Step one was to gather everything together in one place, so that I knew how much I was dealing with. Actully step one was getting into the right mindset and a short phonecall with my daughter notivated me to get ti done!
Step two was to go through every single bit of paper to see what coud be discarded. For me this takkes a bit of discipline - I must only think can I throw this away or not? This was most satisfying as I reduced the pile by abut a qaurter - to the amount below. Progress.