At school I feel like I am always collecting some form of paperwork: field trip permission forms, book orders, class photo order forms, etc. I never knew what to do with all these extra papers, so I used to just shove them in a slot at the bottom of my paper organizer. This was obviously not the best idea because all the papers would end up in a mixed up pile. Then I would have to go searching through my pile to find the papers I needed.
So out of necessity I decided to try something different this year.
I bought a cheap black hanging file folder container at Staples. I filled it with different colored hanging files. Then I bought Post It Tabs. These are awesome file folder tabs that are repositionable and come with 24 in a pack. Click here to see the ones I bought - Post It Tabs
I keep the Post It Tabs and a sharpie in my file and as I start to collect papers, I write down the name on a Post It Tab and stick it on a free hanging file. This keeps my paper clutter so much more manageable because everything has a home, and if it doesn't have a home, I make one for it. Last week we took our kindergarten classes to the zoo. So after we got back, I took out all the field trip forms that I no longer needed, peeled off the tab labeled Zoo Trip, and threw it away. Now that file will be available for the next thing that comes along.
I have a hard time throwing things away, and at first I debated whether or not to throw the old tabs away, but then I remind myself that I wont need that tab for another year and 24 come in each pack. This also freed up a hanging file folder so that I could start collecting notes for our Muffins with Mom activity next week.
Here are a few pictures of my mobile files:
My mobile files live on top of my kids take-home paper organizer. This way they are in reach when I am checking my kids' take home folders every morning. I make little piles of the papers as I check their folders and then file the papers away into the correct file.
I also keep things like extra behavior charts in these files because then they are right next to the kids' mailboxes and take home folders when I need them. As you can tell from the pictures, I also keep my kids' report cards in the file and I am currently keeping testing materials in there because I am working on end of year report cards.
I hope this little tip helps calm some of your paper clutter like it did for me!
Now I just need to think of a cute name for these mobile files so I can make a colorful label for the front of the file box.
Sometimes we keep all papers together in our home, just think like we will need of them in future, but it cause paper clutter problem later. Sometimes it gets too much pathetic to find needful paper out of them all.
ReplyDeleteBytheway I like your blog post. Good job! Keep it up
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