Remember when we were little and we loved to play secretary?  If we had a bunch of papers in front of us, the amount of paperwork would equal our importance.  Then if you were the boss, you would hand over your paperwork to your secretary for her to take care of.  The good old days of play.  If you have children, this past time is still taking place.

We move into adulthood and these pieces of paper actually mean something.  Bills, medical records, house inventory lists for insurance, recipes we collect from magazines, magazines in general that we think we need to keep for future reference.

I entered the career of outside sales in 1986.  My first outside sales job was selling beepers or pagers.  Yes, I was called The Beeperlady!  I had to keep track of inventory and sales forms and then inventory sheets to back up the inventory.  Sales reports and keeping track of ones mileage all required paperwork.  Before I was sent out into the field.  I was sent for training.  Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!!!!!

October’s Monthly Habit is Paper Clutter
And they say we can be a paperless society?  When will this happen?  I doubt it will be in my lifetime.  Someone prove me wrong please because I still feel like I have a mountain of it!

I have been working on my paper clutter for 10+ years now.  I found Flylady in 2005 and each year October’s Monthly Habit – Paper Clutter comes around, I do the best I can and get another chunk of it out of the way.

When I started, I had so much paperwork from old jobs, bills, etc that I had sessions of burning the paper.  I had a burning barrel.  It is allowed where I live.  This year I can say I don’t have the burning barrel anymore.  I now have a shredder.  I think if I would have had to shred it all I would not be as far along as I am.

In Flylady’s “Sink Reflections”  she has an entire chapter devoted to Paper Clutter.  It is valuable information and I use it as a source.

Basically what I want to say about paperwork is this,  I bought Glad Trash bags, self sticking labels and marking pens.  I also used Zip Lock Bags and Baggies

Hefty Baggies Sandwich & Storage Bags With Ties   So what do you do with these?  Most of our clutter is odds and ends that cannot be thrown away or the small things we don’t think we have time to put away end up in some draw or cabinet that make no sense except was from a session of “Stash & Dash”.  Then one fine day you want the item and it isn’t where it normally is.  You know we have all been there.  We get to the point where it is time to get some decluttering done.  This system works well with small declutter maintenance and big projects.  It doesn’t mind at all because it does the job.

To give you an idea what I mean.  You have a project that requires a nail or a screw.  Let’s say you are a beginner and it takes a few times to use the right size nail or screw and they came from different locations.  When the job is done throw the extras in a baggie that you can take back to the area where you have these things instead of a bedroom drawer loose where you hung the picture.

Recently I used a Baggy for my deadheading my painted Daisies.  It was easy to dead head the buds and place them in a baggy.  I then took a sharpie and a label and wrote Painted Daisies and Date.  It will be placed in the Ziploc Zipper Bag for all the seeds I get out of the garden I want to use for the coming season.

I have used baggies for sorting change.  We all seem to have loose change that gets thrown here and there.  Grab a baggy and throw it in.

I use baggies for lots of applications.  If I know I will be eating some leftover food in the next day or meal, I use a baggy instead of the more expensive ziplock bags.

Self Sticking Folder Labels
These are economical to use for decluttering.  I use these many times on the baggies especially for extra parts I may need to keep from a piece of furniture I put together.  It doesn’t happen all of the time but there are situations where one needs to keep some.

Painters Tape
This works great as I am decluttering and sizing down with boxes and tubs.  It stays on and yet easy to remove.  I also use painters tape when labeling soups and meals that I freeze.  Again, it stays on and yet easy to remove.

Sharpie Pen
Fine point and Ultra Fine Point.  I have used them for years.  They work great at labeling.

I want this blog to be simple I am taking a break to clear my mind