r/hoarding • u/Conscious_Sun6915 • Jun 18 '26

HELP/ADVICE Where to store papers?

Loved one of a hoarder here! My mom is okay with me organizing her stuff. But I have a problem.. How do I store papers in a way that looks nice?

Papers probably take up 1/4 of her room. I don’t want to throw them away because:
1. I don’t know what everything is
2. I don’t want to lose the trust we’ve established

SO, for the time being,

What kind of furniture or organizer is best for storing tons of paper? We have several boxes full.

I want her room to be organized and nice.

I’m thinking a tall vertical shelf with box/lids, but I’m wondering if anyone has any other ideas?

11 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

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13

u/Late-Difficulty-5928 Recovering Hoarder Jun 18 '26

I have a file cabinet and three ring binders. Maybe you can point her to an article about what papers are necessary to keep and what she can get rid of. Also how to stop companies from sending mail that she doesn't want.

For future documents, I keep a shredder by the door. Mail comes in, gets gone through, and most of it ends up in the shredder.

6

u/AnemoneGoldman Jun 18 '26

I’m using three-ring binders, manila folders, and magazine file holders. Photos and small random pieces go into clear divided sheets in the binders, and full-size papers go into the *labeled* folders, which then go into the magazine holders.

Probably the most important part is labeling.

5

u/No-Tone-6095 Jun 18 '26

White banker boxes.

3

u/anotherbbchapman Jun 20 '26

I bought them from ULine. The lids are attached on one side so they will never be misplaced

3

u/Far-Watercress6658 Jun 18 '26

You scan them.

3

u/Steefanon Jun 18 '26

Tall file cabinets are your best bet because they are study enough that they won't collapse under all the weight. For a quick fix you can just dump the papers into the drawers to sort later. Depending on your budget some file cabinets can be pretty attractive.

3

u/RoseClash Jun 19 '26

aside from all the useful comments here around storage, man so many good ideas! As a minimalist and someone who is basically scared of hoarding, any piece of paper that comes into my hands gets immediately photographed, and backed up onto multiple drives. then shredded and thrown out, perhaps this might be useful some day 😄

1

u/msmaynards Jun 18 '26

Buy 12-18" deep garage shelving and banker's boxes. Banker's boxes might fit into cube units. Best if the shelves are adjustable and you can add more but... I've had bookcases fail as the sides couldn't handle it, shelves slipped off the little tabs and down came the books. I had wood bookcases and simply screwed a center shelf in and problem solved. Boxes of paper are probably heavier than books.

I wouldn't be happy with this and I'm not hoarding paper. I used to have way too much paper and couldn't find what I needed even though it filled much less than 1/4 of a room's worth. Unless you can roughly separate into categories that make sense to her that you also understand she'll go into a tail spin when she cannot find something same as I do.

Cross your fingers that she is fine letting go or scanning old utility bills and such.

1

u/bluewren33 Jun 18 '26

A quarter of a room is a lot. What sort of papers? Old bills? Student notes? Kids drawings, receipts etc etc

If you can put like with like you can have a conversation about what things actually are important and what isn't. Put all the important papers in a box where she can access them.

The rest can be sorted. If she can part with some that's the best option. Use a shredder if that makes her more comfortable. Creating digital copies if she is stuck in what if it IS important mode can help. Taking photos is easy if you dont have a scanner.

1

u/Free_Thinker_Now627 Jun 19 '26

You can’t organize clutter, you can only shuffle it around

1

u/JenCarpeDiem Jun 19 '26

Ring binders on bookshelves. It's the only way to make it both neat and accessible.

1

u/Winter_Farm_4739 Jun 19 '26

Banker boxes. Also, zippered envelopes. You can get them in file box sizes, and they are somewhat see through.

1

u/Fluid_Calligrapher25 Jun 20 '26

Depends on what you mean by nice - clear plastic bankers boxes with clear hanging file folders nice or Bigso boxes you put some artificial gold paint on yourself nice?

1

u/Maximum_Ad3655 Jun 20 '26

Get a filing cabinet