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Winning the Paper War
By Daryl Hoole

Here lies a confirmed cliptomanic,
The risks she did not understand.
She drowned in a sea of paper
With the scissors still in her hand!

I’m an educated woman!
I have a PhD,
As over time, and bit by bit
I’ve acquired my degree.
But should you drop by my campus
Will you, please, my secret keep-
My degree is nothing more than paper
Piled High and Deep!

verses by Phyllis White
Meridian Reader from Ogden, Utah

• All junk mail is to be disposed of immediately! Don’t even set it down. Just quickly scan the day’s mail for anything important and toss the rest.
• Handle papers only once. Don’t even pick up a paper until you’re ready to act upon it. Otherwise, you’re just rearranging your papers and creating new piles.
• If the same information is stored some other place, such as on the Internet, don’t keep your copy.
• Be selective in what you keep. Ask yourself why you want to keep each item and make sure you have a valid reason! Experience will be your best teacher, as in, “When did I last refer to something I saved?”
• Remember, in the time you spent fretting over a paper, searching for something, or apologizing for the clutter, you could have handled it.
• Clip from publications the part you really want to save, then toss the magazine, catalog, newspaper, or whatever. Do it now ; don’t make a job of it for later on.
• Flag anything you want to read later so you don’t have to look for it again.
• Where available, protect the environment by owning a large recycling bin and filling it, rather than your house, with out-of-date newspapers and other printed material.
• If you’re years or even months behind in your paperwork, don’t try to catch up. It’s pretty much impossible to do so because hardly anyone has that much time and patience and besides, papers continue to accumulate and the pile will grow faster than you can work. Don’t worry – more good recipes and edifying articles will come your way, so move forward, not backward. Here’s how: Engage a “clutter coach” (family member or friend) who will work with you to keep you motivated and on task. Then the two of you can quickly go through stacks of papers for anything of value and purge the rest. (It’s smart to toss the unwanted papers in a box, then date, label, and store the box for a year before discarding it just to make certain nothing valuable was overlooked.)
• Remember, there is usually more than one right way to do something. The main goal is to put papers away properly so they’re not cluttering up your house and to be able to relocate them when you need them . If you’re achieving this then whatever you’re doing is the right way for you.
• Duplicates of valuable documents should be made on hard copies or electronic media and stored in an off-site location.

1. The top item in your pile is an invitation to a wedding reception.
   • Note the time and date on your calendar and then store the invitation itself in your “kitchen file” for reference to the specifics such as the address and driving instructions.
   • The kitchen file (about the size of a cereal box) is for short-term storage and contains color-coded file folders such as individual folders for mail and messages for each family member; school notices, church bulletins, coupons, advertisements, invitations, and so on.
   • This file needs to be checked and emptied regularly. You should determine the maximum time these papers can remain in the kitchen file. For example, before dinner every family member should take whatever action is appropriate regarding their mail and messages.
2. The second paper is a prize-winning cake recipe clipped from the newspaper.
   • Place it at the front of a small filing box for recipes or loose leaf binder for recipes with indexed division pages. After preparing and serving the food to your family, if it’s a “keeper” copy it on a 4 x 6 card and place it under “desserts” in a small file box or put it in a plastic page protector in the binder. Personally, I use the binder rather than the file box so I don’t have to recopy the recipe. And if a picture of the dish comes with the recipe, I can keep it, too.
3. The third item is a bill from your dentist.
   • Pay the bill immediately or file it under “medical bills” in your desk file, to be paid along with other bills on a regularly scheduled basis. Then dispose of it. Or, if you need the statement for tax purposes, place it in the appropriate financial file.
   • It’s a good idea to make a file for each month of the year and file the statements, receipts, etc. that are paid during a specific month in that month’s file. Next, make a file for items that are income tax related for that particular year and file tax deductible receipts there rather than in the monthly files. When it’s time to file taxes, go through the monthly files and make sure all the tax related receipts are available and then most of the other receipts can be discarded (shredded).
4. The next paper is a copy of a talk you want to keep.
   • You have several options. You may prefer to set up an electronic storage and retrieval system on your computer. Just make certain you back it up in the event of computer failure.
   • You can devise your own system, visit your local public library to see how they do it, or purchase software for this purpose. Much good resource material is already available to you electronically. For example, church magazines, talks by church leaders and other speakers, and other related information is available on various websites.
   • An excellent manual filing system is the “master file” system, patterned after the old card catalog system at public libraries. An item you want to file is numbered and listed on one or more 4 x 6 index cards. One card is for the title of the piece, another for the author, and other cards (as many as you want) are for the subject(s) or key words(s). These cards are then arranged alphabetically in the master file box.
   • The item to be filed is placed numerically in your filing cabinet. (Note: File items are placed numerically in the filing cabinet. Master file cards are placed alphabetically in the master file.) If you use this system, it is easy to decide where to file an item because you have several choices: title, author, and key words. It is easy to retrieve a certain item because you have several “clues” for finding it: title, author, and key words. (For graphics illustrating this system see The Ultimate Career – The Art of Homemaking for Today by Daryl Hoole, p. 17-19.
5. The fifth item in your pile is a large envelope from your attorney containing a copy of an addendum to your will.
   • Place that in a fireproof and waterproof file container along with other valuable legal and financial documents.
   • Arrange them either by categories or chronologically by year.
     
6. The last item in your pile consists of a packet of photos, journal entries, programs, and other notes from a recent family reunion.
   • Store them either in binders or in folders in a section of your filing cabinet according to the year or family member.
   • It is important to use archival safe paper for family records and to use the type of glue recommended for adhering photos to pages for the long-term.
   • For additional security and for storage space purposes, downloading family records, as far as is practical, onto electronic media is a good idea.
   • Most people consider family records the most valuable items in their household. It is wise to keep them together as much as possible for quick removal in the event of emergency or evacuation. (Personally, I have a large, empty duffel bag stored on a shelf behind our most important family albums that could be stuffed with a number of albums and dragged with me in case of evacuation.)

For your information:

• Software programs are available that are designed for assisting you in organizing valuable family pictures and documents. One such program is “Hearthside Family Records” at www.HearthsideSoftware.com (You can download a free demonstration copy that can be used 20 times. You can experiment with it and see how it can help you to simplify your daily life and keep your important records safe and secure in case of emergency or disaster.)
• A free guide to reducing unwanted or intrusive advertising can be obtained through visiting www.obviously.com/junkmail