RIGHT you lot... somebody needs to tell me how to keep on top of the avalanche of mail I get cos at the moment it's going in A Big Pile That Frightens Me

[AitchTwoCiao]

it's not junk mail, it's forms and bank statements and Proper Letters that i need to deal with but i am missing the admin gene and get swamped very quickly. i need a system, an easy-peasy one that i will actually stick to.
can anyone help?

so do i.

would one of those boxy baskety thing on the desk help?

SpacePuppy has some good ideas on this thread. I think it rather involves Keeping On Top Of It, which is why I have piles of paper all over the place.

that's where the big pile lives, misdee. (well actually it's a set of file boxes on a shelf but same diff). i HATE it. i HATE admin. unfortunately dh is immune to any sort of panic on the subject so it really is all up to me. i fear dd will never get a nursery place etc because there are FORMS.

that's where the big pile lives, misdee. (well actually it's a set of file boxes on a shelf but same diff). i HATE it. i HATE admin. unfortunately dh is immune to any sort of panic on the subject so it really is all up to me. i fear dd will never get a nursery place etc because there are FORMS.

omg, jack, spacepuppy has OCD for sure. in a good way. WHY do people think i need all this paper? weren't we supposed to be paperless by now?

get a filing cabinet, really boring but really helpful! do the proper hanging files and everything and then file stuff once you've dealt with.

Yes, I know it's the dealing with it that's the problem but somehow if you know where you're going to put the damn stuff once you've dealt with it, you will go through it quicker. And get a box, like misdee said. Then it will look neater and less scary. And bin anything you can as soon as you get it.

I used to have a great big pile like that and then it would frighten me so much that I would shove it out of sight and not do anything with it apart from bin it about 6 months later!

I think we all need her to come round to our houses and sort us out. Or maybe we could all offer to host a MN meet-up - that would probably inspire some tidying up .

ikea
we kitted out our office
now anyone asks for anything?
I can connect with it poste haste
however I am now housewife, devoted mother, gourmet cook, desireable sex goddess, fashionista AND ... Filing clerk
ah leave it in a pile or recycle the lot. Or shred do do get a shredder.
and buy more mascara so you can go... What bill honey batt your lashes and it becomes Someone Elses Problem
modern day equivalent of burying head in sand
talking from the organised other side
tis well overrated

ikea
we kitted out our office
now anyone asks for anything?
I can connect with it poste haste
however I am now housewife, devoted mother, gourmet cook, desireable sex goddess, fashionista AND ... Filing clerk
ah leave it in a pile or recycle the lot. Or shred do do get a shredder.
and buy more mascara so you can go... What bill honey batt your lashes and it becomes Someone Elses Problem
modern day equivalent of burying head in sand
talking from the organised other side
tis well overrated

ikea
we kitted out our office
now anyone asks for anything?
I can connect with it poste haste
however I am now housewife, devoted mother, gourmet cook, desireable sex goddess, fashionista AND ... Filing clerk
ah leave it in a pile or recycle the lot. Or shred do do get a shredder.
and buy more mascara so you can go... What bill honey batt your lashes and it becomes Someone Elses Problem
modern day equivalent of burying head in sand
talking from the organised other side
tis well overrated

Get a file.
Ruthlessly put it into categories

credit card bills
bank statements (or cancel these, we did, we only view online)
utility bills
phone bills
childcare bills
pay/tax
car/MOT
rent/mortgage

File it all, lose the pile THEN when a bill comes in pay it and file it. ALL ours on dd so when they come in they just get glanced at and filed.

I got so I hadn't opened post for about 2 months, I was so phobic about admin but I made myself sort it and now we are organised. It's a much better system. WHS have the files, they're cheap. Or if you prefer, get files and a hole punch and do the same but in files.

i actually do have a filing cabinet but it's upstairs in our flat so technically dh's office... we need to move to a bigger property, i think.

you've been very kind... but the nightmare is that i know all this stuff, i just can't do it. i think there's a small business opportunity for someone here, truly.