Why I Sort the Mail in the Garage

Why I Sort the Mail in the Garage:

Keeping the Clutter Out of the House!

I have enough junk in my house. I don’t need more paper, ads, or crap to fill up counter space, the kitchen table or the precious garbage bag.  So, I have a rule: the mail stays in the garage!

It’s pretty simple, saves you from wasting counter space, keeps the garbage bag from filling up faster, keeps you from piling up more junk to have to sort through later, and keeps you from missing important things in the mail – if such things still come through snail mail any more.

This is how it goes for me:

• I pull into the driveway, get out, grab the mail, get back into the car, pull into the garage and turn off the car.
• I sort through and pull out the junk that I don’t need to read at all.  (At this point if my 3 year old son is in the back seat I usually give him a piece of the junk mail because he’s asking to “help” me open the mail.)
• Then, I open all other pieces of mail.  I put bills with their return envelopes with my phone so I know that they’ll get carried straight into the house.
• If there are other cards, for example an appointment reminder, I look at my calendar on my phone to see if the appointment is on there, then add the card to the recycle pile.  No need to carry it inside or add something to my to-do list when you can just take care of it right there!
• If there are any other items that can’t be taken care of in 30 seconds or less I put them with my bills that are with my phone and take them inside.
• Now I get out of the car, put the discard pile in the recycling bin and carry the others with my phone inside the house.
• Once inside, the bills go straight to my desk in their designated bill folder so they’ll be there when pay day rolls around.
• All other items go into the pocket of my niffy planner and on my to-do list. (I’ll talk about my love for a good planner and how to make a good to do list soon – promise!)

In less than 5 minutes a day, I have checked the mail, recycled some paper, filed some bills, and not created piles anywhere in my house or extra work for myself later in the week.