Need a Clear Head? - Cut the Paper Clutter

Paper clutter can affect your mental well being by contributing to your stress level.

Take this test. Go to your office right now and sit at your desk. Do you feel relaxed and comfortable? Or do you feel stressed out, overwhelmed by the amount of work that you have to do. When you look at your desk is it free of papers piling up, or are there mounds of things to do?

Chances are if you are like the majority of Americans you have unpaid bills, unfiled letters, faxes, newspapers and magazines mixed in with a to do list from 1998 lying on your desk. This clutter when it piles up is often associated with difficult and worrisome issues that can range from work you still need to do to bills you still need to pay but haven't gotten around to yet.

The effect of these piles of paper can lead you to feel overwhelmed and out of control. The effect can be subliminal. The papers piling up around the house can and do activate worry cells that can lead to stress, tension, or even migraines. This out of control feeling will go beyond just your desk.

In America we get an overwhelming amount of mail each and every day. We get utility bills, phone bills, tax bills, credit card bills, all of which we need to pay. Then on top of that we get credit card offers, magazine subscription offers, flyer's, and miscellaneous catalogs we never signed up for. All of this mail gets piled up on our desk, creates both visual and mental clutter.

One of the easiest way to attack this clutter is to never bring it into the house to begin with. You can do this by placing junk mail immediately in the recycle bin or by taking steps to make sure that it never gets sent to your house in the first place.

To stop receiving credit card application upon credit card application the U.S. national credit bureaus offer a toll-free number that enables consumers to opt-out of all pre-approved credit card and insurance offers with just one phone call. This number is 1-888-5 OPT OUT (or 1-888-567-8688) and it is open 24 hours a day. You may also opt-out (or opt-in) on line at https://www.optoutprescreen.com .

This will only cut down on some of the clutter. What you need to do to cut down on the rest of the clutter is to commit to a filing system. This not only works for work related papers, but also for your mail.

After you receive your mail each day you need to commit to opening all of it each day. While opening it you can quickly discard the junk, envelopes, etc. and file away the important documents. This will also create less stress in your life because by doing this you Will never be affected by the stress of misplaced bills again. You will know exactly where you filed it.

While you are going through the mail accept that junk mail is junk mail and should be recycled. You will probably never go back and look through that catalog of gardening supplies, so why give it the luxury of taking up space in your home.

When you clear through the clutter every day it never has a chance to pile up and take over your desk again.