Do you struggle with controlling the paper clutter in your home? You are definitely not alone! This is one request I hear from many of my coaching clients so I know it is not easy to control. I also know that it is possible with some consistent effort, and I’m here to help. If you are ready to take control of your paper clutter then I encourage you to keep an eye out in your email box for the ADHD Paper Clutter Solutions series. I am going to break up your paper clutter into small, concrete tasks that you can follow along with. There will be a new post in the series every Wednesday.

Gather & Take Action

For this first step I don’t want to just throw pictures of beautiful organized spaces that are clutter free of paper. I really want you to take action ad get your paper clutter under control. Therefore, each post will end with an action step for you to complete. This week we need to do just a couple things. Gather up all the existing paper clutter in your home and put it in one place. Don’t get discouraged if this takes a while, because this is a one time task that you will never have to do again.

-Pick out one larger container and one smaller box. These can be beautiful baskets or ugly boxes or anything in between. It really doesn’t matter. The point is that you are corralling all the paper.

-Walk around your home and put all the papers that are not super urgent or in need of dealing with soon in the larger box. This box will get set aside until later.

-In a smaller container, place any papers that you really need to deal with soon (bills to be paid, permission slips that need signing, an invitation for a party you’re going to soon, etc). This way you don’t have to worry that you’ve buried a paper that you really need.

By now all the surfaces in your home should be free of paper! How does that feel? The best part is that it’s going to stay that way from here on out.

Here is the secret to keeping it that way. Find a pretty basket or bin and place it in a central location in your house. Anytime any paper comes into the house, put in the basket. When you walk in the door with the mail and  you don’t have time to sort it right away, DO NOT place it on your counter. Place it in the basket. It doesn’t even take 15 extra seconds to place it in a basket. When you take receipts out of your wallet or grocery bags, DO NOT just lay them on the table. Place them in the basket. This takes me at most 20 extra seconds to walk to the basket and throw them in.

Don’t worry too much about what’s going to happen to the papers in the basket. We’re going to tackle that next week. For now all we need to worry about is creating the habit of placing all our papers in the basket. Anyone can do this part even if you are crazy busy, because it really takes at most a few extra seconds per day.

Also, make sure you teach everyone else in your household to do the same. If they don’t right away, it’s okay, too. It will only take you a minute or two each day to do it for them, and likely they will catch on as they see your good habit.

If you often have papers that you need to deal with in less than 24 hours (like homework to sign for your kids for the next day), I would make another bin for that to ensure that nothing is overlooked or late.

There’s no rule against dealing with some of the papers before you even put them in the basket when you have the time. For example, I usually go through the mail and throw away the ads and junk mail as soon as I bring it in. However, if I happen to be in a hurry, I just throw everything in the basket so I don’t have to clutter my counter tops.