriving business.
Here’s what I realized: although people interested in decluttering can find plenty of videos, books, and other resources about how to get rid of extra clothes, housewares, and “junk,” no one was talking specifically about how to organize paper. And yet paper is one of the most common-and anxiety-producing-kinds of clutter that most of us have to deal with. Why is that?
What Is It About Paper?
Paper is the bane of most people’s existence-even the most organized person will break out in a cold sweat at the thought of sorting a mountain of paperwork. So why is it so hard for even otherwise tidy people to get their heads around their paperwork?
For starters, it’s the sheer volume of paper we’re all faced with on a daily basis. When personal computers were first developed, we were promised they would lead to a society with less paper; but forty-plus years later, we are still not there. Although the “paperless office” was first proposed in a Businessweek article way back in 1975, today the average office worker is still estimated to come in contact with about ten thousand pieces of paper every year.
And we’re not just overwhelmed with paper at work. Americans face a daily deluge of paper at home, too-it comes in the mail, kids bring it home from school, our activities send out newsletters and calendars-and we often get behind in its management. The average American household processes a paper stack as high as a two-story house every year!
And the paper keeps coming! The United States Postal Service delivers over 484 million (million!) pieces of mail each day. The majority of the 4 million tons of junk mail that Americans receive annually ends up in landfills. This does not even begin to include the heavy amount of paper that we actually want or need to keep.
Paper is not pretty. It is not fun. It is practical, but it can also be tedious and nerve-racking. Paper piles are easily hidden-at first. For a long time, I debated with myself about how long I should save different papers, where to file papers I wanted to be able to retrieve, and why I couldn’t find a particular paper. It was a waste of time-and it was stressful. And that stress builds up over time-until those piles just can’t be ignored.
Although we desperately long for the paperless future, we are not there. No matter how electronic our lives become, we will always be dealing with paper. This growing volume of paper doesn’t feel like a resource or a blessing-it feels like a burden.
So what do we do about it?
It is time to take control of paper instead of being controlled by it. We have to make decisions about these papers, find places to store them, complete some of them, and retrieve them when we need them. If we do not control our paper, it controls us.
So I Should Buy a Filing Cabinet, Right?
No! Dealing with your paper tsunami does not mean buying a filing cabinet. The average filing cabinet holds eighteen thousand sheets of paper, and “filing” your papers is often a way to avoid dealing with them head-on. Before you can buy an organizational product, you need to first create an effective paper management system.
Even though some of this paper is actually useful, it’s no good to any of us if we can’t separate the “good” paper from the “bad” paper. It’s estimated that the average American will lose an average of 2.5 days per year looking for things. I’ve found that even a well-organized filing cabinet (filled with perfectly filed papers you don’t need) leads to more lost papers-and more stress-than it’s worth.
Even worse, many Americans spend an average of $90 each month on a storage unit outside the home. Listen: storage units are great for short-term storage or specific life events, but if we are paying to store stuff (including paper) month after month, only to never look at it again, we are wasting our money, time, and energy. When I have assisted clients in organizing their paper, generally 85 percent could be recycled or shredded. However, it takes time and energy to sort the active and reference papers from the piles that accumulate all over the house. How do you know which 85 percent to get rid of and which 15 percent to keep?
As a professional paper organizer, I find that the number one daily organizational challenge for people is getting (and keeping) a handle on their paper. A glance at a typical kitchen counter reveals piles of coupons, bills, school notes, directories, calendars, photos, mail, catalogs, and more. Almost every person I have heard from in my business believes that if you file it, you will forget it. This is paralyzing.
But I’m here to tell you: it doesn’t have to be like this.
Paper organization is a skill. And it can be taught.
Why I Still Love Paper
So after reading this book, you probably think that I’m an avowed anti-paper crusader, determined to browbeat you into discarding all your precious paper and bring you kicking and screaming into an all-digital world. But you’d be wrong! I actually adore paper.
