Ditch 200 Pages!

[scrubbyfish]

I am such a minimalist...EXCEPT when it comes to paper! I receive or collect oodles of pages relating to my investments, kid's homeschooling, recreation options, subsidies...and then I have three deep filing cabinet drawers full of tax returns, archives, photos, etc. I'm convinced my life would be awesomer -and still complete- with about 1/3 of the paper I have.

Does anyone else need to release papery stuff?

Will you join me in releasing the first 200 sheets?

[golfer44]

Right on! I like to sign up for e-delivery whenever possible, and save documents from there. Plus, you can either store them on "the cloud", an external hard drive, or e-mail them to a dedicated account (i.e, 1234youraddress@gmail.com for your house related documents, etc).

[scrubbyfish]

Down 22 papers so far, some quite fat so the pile looks better than it sounds!

This includes:
-three subscription forms for Oprah magazine (which are not even applicable in Canada)
-three product registration cards (still not sure if these are necessary to access warranty services, but I give up!)
-souvenir papery things from recent trip
-newspaper of local events (put key events into Google calendar, ditched paper)
-pamphlets of relevant support services (put notes in relevant Evernote files, ditched pamphlets)
-community college calendar (created Evernote file of "dream courses", ditched booklet)

[Thegoblinchief]

Since shredded paper can't be recycled, make sure to compost it. If you don't compost, only shred stuff that's truly sensitive.

[scrubbyfish]

Since shredded paper can't be recycled...

It's accepted in my municipal pick-up service... I hope they're recycling it!

[scrubbyfish]

Does no one else collect paper? Or is everyone else with paper clearing this under a broader "get rid of excess" thread?

Anyway, I soldier on! I released some uncounted swack of pages yesterday, and 120 pages today -an author friend had printed off one of his books for me to read. Almost a year ago! I had promised to shred it when I was done. Today I realized I could ditch the pages I've previously read, plowed through another 20 and shredded those, and will finish the final ones hopefully today.

Something that has helped me release some of the paper are these two things:

1. Portable filing system. I have a filing cabinet that I want to release some contents of, but my first concern is the stack of semi-organized papers that float around my bedroom/office. To deal with them, I need them to be visible. But them being clumped in a stack was making it hard to process them. The portable filing case keeps them visible, but sorted. This has been helping me whip through them by category: business plan, quick to do, etc.

2. Hoarders. Again, my house is near empty -some visitors refer to it as "refreshing, peaceful, zen", others are disturbed by its minimalism. Regardless, watching episodes of Hoarders motivates me to release the excess I do have, which is this stuff. On an episode I watched yesterday, the coach yelled at the person something to the effect of: "Every single thing you have in here represents a dream, a vision, something you want to do. But you can't do all of it! You just can't! You have to choose a couple of things to do, and let the rest go!" That resonated 100%. Every paper I have represents a dream/goal/to do. And I can't do them all. For example, I can't go to university until I have child care. Okay, so all the course ads/brochures can go. And if I ever get child care, I can grab -and file- course info at that point. In the meantime, I appeased my anxiety about Not Remembering by listing the course dreams into an Evernote file.

[samburger]

I would have been right here with you six months ago. I purged THOUSANDS of pages. Now I have a tidy little system with e-bills and one small file box for things I must have paper copies of.

On an episode I watched yesterday, the coach yelled at the person something to the effect of: "Every single thing you have in here represents a dream, a vision, something you want to do. But you can't do all of it! You just can't! You have to choose a couple of things to do, and let the rest go!" That resonated 100%. Every paper I have represents a dream/goal/to do. And I can't do them all. For example, I can't go to university until I have child care. Okay, so all the course ads/brochures can go. And if I ever get child care, I can grab -and file- course info at that point. In the meantime, I appeased my anxiety about Not Remembering by listing the course dreams into an Evernote file.

This was by far the hardest thing to deal with. Throwing the stuff away represented parting with some idea, some seed, some dream. Yet I persist.

Good luck in your paper-cleanse!

[scrubbyfish]

Thanks, samburger! So good to know of someone who has successfully moved through this!!

golfer44, Thegoblinchief, samburger, others: How do you deal with tax papers? I'm self-employed, and required to keep copies of all receipts, etc, for a full six years. That's one entire file drawer! Yuck.

