YOU AND YOUR MAIL:

Handle most of your mail only once. Immediately discard anything that needs no action, doesn’t interest you, or doesn’t merit saving—a subscription request for a magazine you’re already getting, for example.

If you receive an unsolicited credit card that you don’t want, cut it up so that it can’t be used and throw away immediately. Do the same whenever you discard out of date credit cards or those you don’t intend to use.

When you need a copy of your reply, make a carbon copy on the back of the original letter. This way you have only one sheet to file, and the chances of mislaying the copy are greatly reduced. Or as of today lets print out a copy from our computer. And for the ones that don’t have a computer. No need to type to get a carbon copy either. A handwritten reply done with a ball point pen makes a perfectly legible carbon.

So that you always have greeting cards for any occasion, buy extras and file them in appropriately labeled folders(birthdays, anniversary, get well etc…). Include on your weekly list of things to do letters that must be written, cars to be mailed, and other kinds of paperwork with deadlines—taxes, auto registrations, and so on.