There’s a never ending battle that we all fight. It’s the battle between your clean kitchen counters and the stream of mail and paperwork that enters your house. I can’t stand having random pieces of paper all over the kitchen counters, so I created a mail sorting system that blossomed into a mini kitchen office. It really helps control the clutter! Today I’m giving you a little tour of my system!
I picked up that bright turquoise organizing system from Target last year. The back slot holds 4 folders and my laptop sleeve (in case you were wondering what that black thing was in the back). Here’s a detailed look at what each section holds:
Folders
- Bills to Pay: This is where I keep the paper bills that come in the mail. If I pay the bill online, I throw away everything except the bill itself. Remittance envelopes only need to stay if I’m mailing in my payment. I also keep a page of return address labels inside this folder for easy access.
- To Be Filed: This is where bill stubs go after I’ve paid the bill. If you itemize your taxes, you will benefit from this folder! I also put medical receipts, contact prescriptions and vet records in here as soon as I get home with them. Every so often I go through this folder and file the papers in my household document organizer.
- Recipes: When I see a recipe in a magazine (those things we used to buy before Pinterest) that I want to try, I’ll tear the page out and put it in here.
- Decorating: Same thing as the recipes – if something I see in a magazine inspires me, I’ll put it out and put it here for later.
Left Front Pocket
- Pens
- Mechanical Pencils
- Scissors
- Letter Opener
- Sharpies
- Dry Erase Markers
Right Front Pocket
- Multiple pads of paper: Paul and I are both list makers. We like to have different sizes of note pads easily accessible for to-do lists, reminders, notes when we’re on the phone, and of course…love notes!
- Stamps
- iPhone: my old iPhone holds all my music, and is synced to my wireless speaker that lives in the kitchen.
I also store my coupon binder and my two favorite cookbooks next to my organizer, for easy access. My mini kitchen office is extremely helpful in winning the paperwork war!
UPDATED: Here’s a video tour of my current system!
Come Home For Comfort 
I would love to know how you organize your bills once they are paid. This is an area of struggle for me. Budgeting is difficult for me, but because it helps my husband, I take care of all the bills. It overwhelms me though, which is probably why I struggle to keep everything simple and organized. Any tips?
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If I need to keep the bill after it’s been paid, I put it in my “to be filed” folder. Once the folder is full, I sort everything and store those in my permanent filing system in my office. I did a detailed post about that over here, if you’re interested. 🙂
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