I want my dining room table back!!

by Arlene O.
(San Antonio, TX)

Our dining room table is a mess because we get mail, magazines, catalogs, ads in the mail and they end up on our table. We get lots of credit cards offers with check on it which take us time to shred before we dispose of the ones we do not want. My husband likes to keep everything in there so when we eating dinner he only has a little space to put his plate and glass because he's surrounded with papers. The bottom line is I need a system that is simple to use because we do live busy lives. He's a teacher. I work as a substitute teacher and we have 2 school age children {15 and 5 y.o.)

Thank you so much

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Jun 03, 2011
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by: Samantha

Hi Arlene, sounds like you're clutter is attracting clutter! Your problem has a simple solution. Open your mail over the trash & put a paper shredder right where you'll use it. I open the mail over the trash handling it only once. I opt out of credit card offers too (this saves a ton of time & protects you from id theft too!). Check the ftc's site here for info on how to do that: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre17.shtm

Let your husband keep a designated space that you mentioned he likes by giving him a designated space for bills to be paid too. I put my bills in a small binder that I keep track of our budget in & I keep the binder in the same space at all times to avoid misplacing it.

The key is to handle the piece of mail only once, put the bills in their designated spot to be paid.... somewhere away from the kitchen table, toss junk mail, and shred credit card offers right then and there.

Get your husband on board by giving him his designated space mentioned above. Then explain that the table is for coming together at the end of a crazy hectic day to enjoy family time. It's not very relaxing sitting down to a dinner table cluttered with bills and junk mail. Been there, done that, and gained control over it by designating three areas for this cluttered mess of papers... Trash, Shred, or Bill binder.

Good luck, I hope this helps!

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