A Decluttering Plan for Success in 2023

How to declutter.Photo bycanva

Groundhog Day is February 2, this is the perfect day to remember special tasks like replacing batteries in smoke detectors, changing filters in air purifiers, and cleaning paper clutter!

Groundhog Day is a great day to clear out the old and get ready for the new year of filing. It's also a great time to gather papers together for taxes and check in on savings, titles, and deeds to make sure everything is in order.

This is a good time to clean out paper clutter, stacks of unopened mail, newspapers, and magazines. Most of my bills are paid automatically online, but I still get so much mail and paper clutter. It seems to make its way into my house and pile up on my desk. I get a few letters confirming online payments and account statuses other than that what comes in is mainly junk mail.

I don't own a shredder. What has worked best for me is a box. I have a box that's big enough to hold a fair amount of paper but not so big that I can't pick it up when it's full. I happily toss all junk mail, unneeded paperwork, and forgotten printouts into this box and I deal with the box when it gets full. Recycling paper is easy and necessary. I don't have curbside pickup of recyclables, so I must take the paper to a local shredding company. I pay a minimal fee and they do all the work.

I have eight places I store papers in my home office. I have a filing cabinet for current paperwork to keep it easily accessible so I can quickly file what comes in daily. In this filing cabinet, I keep current and previous years' papers. I find now and then that I need to access something from the previous year and so I have it in the files and file the current year there too.

Papers two years old and back I file in separate bins. I have a special fireproof safe for important documents like titles and deeds, health records, and passports. I also keep an external hard drive computer backup and I scan important pictures and documents. I've even scanned credit cards in case I need card numbers and credit company phone numbers.

The rule for storing old bills and paperwork is seven years. Tax returns and supporting documents keep forever. Also keep health records, mortgage or deeds, and titles. More of those types of papers will be stored online, but for now, keep them safe at home.

Every year, on Groundhog Day, I clean out the oldest years' papers and take them to the shredder and I reorganize the current and last years' files.

If you don't have room for a filing cabinet, there are some great plastic or cloth bins that are easy to use and store. I also found small hanging file holders that I can keep on a bookshelf. Files are easily accessible, organized, and out of the way.