What do YOU do with your snail mail? – a guest post by Marissa Bracke
Marissa Bracke is a Can-Do-Ologist, helping solopreneurs get back to the work they love by handling the tasks they don’t. She spends her free time collaging, ruminating about ordinary subjects with extraordinary acquaintances, and frolicking with her two dogs. Enjoy!
Remember when you were a kid, and “getting mail” was really exciting?
Maybe it was a card from your grandmother, a letter from a pen-pal, or even the Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes envelope (am I the only one who used to play with the little magazine stamps as “stickers”?). Back in they day, getting mail was fun and kind of exciting. Of course, we got less of it, and we usually didn’t have to worry about things like “filing” or “paying” or “sorting.”
Nowadays, getting mail usually means bills (ugh), junk mail (double ugh), or magazines (fun, but potential clutter). While most of our everyday communication takes place on the phone or online, snail mail is still a presence in our lives… and on our countertops or desktops!
Here’s what I do for snail mail
What works well for me:
Most junk never crosses the threshold into my house. I keep my recycle bin near the door between my garage and house, the entrance I use when I’m coming in the house after retrieving my mail. Before I enter the house, I pause for a minute and pull out all of the flyers, pamphlets and junk mail envelopes that don’t contain private information, and I dump them directly into the recycle bin. They never come in the house.
The shreddable items (credit card offers, for example) come in the house, but go directly into the shredder. If I set them on my desk or counter (ostensibly to “shred later”) they sit there for weeks. Directly to the shredder they go!
The magazines go onto a small end table that sits near my loveseat. Once the shelf on that end table is full, I have to either recycle magazines currently on the shelf, or (if everything on the shelf is Need To Read material) the new magazines get tossed into the recycle bin with the junk mail before ever coming in the house–until some room is made on the end table shelf for new ones!
What I’m working on:
The “needs some attention” stuff is tough. The flyer for a conference I want to attend and need to register for. The bill I need write a check for and pay. The invitation I need to RSVP for (after checking my calendar and figuring out travel details).
The items that require some interim step between receiving it in the mail and disposing of it are the ones that befuddle me, and often end up being tossed in a pile on my desk where they promptly… sit. (Well, they sit *and* act as the foundation layer for additional pieces of “needs further action” snail mail that come later… so let’s not pretend that they’re completely useless.)
And then there’s the outgoing mail that I need to generate: birthday cards, thank you notes, the stuff that I want to send the “old fashioned” way rather than by email. I have the card, I have the stationery, I have the stamps… but all those separate pieces usually wind up sitting on my desk (near that nefarious pile of “needs further action” mail) rather than getting assembled and mailed.
What do YOU do with your snail mail?
What works really well for you? What are you working on?
Share your insights and ideas! Your comments on your own process are welcome. House rules: Give advice to me or others only when it’s specifically requested. This makes exploring safe and learning possible for every reader.Organized under Uncategorized. Labeled as bills, clutter, junk mail, mail, mindfulness, organizing, prevention, snail mail, system.
331 days ago,
Lori Paximadis said:
I sort mail immediately when I bring it in. My husband’s stuff goes in a pile for him. I bring mine to my desk for sorting into shred, recycle, read, and action categories. We have a basket for paper recycling and a shredder in the office.
I sort my read pile into two smaller piles; one for the coffee table to deal with in the evenings when the TV is on, and the other for my nightstand. I’m having a hard time coming up with an easily explained “rule” for what goes where; the coffee-table stuff is generally lighter fare (flip-through-able, like Lucky magazine or my alumni magazine) or super timely (like the newspaper), whereas nightstand stuff is meatier (like Smithsonian magazine).
The action pile gets broken down further. Bills to be paid go in a little basket designated for them. Things that need to be added to my calendar are piled on top of my calendar (and are dealt with first, after I’m done sorting the mail). I created a “think about it” folder for those things that sound interesting, but I for whatever reason can’t make a decision on yet (conferences, shows, fundraisers); I go through that folder every couple weeks or so to see if any of it still appeals and take action on those things that do.
