7-Day Purge Challenge {Day 7-Paperwork}

If you missed Day 6 of the challenge, click here.

Welcome to the LAST day of the 7-Day Purge Challenge! I’m doing the happy dance over here because I get to wrap things up before the holiday weekend arrives. Our family has some fun things planned, and I look forward to taking a much needed break. If you’re still with me, today’s challenge may not be as exciting as others, but you’ll benefit tremendously after completing it.

If you read the title, you already know that we’re working on paperwork for this part of the challenge. I actually enjoy getting rid of paper clutter. I’m also pretty ruthless about it, and I don’t hesitate to pitch incoming junk mail. However, since we homeschool and I run a home business, paperwork seems to multiply by the minute. Not even kidding. I’m hoping to make a serious dent on our homeschool papers, and some old business documents I no longer need.

Here’s how you can tackle today’s challenge:

Collect it

Sometimes we don’t realize how much paperwork we have. A small pile here and there, doesn’t look like much until it gets out of control. Gather all of the paperwork that needs looked at. It’ll be easier than focusing on one space at a time.

Sort it

Next, sort through all of your paperwork. Create three piles: toss, file and needs attention. This step will eliminate the need to sort a second time.

Shred it

Shred paperwork that contains personal or sensitive information. Don’t fall victim to identity theft just to save a little time.

Create a system

Once you purge unnecessary paperwork, figure out what you’ll be doing with the paperwork you keep. If it needs filed, do it right away. If you can scan it, do it and save yourself some space. I have one filing tote that holds all of our important paperwork, and a smaller tote for current bills and documents.

Paperwork is my nemesis, but I’m looking forward to getting rid of the paper clutter before our school year ends. Again, I’ll be updating this post with my progress photos. We’re almost done!! 🙂

**UPDATE**

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We spent a few days in North Carolina, and we also took the kids to a local amusement park. It was nice to have a few days off, and spend some time unplugged.

She rode this five times…in a row. #HersheyParkHappy #HersheyPA #travel #familytime #mybabygirl

A photo posted by Jesenia (@thelatinahomemaker) on May 31, 2016 at 1:44pm PDT

For this challenge, I was a bit surprised that I didn’t have a ton of paperwork to tackle. I recently worked on this, so that could be the reason I was lacking paper clutter. But I was still expecting a bit more than one bin’s worth. I worked on my paper pile while my toddler dumped her toys on the other side of the living room.

Believe it or not, I was still able to fill up a large grocery bag with papers and catalogs. None were important, so I didn’t bother to shred them.

Now I can say that I’m officially done with the challenge. I’m hoping to do another challenge, but instead I’ll be focusing on organizing.

Did you enjoy your Memorial Day weekend? Did you tackle some of your paper clutter? I’d love to hear about it!