Snowed under?

My whole spring clean in autumn push is stretching on through winter and I have finally woken up today feeling as though I have more of a grip on my life. A nice feeling for a Monday morning.

There is a pile of stuff at the front door to be given away, my floors are clean, the washing is out and thanks to my flirtation with flylady I am still washing up a lot and it's amazing how much more I love my kitchen.

I've even tackled the paperwork. When we moved in I gave over a drawer to my paperwork but with no plan of attack look what happened.

I only ever opened the darn thing to throw another piece of paper in. Half an hour of work (and ten months of thinking about it) and I have an empty drawer and a new plan of attack.

Now some of you may chuckle smugly into your hand when you read these simple tips. People like me who are by nature NOT NEAT need help.

1. Deal with the paper you have in your hand immediately. Toss it, file it, or put it in a 'do' zone.  If the doing is quick and easy - do it now.

The old me would have said a 'do pile' but we have a problem with piles in our house. My husband and I fight over them. 'His' and 'Hers' piles build up and before we've dealt with them they merge, then we re-sort them, get rid of them and within days new ones start.

I am keeping my black in and out boxes in the dreaded drawer. It eliminates the pile problem and as long as I file weekly and act on the stuff that's in there all will be well.

2. Filing. We have around ten white plastic ring binder files containing all our paperwork from the last five homes we have lived in. That's two house purchases, three leases, final bills, insurance etc etc etc...  Not to mention all the other stuff to do with careers, cars, banks and health.
The moral of the story is don't move so much and when you do don't move interstate or overseas. BUT anyway, I am chucking out the stuff we don't need anymore, re-labelling the spines on the files with a printed contents list and putting them in a kitchen cupboard where they are easily accessible.

3. Receipts
I now have a clear plastic pocket to keep them all together in the drawer  - you never know if you might need it to return a shirt if it falls apart after the second wash. Clear the pocket out every few months. File receipts for larger items that have a longer guarantee period.

5. School stuff
It's amazing how much paper one schoolboy can generate. Event dates now go straight onto the family calendar and the endless certificates to the inside of his cupboard doors - his glory wall. All that other coloured-in paper/homework/stuff that he just has to keep go in the craft drawer in his room.

And lastly? 

Buy yourself some cool stationery.  Like the Kikki.K bulldog clips above or their fabulous folders. Not that you can't get just as much organisational joy in the bargain stationery stores but hell there has to be joy in all this somewhere!!