What?! Why?
Paper is easy. It’s tangible. It’s portable. As a professional organizer, I can much more easily teach you how to organize physical paper versus virtual files. And the truth is, paper is not going anywhere. So we have to figure out how to deal with it effectively.
But before you can organize the paper you need, you must first understand why paper is taking over our lives. That’s what I’ll explore in Part I of this book: how we got here, and why your current paper solutions probably aren’t working.
Then, you need to get rid of the 85 percent of your household paper you don’t actually need. That’s where Part II of this book comes in: how to do the Big Purge and get rid of a big chunk of the paper that’s weighing you down. You’ll also learn the tenets of the Sunday Basket method, which I’ve used to streamline the weekly paperwork needs of thousands of clients.
So once you can actually see the paper you need, how do you manage it more effectively? That’s where Part III of this book comes into play. I’ll teach you about the binder method I’ve developed after working with thousands of people: keeping the bulk of my necessary physical paper organized in a few key binders that allow me to direct my family, even when I am not home, to retrieve the paper in question in my absence.
And for those few but important papers that you have to hang on to for the long haul-birth certificates, Social Security cards, passports, insurance paperwork, and the like-I’ll teach you an archival method in Part IV. I’ll also show you how to maintain these systems (even when life gets messy) and when, yes, digitization can help in certain situations, too.
The Promise of The Paper Solution
This book will be your guide to getting your papers organized to be useful, productive, and profitable.
Imagine the life that awaits you. Being able to put your hands on a physical piece of paper will add speed to your transactions, add weight to your verbal arguments, improve your memory, and give you confidence in your home organization.
I know this sounds like a pipe dream to some of you right now. I promise it’s not. You may not be “naturally organized,” but you can learn to create a system to organize your papers, a system that’s customized to you and that works for your family.
In the end, I spent a whole year getting my home and paper in order. I then spent the next six years building systems that work and learning how to teach others to apply these same systems and skills. And today (after that somewhat rocky start), I can admit it: I now love to sort paper! But that came only after I developed the system that’s at the heart of The Paper Solution.
Through my own journey, I realized there’s a real hunger for this information out there-for someone who provides real answers, not just a blanket statement to throw away all your books or trash all your photos.
As I share with you the tools you’ll need to learn to get and keep your paper organized, I will also include some lessons about how where you are in life affects how you make decisions-and how you deal with paper. One of the most important things I have learned is that paper organizing needs to be personalized and adapted to your life stage and phase. The way we handle paper is greatly influenced by our generation. The paper organization we learned growing up, at work, and in our personal life greatly influences our comfort with making decisions about paper and how we store and retrieve it. This book will help you to understand your own stage of life and generational influences on paper management.
Life is full of unexpected events. There are celebrations like weddings, new babies, and new jobs. There are losses, illnesses, divorces, and deaths. Each life change we face comes with new incoming papers, and we need a method and a system that flexes with these events. The Paper Solution has been developed to do that as well.
Your own paper tsunami is coming (or maybe it’s already here)-that’s why you’ve picked up this book. My goal in these pages is to give you a system to help you get your paper organized so you can be prepared to help your friends and family do the same. Paper organization requires an investment to be successful, but it is an investment in yourself. When you make paper organization your new priority, you will start to see a reduction in all the other costs associated with disorganization and clutter.
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| Dimensions | 0.8400 × 5.5100 × 8.2200 in |
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| Subjects | organizing, self help books for women, eco friendly gifts, cricut, self development books, self improvement books, motivational books for men, personal growth books, tidying up, SEL044000, minimalism book, organization book, minimalism books, home improvement books, home maintenance, binders, organization books, minimalist book, habits, self help, organization, cleaning, clutter, self help books, how to, paper, diy, self improvement, interior design, motivational books for women, minimalism, habit, HOM005000, decluttering, housekeeping, Minimalist |
