ARE you feeling overwhelmed by the piles of paper around your home?
These paper mountains seem to happily accumulate in corners, on tables and chairs, in drawers – in fact any little spare bit of space can become victim to the latest rash of paper piles.

But there are ways to manage this daily onslaught of post, bills, magazines, circulars, lists and junk mail.

Always open your mail next to the bin – immediately get rid of everything you don't need to keep.

Try to organise all bill payments online or pay by direct debit.
Create a filing system for all paperwork that must be kept and then be disciplined – do the filing regularly. Weekly works best because the task doesn't become too daunting.

Go through your filing system annually and chuck what you don't need so you have space for the next year's lot of paperwork.

Create a dedicated area for sorting paperwork and post. Supply the area with envelopes, stamps, pens and notepad so items can be dealt with easily.

Create a message system within your dedicated paperwork area.

All members of the family should be trained to use the notepad for leaving and collecting messages. It saves scrappy notes all around the house that can be easily missed.

Decide if you really use those coupons and offers you collect – don't collect them if you don't – use them by the deadline if you do. Store them in your dedicated paperwork area.

Evaluate all your magazine and publication subscriptions – do you have the time to really read them? Do you really need to keep back issues?
The most successful way to combat paper piles around the home is to stop the flow of paper through your door in the first place.

Sign on to the Mailing Preference Service www.mpsonline.org.uk and stop junk mail in its tracks.

Hopefully, some of these ideas will help you keep those unsightly piles of paper at bay, ensure you don't miss paperwork deadlines and reduce the paper your household uses overall.

And if it's also good for the environment it's got to be worth it!

Brigitte Girling, of Style2Live, can be contacted on 01379 897248 or online at www.style2live.co.uk