I’ve been busy with an assortment of things lately, so I neglected to keep on top of the stuff left on the kitchen table each day. And within a few weeks, I had one of those dreaded piles, large enough to tip over.

Most of it was accumulated mail. Throw in some receipts that we need to keep for taxes, some paperwork from purchases that I need to save, and a mess of drawings from adorable grandchildren, and I had paperwork falling onto placemats. Not good come dinnertime. We’ve been pushing them out of our way for days so we can eat.

There’s no room on the first floor for any kind of file system, so I have one in the basement. Rather than run up and down the steps all the time, I keep a plastic accordion file in one of the drawers in the kitchen, near my calendar, and that’s where I put any bit of paper that needs to be filed.

I love that accordion file! I’ve had it for years. It has pockets for the checkbook and receipts for each bank account (three). It has pockets for the gas company, the internet provider, the insurance company, etc. This year the gross incompetence of the postal service forced me to pay bills online, but I still keep a paper trail of all payments because I fear that someday something is going to take down the Internet and I want to still have a paper trail. Isn’t that silly?

Once that file gets full, I move all the papers downstairs. I generally do this in the summer and at the end of the year. I had neglected to do it over New Year’s so I actually had two messes of paper to deal with as the accordion file was stuffed.

Today, I completed that task! It feels so good. I don’t know why I procrastinate about these things, because getting them done is such a positive feeling. Just looking at my clear kitchen table gives me a lift.

This is a good time to get your paperwork organized. Tax time is just around the corner. Organize your files and make your paperwork piles disappear now. You’ll be so glad you did.