Paperwork declutter and organising?

[Minieggmummy]

Be gentle with me please, I'm slowly chipping away at a clutter mountain. It's not been easy. The paperwork situation is a bit depressing, there's loads of it and I haven't found a system that works for my tired and possibly neurodivergent/peri brain.

I have a shredder, I have a filing box and some lever arch folders and some chocolate but it's just a swamp of paper hellll. I have very young DC and only a couple of hours a day of proper declutter time once they're down

Also be brutal as it comes in the house - I pick up the post and move straight to the recycling bin! Open / chuck any crap immediately don’t even put it down.

Going through the papers and documents is exhausting, I feel you, OP! I'm in the middle of the same process now and sorting the papers is way more difficult that I could imagine. It feels like the amount if honestly never ending. On the other hand, there are also tons and tons of old family photos, some of them were kept awfully and are now damaged. If you ever come across this problem, here is a good article on best ways to store old photos, because apparently they need special treatment as well.
I really hope to end the decluttering mission by Christmas but it seems unlikely, my late grandparents left a ton of papers and going through them takes much more time than we originally thought.

On shredders getting hot and jamming - I highly recommend investing in a bottle of shredder oil. I had no idea it existed but you drizzle a bit on the blades where they show underneath every time you fill the box with shreds, and then you run it to distribute the oil. Gamechanger in terms of jams.

I have one of these to keep my paperwork in, you can get them in various colours and sizes and have found it the best for paperwork and looks ok too. You can get them from various places, Amazon, Ryman, JL etc.

www.bisleydirect.co.uk/29-series-multidrawer-10-drawer/

@Wolmando
this looks great for storing paperwork!
each drawer looks shallow but enough to store current paperwork in and archive older ones to box files.
is it stainless steel?

Not sure what it's made of, it's painted metal, I have had mine about 5 years and still looks like new. I have labelled each drawer with things like tax, house, family, cars, and keep the ordered documents in those see through plastic things that you use in box files, I find it easy to find things and can keep it orderly easily as you can just do the odd drawer at a time. I used to have a variety of different box files but find this easier. I haven't got any box files in mine as not sure they would fit, you would have to look at the measurements, they do ones with bigger drawers also and smaller cabinets

@Wolmando
thank you! I think you may just you have solved my paperwork conundrum. I have been struggling with the best way to organise papers for years and was using an A4 lever arch file system with poly pockets suggested by an ex colleague… but as the files became heavier they became more difficult to access form the shelf and things became a faff putting things away… recently I have now “lost” a number of important documents just before interviews which I need. I need something quick easy and simple to reach out and get without having to drag things off shelves and flick through millions of poly pockets.

This looks perfect. I can store all the most important things within reach. I would put my box files on the kallax shelves.

You are a star 🌟

Thank you for this thread @Minieggmummy

Oh that looks like the answer to my papery prayers....

I am still doing a timer method with chocolate reward (buttons, as that's all I've got to hand and in these warm times, slightly melty!)

Tomorrow is a whole hour of filing because it's my takeaway night so the time I save in kitchen drudgery I will use facing the paper mountain

Thank you to pp for the shredder oil tip, I'll do that too.

I think I need to employ myself as my own PA/secretary 😅

I've got other decluttering to do at the weekend too so sleeves firmly rolled up for that

*Edited for typos...

There are loads of different sizes, drawer sizes and colours of those metal cabinets so you should be able to get one of the size and drawer size to fit your needs, all the measurements are on the website but may be cheaper elsewhere but a lesser range. Mine is a green tall one that is in the corner of our dining room.

😊 aw you're welcome pp...It's nice to have the company and the accountability otherwise I'd just give up and become a crazy hobbit lady that lives under a hill made out of paperwork and kids art

Haha I get it OP! 🤣🤣🤣
I am quite excited about the Bisley filing cabinet thing and saw them cheaper on Rymans website. Whatever I decide, I’ll update here!
Good Luck!

I did pretty well last night. I nearly lost the will half way through, it's a bit like labour... so much pain, with nowt to show for it at that point you feel like giving up!

So it's all shredded/in the appropriate place now, I just need a tweak to my in-tray system and a few polypockets 💪