Post/Letter hoarder!

[KrayKray00]

Paperwork seems to be taking over my life!

I seem to have boxes and boxes full of paper work, even from my old house (5 years ago!). I have 1 child at school and 1 at nursery and I still have their paperwork... homework, school newsletter ect ect. I have school work of my own and college work/notes, thinking one day I might need these. Magazines I might one day need..

I need a clear out, I suffer from anxiety and clutter makes me feel worse. But I keep thinking I might need this one day... god knows what for.

So can all of you organised people tell me at what point do you throw "junk" away? Do you have a month/year limit?

It is driving me nuts.

[isseywithcats]

one year limit here if i pull paperwork out of my cupboard where i keep it and it has last years date then shredder and bin it goes, i keep important paper like marriage certificate, birth cirt obviously, kids stuff i have kept one piece of work that each of my kids did at school, uni stuff kept one file with favourite pieces in it (english and history) magazines as soon as read straight out for recycle, any paper work from your old house of five years ago is going to be so irrelevant why would you need anything from an old address bin it start on that and work up to maybe one box a week or month, you will find oncew you start it gives you the incentive to get there, and think of all the lovely space you will have in your house when its done

[Raver84]

Here I keep all important things like p60 etc about a couple of years of payslips. Don't really keep bank or credit card statements.

I have a house file with boiler services etc in. Another file with all appliance info guarantees etc. Another file for car paperwork.

School stuff i bin the newsletters. Bits of work brought home are put in one big box then in July I sort through it break it down into each child then keep around 20 pieces each of the good stuff and bin the rest when they are not looking).
With whats left These I put in cheap display books from poundland the ones with plastic sleeves in. Write child's name on and school year and put in the loft. I keep one or two of their school books a year. They quite enjoy going through their old display books.

From my own school stuff I havee a few reports and a few books.

If your overwhelmed don't do it all at once pick up and handful and think il sort this today rather than tackle it all. Buy a decent shredder. Or maybe set aside 20 mins a day.

[RunRabbitRunRabbit]

I keep thinking I might need this one day... god knows what for

That's your answer right there. Look at each item and think "What will I use this for?" "When will I use it?" "Would I be able to find it?"

I reckon you'd get on well with the Marie Kondo method.

I am not a hoarder at all but a while back I got rid of a load of paperwork and stuff because it was a guilt generator. Craft ideas, study ideas, recipes etc that I simply don't have time for, much as I'd love to. Them being in my house made me feel guilty that I was failing to do them. A weight lifted from me when I passed them to others/charity/recycling.

[OhBeggerItsMorning]

Ha, just wait until you are in my position - 4 children bringing stuff home from school!
Like you, I hate throwing junk away, I am scared I will need it at some point. Over the years I have realised a lot of it isn't needed again, so that makes it easier to throw newsletters etc in the recycling now. Also, most letters are on the school website, check if yours are, then you don't need to keep paper copies.
Years ago a friend told me to photograph the children's work, then you can throw away the physical items but still have a memento of what they have done. You can still keep particular pieces, just ones you choose.
Do it gradually, keep all the important things, some of the sentimental things, none of the junk/unnecessary things. Good luck!

[OneWildNightWithJBJ]

I hate throwing things away too, but am a bit organised with the kids' stuff. They each have a lever-arch file divided by school year and filled with plastic wallets. I put all certificates, reports etc in there. Not just from school, also Cubs/Brownies, swimming, newsletters (if they're in them) etc. My eldest is in Year 5 and we're still on the first lever-arch file (just), having started in playgroup. They also have a large plastic box with all their school work in, again divided by year. I was hoping for them to have one each, but they're kind of overflowing now. I know how much I love looking through my old school work, so I'm happy to do this.

I don't keep magazines anymore or any other irrelevant papers, but keep all payslips etc as my work history is quite complicated and it's been really useful to be able to refer back to them. I also keep all my self-employment papers. These are all organised in folders though, so it's not overwhelming.

[dantdmistedious]

Would it ever be useful or not? There’s your answer.

I have an app on my phone called keepy where I photograph all the ‘art’ that comes home and bin the paper copies.

If it doesn’t need a response it gets binned. Statements are all online.

I have no paperwork.