I follow a similar pattern to your first steps. Then the Action items go to their places, determined by their needs. This system is faster to use than it was to type up for this comment!

I have a…

- To Be Paid clipboard (pay bills every Sunday from it)

- To Be Reconciled inbox (for receipts [technically not mail, yes, but incoming]) As credit card and bank statements arrive (or are downloaded), the receipt items get checked off the list and go into the…

- To Be Filed folder. Also going into the To Be Filed folder are statements once completely reconciled and statements that require no action as they arrive.

- Statements binder for 2010 is the finally resting place for all statements I will need in the future (tax time mostly). Tabs are labelled. Statements are 3-hole punched and in date order. I keep 7 years of these binders because I am required to for my business. It is a tidy end-point.

- medium-sized plastic Receipts accordion sleeve with labelled tabs holds reconciled receipts. The tabs are labelled with the applicable taxman’s categories (Auto, Business Supplies, etc.) ready for adding up at the end of the year. At the end of the year they are already sorted because I have been putting them in there all year as they were checkmarked off statements. I add them up with an old-fashioned adding machine. Whole categories of receipts are clipped together with their adding machine tape and put into plastic binder pockets in the Statements binders after the numbers have gone onto the tax return. Insert a copy of your tax return in the front. Voila, a single binder at the end of the year.

It is a thrill to shred the 7th binder every year when the new one is complete. Many people reading might only need or want to have one year back dated if they don’t have any home business. Check with your tax laws.

And finally, since I brought up receipts, one other thing to deal with… When I make a major purchase (new printer this week for example), I photocopy the receipt to keep in the receipt process. The original goes WITH the user guide, warranty info, how-to instructions, whatever, in my binder labelled How Things Work. That way if I have a problem in the future, I don’t have to remember what year and category it landed in. My How Things Work binder is populated with plastic binder pockets with categories such as Kitchen Appliances, Computers & Tech, etc. I always know where instructions for everything are also.

PS Shredded paper also goes to be recycled. It just doesn’t go “whole”.

Start with an attractive tote bag. (L.L. Bean and Lands’ End are two good on-line sources.) This can be placed on the floor inside the front door or in the coat closet.

Then set up several file folders with appropriate labels: to do, to file, to read, financial (bank statements, bills, etc.), recycle, shred, trash, or any other categories that seem appropriate. These folders go in the tote bag.

Then when the mail comes, it can be placed, unsorted, in the front of the tote bag. After dinner (or whenever the mood strikes), Sue can sit down and sort each item into the appropriate file.

Then she can carry the tote bag with the files and make the rounds to distribute each item. Things in the recycle file go in the kitchen recycling bin. Things in the shred file go into the office where the shredder is, and so on.

We don’t have a “mail center”, but the system we have works for us:

I usually pick up the mail. We live in a very small apartment building (5 apartments), and there’s no recycling bin in the entrance (no room), so I pick everything up and take it upstairs. I sort the mail in the kitchen, and anything that can be recycled or trashed, is. Anything that needs to be shredded goes in my purse and is shredded at work the next day — no point having a shredder at home when we have heavy-duty shredders at work.

My mail is opened and processed right away as much as possible. Anything that can’t be processed straight away goes in a wire basket on my desk which acts as a catch-all of “stuff for Anita to deal with”.

Boyfriend’s mail, as well as any flyers that might interest him, are left on the dining table which is close to the entrance, so he sees it when he comes in. He processes it as he sees fit, and anything that needs to be filed or that he wants me to see is dropped in the same wire basket. About once a week I go through the basket and deal with everything.

If it’s not a package, it’s junk. It goes from the mailbox into the recycle bin. End of the line.

Part of this is because it’s not convenient. My husband puts the mail on the table by the front door. The recycling is in kitchen. The shredder is crappy and is hidden in my office. When I get home from work, I usually want to flop down on the couch and relax a little before starting dinner. I don’t want to grab the pile of mail, walk into the kitchen to recycle the junk, and walk into the office to put the bills and invites and other stuff I need to deal with in the right place, while struggling with my crappy shredder for the credit card offers. But I can’t figure out how to set up a mail center by my front door. I just don’t have space.