Getting Organized

I don't think that I am alone when I say that I feel I am drowning with the weight of paper from everyday life...am I? What with all the junk mail, bills, flyers, solicitous mail and bank reports I feel quite overwhelmed and, to be honest, it stresses me out greatly.

To help ease this stress a little bit, I bought a cute file folder from Wal-Mart and labelled it with our Handy-dandy labeller.



I then figured out what titles I wanted to have for the file folder pockets. What mess did I have the most of? What mess did I find the most uncontrollable? What did I want to be able to find with relative ease? I broke it down into these sections:

1. Bills to pay (for current bills)
2. To file monthly (where I put the bills that I have paid - and the goal is to file them every month)
3. Take-Out (I despise the loads of take-out flyers, but they are a necessary evil when you are in need of them)
4. Home Info. (ads, contact info, business cards, etc. of people, places and things for home improvement)
5. Paint Chips (since we are in the process of painting the dining room, and, soon, the boys' rooms)
6. Places to visit (attractions, indoor playgrounds, etc. that we would like to visit)
7. Calder (my oldest son - a folder for his birth certificate, passport, immunization records, etc. I found that I always misplaced them, so this seemed a good spot to try to keep them all in one place)
8. Easton (my youngest son)
9. Elizabeth (that's me!)
10. School Info. (My oldest is starting Junior Kindergarten this year (at my school!) and I want to have handy trip forms, newsletters, notes home, etc.)
11. Genealogy (I am in the process of searching out my roots and have a lot of notes)
12. Coupons
    

So there you have it - my attempt - let's hope it works - to get and stay a little more organized. I am a more visual person when it comes to learning and organizing, so hopefully this is the way to do it!