Sort through your mail, broken into 6 small steps
Unopened mail turns into a pile, and the pile turns into dread, because somewhere in there might be a bill or something important.
Most of the pile is junk. Recycling it first makes the important pieces easy to see.
Start here · under 2 minutes
Bring the pile and a recycling bin to the same table.
Under two minutes.
The rest of the steps
- Step 2:
Recycle all obvious junk without opening it.
Ads, catalogs, offers. Shred anything with your name and account number if you can.
- Step 3:
Open everything else.
Only open, don't act. Put each one face up.
- Step 4:
Sort into three piles: act on, file, recycle.
Bills and forms go in "act on".
- Step 5:
Add each "act on" item to your to-do list with a date.
Then put the papers in one folder.
- Step 6:
File the rest.
One folder or box for important documents is enough.
Why this one stalls
You don't know what's in it, and "it might be bad news" is a strong reason to not look.
If you get stuck
Open mail standing next to the recycling bin, every day as you walk in. A pile can't form if mail never sits.
What “done” looks like
No unopened mail, and every "act on" item on your list.
These steps follow the same rules as the method in our task breakdown guide: the first step is physical and takes under two minutes, and every step after it is something you can see yourself doing. Got a head full of other things too? Start with a brain dump.