DIY Network

Organizing Mail Learn how to keep junk mail, bills and clutter chaos under control. From "Home Made Easy" episode DHME-149

Guest Jessica Sabat, Home Made Easy's organizing expert, joins host Stephanie Lydecker to discuss ways to organize your mail, bills, catalogs and clutter.

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Guest Jessica Sabat, right, reveals ways to organize your mail, bills, catalogs and clutter.

When you go to your mailbox is it full of junk mail, catalogs, unwanted advertisements and too many bills that you just let pile up? If so, Jessica Sabat has some great ideas for clearing the clutter.

Organizing Your Mail

• The first step in organizing your mail is to separate bills, cards, magazines, the catalogs you like and then pile up all the junk mail. Remember, while it can be very nice to page through your favorite catalogs, most of them exist in full online.

• One of the most important things when going through a backlogged pile is to have a recycling bin or trash basket at your side. Immediately throw all advertisements, catalogs and fliers away. There's an address or phone number on just about all junk mail—call or write and tell them to take you off the mailing list immediately

• In these days of concern over identity theft you want to cut up anything that has personal information. A simple way to do this is just to cut them up with scissors. To be extra safe, throw the bits out in different loads of trash. Or you can opt for a paper shredder. They are actually inexpensive now, and you can get a good quality paper shredder for only $20. There are straight cut shredders that cut the papers into strips. They're good, but for extra peace of mind you should consider a cross cut shredder that cuts down and across which makes the shreds nearly impossible to reassemble.

• Consider buying a mail organizer. They come in a huge variety of styles and you can find one that will look great in your own home, on the front hall table or in the kitchen or home office. Every day when the mail comes in sort it into the organizer. If there are just one or two people in your household, you might choose to label each section by type: bills, banking, letters and magazines. You have to stay diligent though, an organizer can become cluttered too, so make time every week to go through your organizer and weed out whatever needs to go.

• Your mail organizer can also be a great idea to tuck in some stamps and return labels. That way if you want to pay your bills at the dining room table or in the den, you just take the whole kit with you and have everything you need at hand—with no hassle of running around looking for supplies.

GUESTS :

Jessica Sabat
Professional Organizer
Website: www.optimumorganizing.com