Organizing That Pile

I've been trying to get more organized in the way of bills, mail, etc.---all the stuff that ends up in that pile. You know the one. It's the place where you go dump the mail or any other paper that ends up coming through your front door. The place where you stick things you need to do, remember, or call about. Some of it you may need to file, but your just too darn busy or distracted to walk into your home office and put it in the filing cabinet. And then it sits there, sometimes for days....sometimes for weeks. Maybe months?

Our pile is on the kitchen counter. I have tried multiple things. First, I said I wouldn't have a pile at all. That as soon as I touched any of those papers, they would go to the places they belong. Then I realized some things we wait on, like a bill that doesn't immediately need to get paid or maybe a shopping list for next week. So then I tried a binder...a BIG binder. But that ended up in the desk drawer---out of sight, out of mind. Finally, I tried what I called the Bill Box...Mike didn't care for that big hunk of junk! A big 12" X 6" X 5" wooden box with 2 drawers and a slot at the top for like 3 file folders. The only place for it was on the desk in the office...the office is quite far from the front door. Therefore, once again, out of sight out of mind.

Now, I think I've got it! The folders cam in a 12 pack for $5.oo from Staples and the file holder was from my classroom stash. If you try this, you can tailor it to what suits your life, but this is howI labled mine:

*Urgent
*Next Week
*Later (next month, whenever!)
*Future Bills (to be paid)
*Outgoing Mail (I also keep stamps and return address labels in it)
*Receipts
*To File

I also thought a good one might be "Coupons", but I haven't made one for that yet. So now the piles will continue right where they used to be, but they can go in their cute little homes and are easy to grab when necessary!