4 Tips to Make Keeping Your Snail Mail Under Control (Once and for All!)

Compartmentalize.

When you’ve got stacks upon stacks of mail getting delivered to your house every week, one of the most important things to do is create a sorting system. Come up with a way to separate everything that you get in the mail based on subject, priority, etc. So while a holiday card from your coworker might be sweet to receive, it’s not necessarily going to be as urgent to look at as the electric or the internet bills. Flip through everything in the mailbox right from the get-go and decide where every mail item falls in terms of actionability and urgency, and then create a physical filing system by using bins or cubbies to keep everything organized according to importance.

Get the how-to for paint can mail cubbies.

Create an entryway organizer.

Chances are that when you walk into the house after a visit to the mailbox, you’re first instinct, after flipping through everything you just got, is to plop the mail down on the kitchen table or a random counter until you can really sit down and go through it all. Unfortunately, this tendency to leave mail lying around in undesignated spots is a pretty easy way to misplace important pieces of mail, like bills or bank statements. Make it easy to keep mail in the same spot every time you make a trip to the mailbox by creating an organization station right when you walk through the front door. This could be something super function, like a rack mounted onto the wall; decorative and out-of-the-box, like a window shutter organizer; or just super simple, like a pot lit holder turned mail rack. Whatever you go with, the key is to give incoming mail a designated destination in your home, which makes it easier to find everything later on.

See how to utilize a wall organizer in your entryway.

Get rid of unwanted mail early.

Never wait until your drowning in unwanted letters, promotions, coupons, and catalogs before you try to get everything sorted. From the get-go, sort your mail into two categories: things you want or need to keep, and things you can discard. Everything that falls in the latter can go straight to the recycling bin to save you the hassle of having to deal with it later. By lightening the mail load early, you make it easier to then go through all of the mail that matters without too much clutter. With items like newspapers or magazines that you don’t necessarily care to keep after reading, be sure to put those straight in the bin when you’re done with them, too. This will keep dated reading material from piling up around the house.

Create a recycling station in your home with this how-to.

Minimize incoming mail by going paperless.

There are a few things that need to go in a mailbox, like a handwritten letter from a friend or a hard copy of a magazine that you subscribe to. But there’s also conversely a number of things that come in the mail that don't necessarily need to, like your bills. You can minimize the amount of mail that you actually have to sort through and organize by checking which service companies offer paperless billing and enrolling in online bill pay. The system will help you get your finances in order without having to worry about looking out for so many paper bills in the mailbox, and it can help streamline the bill pay process by giving you the chance to set up automated payments to avoid late fees. Online bill services also offer paperless statements, so you won’t have any trouble keeping everything for your records.

Try these other handy tips for reducing paper clutter around the house.