Dealing with the Paperwork
No matter what type of planner your family decides to use, you will always have a certain amount of paperwork that needs to be managed: mail, flyers, invitations, directions, concert tickets. Having an easy-to-use method for handling all of this paper can save your family many hours and much frustration.
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 | EZ Pocket Home-Date Organizer, shown in Figure 2.2. Suggested retail: $32.95. Website: www.ezpocket.com Figure 2.2. This over-the-door canvas organizer lets you easily store and retrieve the papers you'll need for every day of the month.
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A device that provides you with a compartment for each day of the month will allow you to sort and retrieve all the pieces of paper that you'll need again soon. These are the items that you'll need in the short term, so you don't need to take the time to put them in file folders where they might be forgotten—you know, out-of-sight, out-of-mind. On the other hand, you know how easily tickets to an event can get lost in a stack of papers and how frantic you get if you're running a little late and have to start rummaging around for them. You can put them where you'll find them in an instant if you use a product such as the EZ Pocket Home-Date Organizer, illustrated in Figure 2.2.
Literature sorters, such as the one shown in Figure 2.3, are great if you're having trouble keeping one family member's mail and papers separate from another's. Give each member an in-slot for the day's mail and other information he needs to act on. Have an out-slot for outgoing mail. Some members might want their own out-slot for things such as signed permission slips that they need to take back to school. You can get a jump on bill paying by making sure that all bills that come in the mail are immediately put in a separately designated slot. These sorters are very versatile, so you can customize them to fit whatever circumstances are unique to your family.
Figure 2.3. Literature sorters are great for keeping papers separated and in easy reach. They are available with 12, 24, 36, or more slots, which can be labeled.
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 | Fellowes Smart Stack Literature Organizer with 12 compartments. Suggested retail: $69.95. Website: www.fellowes.com |