How to Get Rid of Your Paper Clutter

Do you like keeping receipts, bank statements, bills, invitations, gift tags, and other paper stuff? Maybe your wallet is so thick because of receipts. Maybe your fridge or desk is full of bills to pay. Or maybe you don’t realize that your storages are full of paper clutter. Well, you are not alone because I tend to commit this mistake. 

Paper stuff tends to accumulate if we do not do something about it so it is very important to let go of the things that won’t serve us anymore. Sharing some tips on how to get rid of your paper clutter. 

1. Go Paperless 

We live in a digital age so the paper bill is already a thing in the past. It’s been several years already since I slowly shifted to paperless billing, it started in the year 2013 when I received our internet bill with PHP25 additional charge. Yes, we need to pay PHP25 for our Globe internet paper bill so we immediately signed up for electronic billing. Since then we started enrolling other bills too if there is an option, as of this writing we only receive water and electric paper bill. 

Read: PHP25 Paper Bill Charge at Globe

I don’t know why Meralco is still sending us paper bills when I already enrolled in paperless billing. With regard to our water bill, after few months of community quarantine, we started receiving text messages and we have an option to view our bill online but they still send a paper bill. For the bank statement, I unsubscribed so I no longer received my quarterly Statement of Account. 

Read: How to Access Your Meralco Account Wherever and Whenever 

2. Reuse, Recycle or Repurpose your Paper 

My husband has a lot of paper works so I always reuse, recycle or repurpose those papers. I used those papers to print my son’s worksheets or mock reviewers. And because of community quarantine, online distance learning na so my son use those papers to print his lessons. He rarely uses his notebooks and he just prints the slides because, during exam days, he won’t be able to access the online lessons. I don’t buy notepad because I take home the complimentary notepad at the hotel or resort where we stayed. I also make my own scratchpad or notebooks. 

Read: DIY Scratchpad 

How to Reuse or Recycle Old Notebooks 

3. Purge your Bills, Bank Statement, Expired Warranty Card or Any Personal Documents 

I’m guilty of this because I always keep receipts, bank statements, and bills because I feel that they are important proof that I’m paid. And in case that I need to complain about my credit card bill, I have my credit card slip. I’m supposed to throw receipts monthly but I always end up throwing them quarterly or at the end of the year. 

I have no problem with receipts because I really throw this away. This year, I finally let go of my old bills, receipts (for warranty), bank statement, expired warranty card, and other personal stuff that I was keeping for a very long time because in my mind “I can’t throw them”. They have their own storage so it did not bother me at all, hindi naman makalat. Second, I feel lazy throwing those personal documents because I don’t just throw them away, I use a pentel pen to erase personal information or I cut those papers. Iisipin ko pa lang nakakapagod na. Lol 

Solution? I finally bought a paper shredder, I’ve been meaning to have this at home but it is too expensive but I found a cheaper version, a manual shredder. You can buy this at Shopee or Lazada but I personally bought my A4 Manual Shredder here. My son helped me with shredding but it took us several hours and we had a garbage bag full of paper trimmings. I did not throw it because my husband used it for our mini garden. 

Note: There are some documents that we need to keep forever, some documents that we need to keep for several years, and some documents that we need to shred or toss. 

4. Let Go Your Newspapers or Magazines 

Newspapers are not my problem because I don’t buy this but I have a few collections of magazines like Yummy, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Ok! and travel magazines. But I finally let go of them except for my travel magazines because I no longer read them and I'm pretty sure, they are already available online. 

5. Donate your Books

When my son was in his toddler years, I always buy books to keep him busy. Suki ako ng Booksale and  nagpamember pa ko sa isang company so I can buy books at a discounted price. But when my son hit grade school years, I gave away his books and even his preschool books. 

But I'm not sure if they are using the books so two years ago, I went to SM department store to donate my son's book in exchange for shopping coupons. I planned to donate my son's book last year but COVID19 happened. 

Read: Donate a Book Share the Joy of Reading

How about you? Do you have a pile of papers?