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,

188 Comments

  1. Surrounded by piles- so frustrating! Life as a homeschool mom with 3 kids will never be perfect so I’ve let go a little and just do what I can. Bins help a great deal as does a labeler :)

  2. “for now” Absolutely love it. It is always for now. I will set this here for now and look at it later. why doesn’t later ever come? And with 4 kids bringing home flyers, homework, artwork, etc. My kitchen counter is a nightmare.

    I love the one comment about the bin with the three tab divider. This might actully work for me. I tried having a folder for each child to put there papers in when they got home. It just didn’t work for me.

    PS… I swear you Proverbs 31 Ministies ladies are in my head. It is so comforting to read things that rattle around in my empty space of a brain. After 4 kids, there are not many brain cells left.

  3. I struggle with what to do with all the paper I have actually filed. I’m unsure how long I should keep certain things.

    Paper does just end up everywhere, especially in the office. I’m terrible at keeping on top of it. I did recently purchase a 3-level paper tray so that at least the paper would be slightly organized into the three trays and sitting there until I can file it, rather than all over the desk and floor.

    Thank for this gift opportunity! I look forward to reading some of your paper tips!

  4. Mail and newspapers and magazines–I am going to read them, but never have enough time–and then it piles up!

  5. Junk mail is not a problem for me. I tear it up and put it in the recycle. My problem is informative and sentimental papers. We get a lot of papers with church, and they’re great things – updates on missionaries, for example. I really want to read them, but I don’t know what to do with them until I find the time to read them. Ugh. That’s just one example…

  6. Man do I need help with the piles! I have two big paper plunders: the incoming mail and papers the kids bring home from MOPS and Sunday School. We move a lot for my husband’s job and sopme of the paper piles of my last house are still waiting to be unpacked…it’s a vicious cylce needing to be broken!

  7. Paper piles is m downfall as well… and my husband moves them around so they are “new” piles all the time!! They are one of my goals for this year…taming the paper dragon!!

  8. School papers and mail/catalogs are big pile issues for me. I try to get the catalogs in baskets but there are so many! Thanks for the inspiration to tackle it!

    Rebecca Ann

  9. I can’t keep up with my papers. There are schedules for church, school and work. I am lost and don’t know what to do with it all.

  10. Christmas around our house means techno toys and that is what made me think of this – last year I went through those drawers in my kitchen that hold “the papers”. Those papers that are the guarantees and warrantees for all of your household appliances. I put them in 3 ring binders in clear plastic holders. Now when new things, i.e., those new Christmas presents, are received, the necessary papers go in the 3 ring binders – we can actually find stuff. :)

  11. I always have a lot of paper clutter on my den coffee table. My husband was just kidding me this past week about going thru my stack of papers.

  12. I’m definitely in. I’m working on organizing one closet/cupboard/area at a time right now! it is definitely an ongoing process though, and I could use all the help that I can get!

  13. So I’m not the only one….thank goodness. My husband told me he couldn’t deal with the desk any longer, would I please clean it off. Well, I cleaned it. I got out a TV tray to put all the papers on ’cause I still couldn’t decide what to do with them. He was really pleased with the desk. But a couple weeks later, he finally asked what was on the TV tray…well, I had a couple weeks anyway! :-) The dining room table is almost as bad. If it’s a flat surface, beware!

  14. I can’t use one of my two desks due to paper cluttering the top and all around! Finding a place to put paper or finding time to deal with it are my problems.

  15. “Touch it once” is still a great idea. I’m not perfect, but you wouldn’t believe what a difference this makes until you try it yourself! My once piled high desk of papers and mail is now almost always clean and clutter free!

  16. I save a great deal of magazine and computer articles to read and/or use for later. I was “drowning” in them at one point. I bought several expandable file folders with sections to label and now file them by use such as decorating ideas, cleaning suggestions, etc. This has been a tremendous help for me when I go to look for an article to use.

  17. I would love to say that I am organized and effective, but, who am I kidding?? My husband started referring to me directly as “Piles” instead of my name not long ago. And, one day he saw an episode of “hoarders” on TLC and now I am afraid he is borderline going to submit me as the next person on that show!! I need help! I admit it, piles and clutter have taken their toll!! My goal for 2011 is to finally get order in my home! I would greatly appreciate any help!

  18. Coupons used to be the worst mess. I never knew what I had & they just collected random places. So, I have these magnetic small baskets that hang on the side of my fridge that are labeled ‘Coupons used regularly” & “Coupons might use”. I sort them and put them in the basket. So, before a run to the store I can quickly pick out my coupons! SUCH a big difference!

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