I get mail; therefore I am.

— Scott Adams —

There was a time when mail took effort. It had to travel on horses or wind-powered ships. It had to be hand-written. It was a day when every piece of mail had importance.

But no longer. Needless to say, we still get important mail, but there are varying degrees of importance. And we get so much of it. And oftentimes it ends up in piles on our desk or dining room table.

Time to get control of the mail. To do so, let's look at the different types of mail we get and suggestions on how to control the overflow. If several members in your family receive mail, have separate boxes or trays to sort the mail. In all cases, have a wastebasket handy to immediately dispose of unnecessary items. A good section to also check out is Clutter Control and suggested products below.

1. Family and Friends related.
   It's nice to get a card or letter from family and friends. If it's a displayable item, like a holiday or birthday card, put it out for a while on a table or shelf. But after a week or so, decide to keep it or throw it away. If you keep it, have a box or file for cards or special memorabilia. You can also scan it to save to disc or your computer.
2. Work related.
   Determine the importance, the action, and time frame of the item. If it is just a "Cover the Back" type of item, have an appropriate file for it. If it is one requiring real action, incorporate it into your appropriate work flow.
3. School related.
   If the mail is regarding an upcoming event, immediately post it to your calendar. Have a file ready for grades and notes from teachers and counselors.
4. Bills.
   Have a Command Center set up with a bill organizer, trays, or files for bills that have to be paid. If the bills are tax deductible, have an appropriate tax file set up to keep the record after paying the bill. Receipts for warrantied items should go into a "Receipts" file. All other bills can go into the "Bills Paid" file, to be reviewed every few months to throw out unnecessary items such as cable bills, personal purchases, etc. Any items you are throwing out that have an account number, should first be shredded.
5. Important information (bank/stock statements, doctor reports, etc.).
   Many statements are now available online, so one possibility is to receive them online. At the end of the year, you can download a full year's of statements, then save them to disc. If you are keeping paper copies, have files or binders set up to hold them after review.
6. Ordered literature or items.
   If you are requesting information for a particular purpose, you should already have a file set up for the information upon receipt or you should scan it and keep it in a computer file.
7. Sales literature.
   So much of this is the junk mail we receive. If you are looking for a particular item, go ahead and look through the literature to see if anything pertains to what you need. Otherwise, have that wastebasket handy.
8. Magazines and Newspapers.
   For your current magazines, have a rack to keep them contained, and once it is filled, you know it is time to let them go. If an article has interest to you, tear it out and file it, or scan it to be put on a disc or computer. Consider electronic delivery of your magazines and newspapers to your computer via Zinio (add on the right) or a Kindle device (listed below).
9. Catalogs.
   If a catalog has interest to you, go ahead and browse. But after browsing, check to see if there is an online catalog. If there is, use that wastebasket for the paper catalog. I keep a computer file of web addresses of companies I order from or I might like to order from, which frees up quite a bit of space in my home.

— Shelly —

Here are a few mail organizing products to check out and you may also search for more books and other items at the Amazon search box on the right.