Paper Pile Giveaway
Congrats to the winner of Lysa TerKeurst’s book Made to Crave. She is: Kristina; timestamp 11:51 pm on January 5th. Send your home address to me at [email protected] right away!
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Paper.
It piles.
It perturbs.
It is a problem!
Is there any aspect of trying to maintain a clean home that is more unnerving??
Sure the kitchen may get messy.
So what!!
We can always clean it up again, wiping and scrubbing until the counter is clean, the dishes are done and the pots and pans back in their rightful place.
If we want to keep it that way for a while, we need only to eat a meal or two out of have paper actually be our friend (in the form of plates on which to dine!!)
But with paper it is a whole different ballgame.
While we may be able to spend an afternoon sorting, purging and pitching our piles of paper leaving only the needed ones in our abode, it is only a temporary fix. No sooner have we tossed our piles into the trash (or recycle bin) than a whole new batch enters our home.
They come at us from all directions.
The newspaper arrives.
The mail gets delivered.
The kids return home from school or an extra-curricular activity.
Because we aren’t always sure what to do with this stuff, we end up placing it neatly in a pile.
Oh, come on! Do neat piles actually exist? I’m not sure I ever seen one.
Okay, maybe I’ve seen a few, but they didn’t stay neat for long. As soon as someone was in need of a paper they thought might be hiding in said pile, they rifled through it and left it a complete mess.
And what do the neat piles do to us women?
They shout, “Failure, failure, failure!! Why look at you mom! You can’t even make a decision. You don’t know where to put us so you just choose any horizontal surface within a three foot radius and plop us down. Incompetent woman! Can’t you even take care of the paper in your home, for crying out loud!!”
Okay, so maybe I’ve never actually had a pile talk to me like an apple tree on the way to Oz, but I have had that exact line of thought run through my brain.
Piles make me feel defeated. They remind me that I was not on top of the ballgame.
I didn’t have a plan for those papers, so there they sit, a stack of unmade decisions I put off until another time.
They are the culmination of the “for now”s in my life.
You know, “I’ll set this mail here, for now. I’ll put these papers on the counter for now. I really don’t have time to think about what to do with these clothes, shoes, toys, store items. Etc… I’ll just lay them here for now.
Gals, the phrase for now is derailing our organizational train!
Well, since January is a time for all things resolution-y, I’m sure many of you have made a goal that has to do with getting more organized around your place.
Maybe with your time.
Or with your cleaning & clutter.
Or your grocery shopping & meal planning.
Perhaps even with your paper piles!
Here’s a little giveaway to help boost your moral. It includes:
~A periwinkle (one of my favorite colors!) three-ring binder.
~A set of whimsical tab dividers for the binder.
~A sturdy vinyl folder with many inside pockets for organizing fliers & such.
~ A set of colorful push pins.
~A set of matching jumbo paper clips.
~A set of push clips for a bulletin board that hold coupons & such right where you can see them.
~A pocket 2011 calendar and matching notepad.
~Some totally fun, swirly-patterned, comfy-grip mechanical pencils. ( I always do my calendar in pencil since things may change & a I HATE a messy looking calendar!)
~An undated desk-size, week-at-a-glance planner pad to map out your days.
~Finally, a personalized copy of my book The Complete Guide to Getting & Staying Organized.
To enter the giveaway you must leave a comment on this post sometime between now & Monday morning at 7:00 am when the winner will be chosen and announced.
Either…..
Tell us what aspect of paper causes you the most trouble….
or
Give us a solution for any aspect of paper problems.
Now, if time is tight or you are simply drowning in paper at the moment and as a result your brain won’t work, simply say, “I’m in!” Drawing is random. :-)
I’ll try to hop on over the weekend and share a few of my paper tips with you too. (NOTE: I have done this in the fourth page of the comments giving directions for how to assemble a Brain in a Binder that will house your papers. Click on the comments & then scroll down to see :-))
Now…get tackling those piles girlfriends!!!!
Pile-busting Blessings,
I am so in need of some organizing help!! Enter me please!! :o)
I started bringing in the mail and going through it right away. Most items can be put in the recycle bin and I’m able to eliminate clutter and piles before they ever get started.
I have trouble with all of the crafts and extra special projects my children do..Where do we put all of there special things…
I have a 12 month accordion file. After I pay a bill, I just throw it in there. At the end of the year it goes into a box labeled that year. I used to try and file all the bills separately, but why? I hardly had to look at them again. Its been a huge time saver. Now for all the other papers I want to look at and lack the time – that’s a pile!
