How To Start Organising Paperwork From School

Organising paperwork from school can be a never-ending job with a constant stream of papers arriving through the door especially if you’re a working parent.

In this post, I will share with you my best filing system for home, to keep all those fiddly bits of paper and school records organised and to hand whenever you need them!

I’ll show you how to create a simple home filing system in seconds and show you how to organise paperwork clutter in two simple steps, which will make filing paperwork from school super simple!

if your child is starting school this year and you need some school readiness tips read this post

 Benefits of organising paperwork from school

Firstly, let’s look at how much paper arrives through our door from school and how we usually deal with it, the fine art of paperwork management!

  • Party invitations ~ these arrive in your house in copious amounts and either get stuck to the fridge (a simple home filing system) or end up in a heap with all the other piles of paperwork which you need to trawl through and organise. One week before the party you panic that you haven’t replied to the invitation and frantically search through the items in a pile only to find the invitation is missing and has ended up who knows where!
  • Parent events and parent evening letters, you think you’ll remember the date, then panic at the last minute and realise it was yesterday! Follow my simple steps to organising paperwork for parent events and never miss another date again!
  • School sports activities, you didn’t write it down and you need to book the time off work but can’t find the paperwork!
  • School calendars, who has time put all that information into a diary?
  • World book day letters and many other non-uniform messages these are often found in the bottom of a book bag the day before the event.
  • School project with deadlines letter, you forgot to write it down, you assume your child will remember, they don’t until the day before its due in. Make organising paperwork for school projects a priority with two simple steps and get those projects done in plenty of time!
  •  School competition letters, stick it in the pile you’ve got ages yet! (the best home filing system!)
  • school trip letters, you realise on the morning of the trip that you’ve got no bread for the packed lunch you were supposed to make!

The list is endless, but they do all have one thing in common, either you need to sign for it, pay for it, attend it, or it has a deadline!

Oh and you can multiply the quantity of these important documents by the number of children you have at school!

How to start organising paperwork

Knowing how to organise your documents from school is a game changer. Here is a super quick way to start organizing school papers, it is mobile and accessible at any time of the day or night.

I have a super easy plan to keep it all organised and it’s so simple it is genius!

  • Write the event straight into your diary, or on the calendar. I prefer to use my phone’s calendar because  I always have it with me, and can see at a glance what I’m doing if needed.
  • File all of those bits of paper immediately, I will be showing you the best method to do this in a moment!
  • Reply to any invitations immediately! I can guarantee if you leave it, you won’t reply until its almost too late and you’ll be scrambling around at the last minute looking for an invitation with the number on it!

 You will need:

  •  A stapler
get organizing school papers

Steps to organizing school papers

  1. Firstly check the date of the event on your school paperwork or party invitation

    organising paperwork from school

  2. Find the corresponding page in your diary.

    how to organise paperwork from school

  3. Fold the paperwork or invitation to A5 size

    (or the size of your diary page)  if necessary, then staple the invitation or letter to the corresponding diary page.

    organizing paperwork from school

  4. Remember to check your diary every day first thing in the morning

    Check each night to see where you have got to be and what you need to action for the next day.

And that is all there is to it!

You now have a filing system you can take with you on the go and one which is easily accessible user-friendly, and super organised and super cheap! It’s like a mini filing cabinet for your handbag!

Staying organised.

  • Make sure you buy presents and wrap them for upcoming parties or events.
  • Keep a check on events you have coming up and prepared everything you need in advance for help getting organised read this post
  • Put money needed for school in envelopes ready to take to school throughout the week.
  • Sign any forms you receive to return them staright to school.
  • Double check times and venues of parties and sporting events.

This is my version of a tickle file just without the cumbersome box file!

Any miscellaneous notes which don’t have a specific date but you keep for reference are stapled into the notes bit at the back of the diary!

This system works well with keeping receipts, coupons and filing paperwork too!

Storing children’s artwork

I store all my favourite art work the kids may have done in a box file like this , it also contains any precious letters they may have sent me and anything else of sentimental value. The kids have a box each and the cardboard files are labeled for each year. This minimises the number of kids paper clutter I keep and forces me choose wisely what pieces stays!

Frequently asked Q&A

What is the most effective system for organising paperwork?

One of the best ways to organise paperwork is to only keep what you need. Get rid of any unnecessary bits of paper that may be cluttering up your home filing system categories. For example, I do not keep manuals for anything I purchase, as everything is available online these days. So keeping bulky instruction books in your home office filing system is just not practical. Filing paperwork is so much simpler when you create a clutter-free home filing system, if you need help to declutter your home read this post.

What are some good home filing system ideas?

I like organising paperwork with binders, this simplifies filing paper work, I also have a one-touch policy when it comes to paperwork management, so, open it then immediately file it or bin it!

Give me some tips on how to sort through paperwork from school?

Read it, write it in the diary then bin it! It’s the only way to deal with the heaps of paper clutter coming from school. You can’t organise paper clutter, you just need to bin anything you dont need, but be sure to write it down first!

Do you have any filing ideas for coupons?

A tickle file is a great way to organise coupons as is the system I have created above. There is also some great coupon wallets available like the one below to keep your coupons organised.

What are some good home filing system tips?

Knowing how to organize a home filing system can be overwhelming, but the trick is to keep it simple and easy for you to file stuff. Keep files decluttered so its easy to put new paperwork away and make sure all your files are accessible. Paper filing systems for the home need to be streamlines and uncomplicated. I have a few box files for:
Bills
Mortgage/house
Receipts
Car
Insurances
ID
These are purged regularly to avoid paper clutter.

organising paperwork

For further reading on paper clutter you may like to read The minimalists

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organising school paperwork

Do you have any tips to organise paperwork from school or keep to keep on top of the mail? Or do you organise paperwork electronically? We love hearing new ways to stay organised, so let us know in the comments!

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