I, too, struggle with the desk pile. I’m an out of sight, out of mind girl, so putting the in-between stuff in a folder somewhere just won’t cut it. I try to deal with the pile every few days to keep it to a manageable size, and I put the critical items in that pile on my to-do list so I don’t forget them.
Lori Paximadis´s last blog ..Studio Tour
330 days ago,
Sarah Tieck said:
Oh, Marissa (and Jen),
How timely this is! I’ve been feeling a bit “behind” lately because I’ve taken a break between big bursts of productivity to recharge. But, the dishes keep piling up, the laundry … and now, the mail. I was just noticing today how there are little piles of it in the office, the kitchen, the dining room table, and the basement.
Good to catch it now … before those piles harden and grow new layers! Hee hee!
325 days ago,
jennifer said:
@Lori – I love your description… I can almost see an imaginary line on the path that your snail mail travels (like Family Circus Billy’s romps through the yard). You’ve learned some great tricks to keep things from disappearing on you. How great!
@Sarah – Happy to keep you in “noticing” mode. : ) It can be a challenge to keep everything moving forward at the same time, so I applaud your noticing what might be in need of your attention next!
316 days ago,
Sarah said:
I’m right with you on the junk mail! I throw mine into my office recycling bag before I put anything down.
Other stuff that works well for me:
*I pay bills as soon as I get them. When I open them, I’m in my office with my computer, and I just set up the payment that very minute.
*I have a standing file with thirteen pockets — one for each month — and I just drop things I don’t really need to see but want to save (hello, bank statements!) in there. If I don’t put them straight in, it gets ugly.
For outgoing mail like cards and letters, I add them to my calendar. I also keep the addresses of my Most Important People with a book of stamps in my purse, for those times when you happen across the perfect card in, you know, the grocery store or something.
Thing I’m not so good about: I always think I want to look at particular catalogs, but end up recycling them unseen two months later. Dear Self: you don’t read them! Love, me.
Sarah´s last blog ..Presence
315 days ago,
Darcy said:
One thing I do for outgoing snail mail is that I have a lovely porcelain letter sealer, and using it is so much fun, I can’t wait to get a chance to do so (not that I don’t send cards out late sometimes, but it helps). It’s a smooth white wheel that rotates in a little reservoir of water, simple elegant design. I bought it for myself after leaving a job I didn’t like– they had one at that office and rather than being sorry to part with using it, I got my own. I love the idea of scheduling getting a card ready to mail and am totally going to try doing that.
Darcy´s last blog ..Book: Jacquard’s Web
315 days ago,
Lori Paximadis said:
For outgoing cards, I do a similar thing. I make a to-do note on my calendar four mailing days before each event to mail the card. I buy cards in batches a couple of times a year for all the upcoming events (I have a list of who needs cards when), so they’re always on hand. Saves a lot of last-minute running around and panic in trying to find the right card under pressure.
Lori Paximadis´s last blog ..tidbits: turkey edition
315 days ago,
Waverly Fitzgerald said:
What a great topic! I do have one clever strategy that seems to be unique for events I want to remember. I have a file by my desk with all the date-related pieces of paper: concerts, invites to parties, print-outs from email of interesting events, deadlines for writing contests, classes I want to take, etc. I put them there as soon as they come in, then sort them once a week when I’m reviewing my schedule for the week. That’s when I enter the ones I want to track in my calendar but I keep the hard copies for reference, in more or less chronological order. That way when it’s the week of the event, I can grab my papers, tuck them into my calendar and know I have all the information at my fingertips. It’s harder to figure out what to do with the ones I have to ponder (do I want to sign up for this class?). Generally, I keep them on top of the stack and keep coming up every week for me to consider. Until usually it’s too late and I toss them out.