how do you organise your post when it comes in? what do you keep and what do you throw.

[foxy1]

my husband never opens his post and never files anything, just wanted sme tips on how you do it and what you keep and what you throw. where do you keep your things. thank you

It looks better if you open everything straight away and throw envelopes and useless sales leaflets in the recycling at once. Then you can make small piles of the actual content that you want to keep that will be easy to file when you get around to it.
Have a small tray for your husband's stuff and put it straight in there (without the envelopes etc) and it will build up relatively slowly without the "padding".

Do you get lots of post for people who used to live there? We do - I have "return to sender" stickers that I did (shhh ...at work) and fling them straight back out by return.

Don't accept leaflets for any info that is online (at the gym, library, doctors etc) - you won't know where they are when you need the info and will look it up online anyway (except the phone no. - keep that in your mobile).

Takeaway menus that you won't use, stuff like that - recycle them before they touch a surface of your house.

I HATE PILES OF POST

hi, i have a small box that used to have a letter writing set in it, it sits on the kitchen counter and anything that i know is important or might be goes in there till i have time to open it, junk goes straight in shredder to use as cat litter. i try to open my mail as im coming into the house,never as im leaving cause then i end up leaving it in the car. however there are times when ds,cat and dog are all whingeing for their dinner so i just set it in the letters box and usually open it once dinners out of the way. if your husband is ok with it you could open his mail and file anything like bills or statements that he will need to keep. that way its stored if he ever needs to go looking for it. it will keep your house tidier and you will know that the only stuff you keep is necessary stuff. hope this helps.

I have a filing tray (it's a remnant of trying to set up our own business) and a filing box (sort of like a mini filing cabinet)

post comes in, I open and remove stuff from envelopes and chuck away junk/envelopes/extra crap that often comes with the important bit sof the mail.

Then if it's something that needs sorting out it goes into the top tray of the filing tray - this includes forms to fill in/birthday part invitations blah blah blah

If it's something that just needs keeping for reference - straight into the filing box

When something in the top tray is done it either gets files, or if it needs something doing to it - like posting/sending back to school/whatever it goes into the bottom tray until that happens.

The Anthea system :

open it, check it, burn it/bin it/recycle it, everything else put in a filing tray somewhere handy and sit down with it once a week - then you always know where the car tax reminder/tax return/insurance renewal is, and once a week, you can take action, or file.

Takes time, but once you're in the habit, it sticks.

Clip any vouchers you'll actually use, and stick them in your purse, and keep your diary in the filing tray so you can write in appointments, etc, immediately, then bin the letter.

Put a note on your front door saying:

No leaflets please
No free newspapers please

Thank you

That cuts it down a bit.

Then, every catalogue you receive that you could view online or not at all, phone up and tell them not to send any more.

Sign yourself up with the mailing preference service and with Royal Mail to stop rubbish coming.

Send everything back to the sender if it is addressed to previous occupants.

My DH had a habit of not opening post. I find this hard to tolerate so now I open absolutely everything he receives. I end up showing him about 5% of it and dealing with the rest myself immediately and binning/filing it.

Do not keep anything that is telling you information that you have got duplicated/could look up on the internet.

Have a calendar on the wall to write things up on - recycle the letters that told you the dates of things.

Anything that needs actioning, do it immediately.

I have cut down substantially on the stuff that comes through my door.

I keep bank statements and that sort of stuff. Bills - I keep 12 months worth so every time I file one, I chuck one out. Only keep things you'll need. I have a concertina box file for things like passports/birth certs/permanent sort of things. I have lever arch files for bills and bank statements. All on shelf above computer. Doesn't take up much space as don't have much.

thank you everyone, some really useful advice there. will get to work!