[deborah]

I have been shredding heaps of stuff. My mother gave me all of her shredding when she found out I had a shredder. I plan to put it in my next raised bed.

The recycling people in my area do not recycle shredded paper unless it is contained (in a box or bag...), because it is too small for their separating machine. Like most of Australia, we have separate bins for recycling and ordinary rubbish.

[Nords]

I am such a minimalist...EXCEPT when it comes to paper! I receive or collect oodles of pages relating to my investments, kid's homeschooling, recreation options, subsidies...and then I have three deep filing cabinet drawers full of tax returns, archives, photos, etc. I'm convinced my life would be awesomer -and still complete- with about 1/3 of the paper I have.

Does anyone else need to release papery stuff?

Will you join me in releasing the first 200 sheets?

I was cured of this syndrome when I had to clear out my Dad's files.  After we got him settled in his Alzheimer's full-care facility, I came home and started cleaning.

Before we pitch a piece of paper, we consider using it for scrap.  (We did this on both of my submarines and cut our paper purchases by over 50%.)  Today I have a two-foot-high stack of printer paper that's only been printed on one side, and when I print something it's usually just for short-term use.  Even when I think that I need to print something on "good" paper I'm usually proven wrong.  I also have a huge stack of used index cards (from our daughter's middle-school term paper projects) that I re-use for shopping lists and notes.  (Our daughter graduates from college next week.)  We go literally for 2-3 years before we need to buy a pack of printer paper.

One thing that would accelerate my paper cleanout is a good formfeed scanner.  I've been dragging my feet on submitting my VA disability claim because part of the project is scanning in my medical record.  It's a mishmash of stapled, folded, and mutilated paper of various sizes and weights, so it just seems to be hours of manual drudgery.  Once I solve that problem, I'll turn the scanner loose on another two-foot stack of files that can be searched on a hard drive a lot more easily than in a binder.

[herisff]

How do you deal with tax papers? I'm self-employed, and required to keep copies of all receipts, etc, for a full six years. That's one entire file drawer! Yuck.

I scanned everything in using my ScanSnap several years ago. It took a lot of time to get my history in, but now the upkeep is a breeze. I keep my tax returns separate from my supporting tax documentation. I keep only the past 7 years of supporting doc, but have all of my tax returns. Then every year I scan in the past year's info. Use a naming strategy that makes sense to you, be consistent in that naming, and you'll be able to find things easily.

Once I got done with the tax stuff, I then moved on to everything else. I now have one drawer of temporary files (with some binders to corral frequently referenced/used things), everything else is digital. And I just got done scanning in the photo albums this year- that took quite awhile. Just don't think your desk will be clear! My desk is currently trashed as I haven't had the dedicated time to do what needs to be done.

[scrubbyfish]

Hmmmm... What I'm so far picking up in this thread is that my system may actually be as good as it gets!

My life demands a lot of paper, and a lot of paper trails -autism funding, autism services, homeschooling, homeschooling funding, self-employment (and as a writer, to boot), government subsidies, etc. Each piece of paper makes several rounds within its community of those involved.

Even so, I have a completely clear desk, completely clear shelves/floors/counters/etc.
Just one filing drawer of tax proof, one filing drawer of the abovelisted items, and half a filing drawer of writing work, all easy and quick to locate.

I'm not sure that scanning my tax papers would be worth the time, energy, or cost over keeping them in the drawer.
Most of the papers I'm not allowed to submit by email.
Etc.

Will continue to assess.

I'm definitely over the 200 pages set as the most recent goal, in any case! Feels really good!! It just took me over that hump of unsorted stuff. (And my friend's non-fiction book detailing a wild event in his life was an amazing read -should be made into a movie. Completing that reading alone was well worth this effort.)

[peppermint]

Commenting in here so I can follow along and come back to update. I have tons and tons and tons of paper, not too much clutter otherwise, but it would really use a good clean-out/organizing/shredding. I'm traveling the next few days, but hopefully this will be a good motivator to get on it when I get back.

[scrubbyfish]

Although I've definitely ditched 200 pages, I am still continuing with this: both ditching and preventing.

