The Bane of My Existence

I am so overwhelmed with papers in my life! When I started teaching, it was the beginning of the end. I started in a Special Ed classroom where I was in paperwork up to my eyeballs. I was so busy and overworked and still learning and just never came up with (or had time to come up with) a system that worked to deal with all the incoming papers - junk mail, letters, flyers, information, newsletters, district paperwork, school paperwork, kid paperwork...I mean, I could go on and on but you get the idea and can imagine the massive amounts of different kinds of paper that I had. I developed ways to pull some things together into a system that worked for the most important papers and (thank heavens) was successful at what I did, but I always had extra everything else everywhere! And I know I could have been way more effective if I had a system that was even more organized, more feasible, more professional and took less time. They didn't teach that in college! They never said, "Be prepared for a massive onslaught of papers you won't know what to do with and here's how to deal with it..."

So now, I am married and working part-time and it feels like the papers and the mail and the JUNK has DOUBLED or even TRIPLED! Maybe because not only do I have it at school, but now I also have it at HOME, which is the ultimate anxiety. My home should be my sanctuary. So I bought this "file" at IKEA because it matches my computer desk and I was hoping it would help to keep the mail and papers organized. There are some things you have to keep, but don't really have a place so you file them, right?


Come to find out, the Swedes don't really know how to construct a filing cabinet because the hanging files don't fit. It's like an inch too short. So now I'm back to the same old problem - how do I successfully deal with the paperwork coming into the house? Who has a successful system? I've heard file by month, not by subject. Anything else? What kind of file or organizer? Am I the only one going crazy here? PLEASE HELP.

PS I'm not the one who reads the newspaper or the store ads and leaves them all over the house, which is another problem in itself.