Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

Marx and I need a system for dealing with incoming mail. The current system is that one of us will bring in the mail, flip through it, and throw most of it on the kitchen table, where it piles up and probably doesn't get looked at for awhile. This ... is a problem.

Particularly those of you who are married/co-habitating, how do you make sure that incoming mail gets attended to in a timely manner and important things don't get lost?

Emiliana wrote:Marx and I need a system for dealing with incoming mail. The current system is that one of us will bring in the mail, flip through it, and throw most of it on the kitchen table, where it piles up and probably doesn't get looked at for awhile. This ... is a problem.

Particularly those of you who are married/co-habitating, how do you make sure that incoming mail gets attended to in a timely manner and important things don't get lost?

I sort it immediately. My roommate keeps the bills, I put my bills or other VIP mail near my laptop until it's dealt with, recycle or stash the rest.

Mail that's addressed to someone goes to their room and ads go on the table until everyone has looked through them, made shopping lists, and clipped coupons.

I only check the mail when I have time to do stuff about it, but we don't get a lot of mail.

I get the mail, throw away all the junk mail, and then we have a shelf where we each have a wire letter tray like this one, so his stuff goes in his and mine goes in mine. Although he never checks his so I usually just open everything and then tell him if there's something he should pay attention to. Inbetween our two baskets there's a three-tiered letter tray thingus that only I use, and I have no real system except that if I put something there it's because I don't want to lose it, and the higher up it is the more important it is. I like the look of this one from IKEA because you could label all the trays for sorting.

I take care of all the mail. Every time we get junk mail I try to unsubscribe from it. My husband doesn't even register when I put mail in prominent places that are his unless it's a package.

My husband doesn't even register when I put mail in prominent places that are his unless it's a package.

This is an interesting view into the darker corners of cohabitation. I already feel so overwhelmed by household tasks. Bringing a man into it is making me silently scream. :-P

My husband checks the mail more than I do but I take care of it more than he does.

Portia wrote:

My husband doesn't even register when I put mail in prominent places that are his unless it's a package.

This is an interesting view into the darker corners of cohabitation. I already feel so overwhelmed by household tasks. Bringing a man into it is making me silently scream.

If postal absentmindedness were my spouse's greatest fault, I would consider myself lucky to have him.

Katya wrote:

Portia wrote:

My husband doesn't even register when I put mail in prominent places that are his unless it's a package.

This is an interesting view into the darker corners of cohabitation. I already feel so overwhelmed by household tasks. Bringing a man into it is making me silently scream. :-P

If postal absentmindedness were my spouse's greatest fault, I would consider myself lucky to have him. ;)

Thankfully I'm pretty sure my boyfriend does almost all his banking and other business online! He is absentminded (almost forgot to buy plane tickets home for Thanksgiving) but he is also very amenable to me taking over planning with my byzantine system of apps and calendars and notifications.

And that sentence has a nice Austenian ring to it. :-)

Portia wrote:household tasks

I absolutely am not claiming to be the responsible one, but when it comes to diapers, baby wipes, and baby powder, my wife does not return them to one consistent place after use. These are not items you want to be searching for after they are needed. My solution is to keep my own copies in the car (I pretty much use the car, she uses the van).

Digit wrote:

Portia wrote:household tasks

I absolutely am not claiming to be the responsible one, but when it comes to diapers, baby wipes, and baby powder, my wife does not return them to one consistent place after use. These are not items you want to be searching for after they are needed. My solution is to keep my own copies in the car (I pretty much use the car, she uses the van).

I thought $250 diaper bags were all the rage among the Millennial set. I probably misplace physical items more than my boyfriend, but we'll see how that changes if at all when we cohabitate.

According to this I'm a Gen-Xer

Mea culpa, they're a mere $110 to $210, LOL.

And I don't think that site looks as reliable as Wikipedia, which typically lists 1980-2000, but you can call yourself what you like. :-) To me the defining events of Millennial-ism are 9/11 in youth and the crash/Recession when starting a career. So 1983-1993 are the peak birth years, I suppose.

Man, I wonder what the profit margins on those Veblen goods are.