DIY Paper Organization: How to Declutter Paper With 3 Bins

Dawn suggests that as soon as new papers enter your house, you start by recycling whatever is clearly useless, and then divide the rest into the following three bins.

1. To process

Whatever you have not had time to sort and go through goes into this bin.

2. To do

This bin is for papers that require action: invitations to be RSVPed to, permission slips to be signed, bills to be paid, gifts to be thanked for.

3. Time will tell

This bin should be the biggest. If you are not sure if you are going to be using a certain item, this is where it belongs. Paint samples, catalogs, recipes, kids’ artwork, etc. Put it in the bin and see whether you actually have the time or the need to use those.

Once the bin fills up, flip it over to go through the oldest stuff first: it will probably have timed out.

The bins should be rather small, which makes them self-limiting, so you will have to go through them somewhat regularly. In order to maintain that habit, Dawn recommends pairing it with something you enjoy, like watching a favorite TV show.

Dawn swears by these paper organizers: this is a very simple way to separate important and unimportant papers. It relieves stress by helping you realize that most of these papers do not require any action on your part and should not be worrying you.

With time, you will also figure out which “Time will tell” papers you tend to throw out in the end and start getting rid of those right away.

DIY paper organization

Would you try organizing paper this way? Let us know how it goes in the comments!

For more organizing tips, discover these easy decluttering ideas or the BOOST challenge for decluttering your home.

To see more videos, check out The Minimal Mom YouTube channel.