Tip: Decluttering Mail | Part I
I love getting a personal letter in the mail. Letter writing is such a lost art, as I mentioned last week. My best friend, we've written to each other for the length of our friendship -- when she studied in Chile and I in India, when she went to graduate school in Cambridge and I in Charlottesville, then all those years we were on opposite coasts. My mother wrote regular letters during my semester in London. She writes regular letters always, but that semester in London - getting letters from the anglophile who instilled in me my love for the Bronte sisters, Jane Austin and Mr. Shakespeare himself - I cherish that particular correspondence most. I have the letter from my great aunt - her gorgeous penmanship (talk about lost art forms) giving me instructions on how to bake the Malloy Irish soda bread so that I could carry on the tradition to the next generation. I have the bundle of letters from Anupa, the little girl who befriended me when I lived in Cochin, India. We'd walk to school together every morning. But she was only just beginning to learn English and I knew no Malayalam so our walks were... quiet. Her initial letters to me were only "I love you, I love you, I love you" but as her English improved and she worked her way through school, I received letters about her life and family. Hearing her voice through her letters - it was magical.
And don't get me started on the letters from my man, when we were far away from each other and newly in love.
These are irreplaceable pieces of paper.
But I'm not talking about the treasures today. I'm talking about the trash.
More often then not, when I take the daily stack of mail out of its box, much of it is far from personal. Who else has a problem with junk mail?
I decluttered my mail a few years ago, and it became much more manageable. I followed the same course of action for my man's mail when I moved in with him and again: success. But, we got married, we received gifts, we purchased gifts... Even opening one new credit card can ignite a slew of unwanted mail! And just like that: the junk arrives daily. So it's time for a little decluttering, and I thought perhaps you'd like to join me.
This is not going to eliminate the junk over night, but I promise, if you follow my tips over the next month, you will tackle your mail clutter and find serenity with the postal service - a key ingredient in an organize approach to the art of simple, stylish living.
To get started this week, there are a four key actions I want you to take:
1) Find an empty bag or box - even a larger tupperware storage container will do. A reusable bag is another option here. You will use this to collect all the mail that you would otherwise throw away. All of it. The magazines and catalogs, the credit card offers and the newsletters. Over the course of the next month, I want you to (gasp) hold on to all your junk mail. Just throw it in the container and go on with your day. In a month, we'll return to this collection. But until then, just collect.
2) Next, to get you on the road to a serene postal experience, go to this website: www.catalogchoice.com. Catalog Choice is a "free service to opt out of catalogs, coupons, credit card offers, phone books, circulars and more." By signing up and creating a username and password, you will be on your way to reducing your mail clutter. It's so easy! Your name remains on the the list for - I believe - five years. (Make sure you sign in on the left hand side of the webpage. The right hand side is the TrustedID Essentials, which is great and deals more with identity theft -- but it also requires payment. Just an fyi. Do your own research and choose what's best for you!) This will take some time to institute - many mail campaigns are set in stone months before they actually arrive in the ol' mailbox. So be patient. We are creating a two-fold approach to tackling this issue (see #1).
3) For the personal mail - the cherished letters or the birth announcement of your newest nephew (!!!) -- start a pile. Somewhere out of the way but easy to access. Perhaps a drawer or shelf near your desk. We'll get to those. But not yet.
4) Now, in terms of the official mail you receive - the bills, the insurance, the 401K updates - anything the involves your money and your health... Our household has a file folder system for these documents. (And if you are looking to create an efficient system for your home and/ work life, email me today: maura@aserenespace.com). We receive the bills, we deal with them, we file them away. HOWEVER, our file system is very minimal because we have paperless billing for almost everything. Mobile phones, credit cards, bank statements, etc. g. It is a small handful of companies in this day & age who do not offer paperless billing.
SO, the last task this week - if you are willing to go paperless and receive that information electronically - is to sign up for paperless billing. Go to your bank's (and credit card's and mobile phone's) website and they will have clear instructions on how to do so. Not that tech savvy? Call the customer service help line! They will be more than happy to set it up for you.
This last action will take some time, but it is so worth it in the long run. Set a timer for 30 minutes. I bet you'll get most of your bills transferred to paperless before the time is up. 30 minutes, people.
