Simple Living Lesson #5 - Incoming

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Hello everyone! Thanks for checking in for week five of the Simple Living Lessons series. I have been following along with a fantastic ebook that I read called Simple Living: Thirty Days to Less Stuff and More Life. So far I have made a plan, organized from underneath, attempted to find quiet and cleared off a major surface.

This week's challenge was easier than clearing off the surfaces in my kitchen. It involved keeping the counters clear by bringing in less mail! This challenge is an easy one for me because I receive and pay almost all of our bills online. I only check the mailbox once every week or two, because honestly, there is nothing in the mailbox! 

After we returned from Hawaii, I forgot to check the mail, for another two weeks. Three weeks our mailbox sat, unattended by its owner. And what was in there when I finally got around to checking it? One piece of legitimate mail. Fifteen advertisements for realtors, four pizza menus, one magazine and twelve flyers for random local things that were of no interest to my family.

Since I have been working to become minimalish, and spent hours cleaning my kitchen counters, I refuse to bring this paper clutter into my home. The best way I have found for sorting the mail? Sit on the front stoop, while the kids are riding their bikes and toss all of the unnecessary mail into the recycling bin, before it has a chance to invade your house!

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What's your trick for handling incoming clutter? Recycling bin by the front door? I wish there was a way to sign up to not receive any junk mail at all, but alas I haven't found it yet!! Check in next week when the challenge is called "Outgoing." I have a feeling with all of the purges I have done, this challenge will be one I will rock!