What an amazing and greatly needed giveaway. My challenge is that I fear discarding papers in the event I need them again…truly! It is a real problem.
Blessings to you this weekend :)
Is it a problem when you kitchen is being taken over by these “neat” piles of paper?! As I type this I have a pile of papers stacked on the table, a pile of papers on the microwave, and another bigger pile of papers on the countertop. Most of this paper clutter consists of mail that my husband needs to read (or says he will read, which means they will still be in the same pile for another week), homeschooling papers from my daughter, art projects and coloring sheets, and papers that have no home. Do I have a problem?! ; )
My two biggest issues are receipts and school papers. I homeschool my kids and I’m trying to do better about the school papers this semester. I’ve started grading at more often and immediately putting them in a binder or tossing them.
I feel like I just move piles around — I sort thru them, discard what I don’t need any longer but the pile never seems to get any smaller due to new stuff coming in. sigh.
It’s just like you said, I let it pile up. This is followed by a paer purging session. I’m proud of myself. No sooner is the paper under control, than more comes in. UGH!
Ug…. paper! My kids’ papers from school and the mail…. it piles too quickly!
I have sooo many paper problems! The biggest one is that it piles up-the mail is my biggest enemy at times. I do have a bill holder and scrap paper holder in my kitchen but the mail still piles up and just lays around on my table in my family room…..help would be great!
Amy V.
I agree totally. I have a love hate relationship with paper.
I try to scan as many things as I can and then shred the paper copy. That way, I have it if I need it in the future, but I don’t have to contend with stacks of paper and bulging files – if the stacks make it to the file to begin with! This is great for things like the car maintenance records, statements from the insurance company, bank statements,etc. I have a folder for each on my computer and use the date of the statement as the file name. This also makes it a lot easier to find what I’m looking for when I do need it!
I’m in! I need to get organized on SOOO many levels!
My biggest problem area are the boxes of “special” paper to put in scrapbooks for my kids. Will wonder if I will ever have time or the organization to do this!
I could really use this. My biggest paper problem is all of it. I have piles all over and when I have to search for a specific paper, I can’t remember which stack it’s in so have to go through all stacks until I find it. This is one of my goals this year is to get a handle on my paper and set up a filing system. Thank you for the chance to win this prize. Happy New Year!
[email protected]
School papers are taking over!
My biggest problem is that our desk/office area is in the basement and we don’t have a functional office space in the area of the house where we “live,” so I don’t organize the papers at all :(.
Paper–it’s the thorn in my side that won’t go away. I always feel like I have to apologize for it when people come into my house. One thing that I have done to attempt to gain control is to buy two big decorative boxes that sit on my counter. One for each boy of mine and when I empty out their backpack everyday the paper that doesn’t need anymore action goes into the box. Now, the problem is, I know I shouldn’t even be keeping half of it, but I am paralyzed to decide what to keep and toss!
I’ve been thinking about taking a small piece of wood and driving a nail through the bottom of the wood and then setting it “somwhere” on my desktop to slide reciepts on. Similiar to what they do at banks and other stores.
Paper can be a real dilemma. I have been inspired by all of the posts. Thanks for starting the conversation going!! God bless, Karen
I don’t really have an office. It is more like a computer desk in a common area. This results in all the important papers being thrown onto the desktop for “safekeeping” until later. With two small children, life is constantly pulling me in different directions. I do sort the mail as it comes in the door and place all the bills in a small wire divider holder that sits on top of my printer. My biggest problem is keeping track of all the coupons, reciepts, business cards, informational article, quick notes I jot down, ect. all piling up on my desk, or the kitchen table till I can sort through them.
Clutter Clutter Clutter it is such a continual problem. It is like the dishes, there will always be more tomorrow. I enjoy your writings each day, thank you for the inspiration!
How funny that I took a five minute break from organizing my home-office files and I read this post. I’m plugging along trying to make a system that will STICK! BTW, periwinkle is one of my favorite colors too!
As soon as I get a medical bill in the mail I fill out the form and mail it back. Then I put the stub in a folder and keep them in the drawer for the entire year. At the end of the year I have everything in one place and in reverse chronological order. I put them downstAirs and start a new folder for the next year. If I don’t do it right away- well… Paper stacks happen!