Befriend your shredder.

Mail and daily incoming papers present a clutter challenge for most people.
Spending less than two minutes a day with your paper eating buddy will have
an immediate and helpful impact on your piles and disorganization.

Don’t wait until you’re overwhelmed and buried in paper
and your shredder is feeling abandoned and ignored. 
Establish a paper sorting routine: ACTION  READ  FILE 
and deal with the papers on a daily basis.

Speaking of filing, and your file draw.
If you’ve taken care of your taxes for 2019,
now would be a great time to purge your file drawer.
(I’m guessing you have a bit of time right now at home to take care of this…)

Most papers that people file never get looked at again.
Really.
Don’t file papers if you could easily get the information again.
IF you needed it.
If you do file, file in broad general categories.
Use the Like with Like guideline.
All insurance papers in one hanging file.
within that a folder for Home, Health, Car, Life, etc.

All paid Bills for 2020 in one folder.
Toss last month’s when you get this month’s
that shows your payments.

One folder for 2020 Taxes.
Next April you can go through that folder and sort by category as necessary.

One hanging file for all your important documents.
When you need to find your birth certificate or car title or key to the safe deposit box, 
you can quickly go through that one file and find what you ned.

As you sort, toss warranties and manuals for things you no longer own.
(Rethink even keeping manuals, most can be found on line now)

The folders of remodel projects, garden ideas, recipes?
Only keep the ones you really think you’ll use-in the next month or so.

The fewer steps you have in your Filing System, 
the more likely you will be to actually File things!
Make it as simple as possible.

The sound of shredding paper is the sound of a less cluttered life.
The sight of a full recycle bin is visual proof of a simpler life.

Befriending your shredder will give you more time to spend with your other real friends.  
(And isn’t that part of the life you truly want to be living?)