1. I worked out with homeschooling agency how to eliminate a swath of monthly paper reporting. We're doing all that online now, reducing at least 12 pages of originals per month, plus the copies. I type it in, and the copies are there for me to view if needed.

2. I am letting go of some of my perfectionism around record-keeping. My experience is that keeping receipts, government documents, etc, can make a massive difference -in terms of time, finances, etc- but I think we're set up enough now that I can start letting some of this go. For example, when I submit 13 documents to the government, instead of making an entire copy to show myself what I submitted, I am typing into Evernote a list of what went in. (Many times, small variations in these submissions go to several offices, and I end up with five thick sets of "proof".) There is definitely room for error in this approach, but I'm willing to take some risks. Besides, even at my paperiest, I still made a mistake that cost me $22,000! I think I'm just at a saturation point where the amount of paperiness is too much for me to benefit from anymore. Must streamline now to get maximum actual benefit vs broadest potential benefit, if anyone knows what I mean.

[oldtoyota]

Spouse is working on a paper removal project. The middle of this process has lasted for a few weeks, so the upstairs is a mini-mountain of paper piles. It's stressing me out.

We've burned through two shredders. One was so bad and received such terrible reviews that Amazon did not even require that we return it. I know. Why did I buy it? The bad reviews started coming in after I purchased it…maybe the manufacturer changed something about production to make the shredder worse.

Back when we shredded, we added the paper to the compost pile. We have a rich pile of hot dirt in our back yard.

[CommonCents]

Over the past week I've been working on decreasing the piles of paper from over the past 5 months.  We moved, and I haven't sorted through the paperwork in that time, and it turns out businesses are convinced immediately after buying a home you run out to the store to stuff it chock full, so they innudate you with a lot of booklets, coupons and offers.  And I like coupons so I just let it all pile up. 

I have counted paper, but I'm sure it's well over 200 pages removed, and more filed.  Now, if I could just get my husband to help...even throw away the envelopes things come in...

[CheapskateWife]

Wait a minute!  Shredding = compost material?????

Is that for real? 

[Basenji]

Yeah, I have boxes of "need to go through" papers. Time to hit it. Thanks for the reminder.

[frugalamber]

We are also in the process of moving all our records electronically. Scanning and shredding is on-going activity in our household last 2 months; but it helped clean almost 4 years records organized and remove tons more. In our town; shredded paper can be put in organic box; hence there it goes.
We have a big problem of storing all documents; so finally getting them of paper and moving electronic is huge.
We tend to go through about 60 documents in 5 week days and around 50 in weekends to minimize the actual use of shredder on daily basis.

[MarcherLady]

Wait a minute!  Shredding = compost material?????

Is that for real?

Yep. It counts as'brown' material, for composting purposes.  We also use a couple of handfuls of shredded paper under the kindling when lighting fires.

[CheapskateWife]

That is marvelous!  We are always rather short on brown material...I will direct Cheapskate Husband to adjust accordingly, thank you for the clarification!

[Chranstronaut]

I'll accept the challenge.  I just did a bunch of shredding before reading this, but since it came out of the "to shred" box, I'm not counting it as part of the 200 pages.

My specific goals are to go through my old school work again and make sure that I actually need the notes and PowerPoint print outs that I've kept, get rid of old research notes and old company information from past career fairs and job hunts.  I've got a portable filing case filled with "important papers", so that will get a look over as well.  I think I can tear myself away from past years' birthday cards I've never looked at again.

Does anyone have good ideas of what to do with old Scientific American magazines?  They are too old to donate to my library (older than 2 years).  I was thinking of giving them to a teacher to have available for their students, or to let them cut out the pictures for projects.

[Nords]

Does anyone have good ideas of what to do with old Scientific American magazines?  They are too old to donate to my library (older than 2 years).  I was thinking of giving them to a teacher to have available for their students, or to let them cut out the pictures for projects.

Our public library has a separate magazine exchange table that's in the quiet reading room, not part of periodic holdings.  People bring in all sorts of magazines of any ages, and you just help yourself.  There's no checkout or maximum number-- just bring what you can and take what you want. 

You can tell from the selection when people have been cleaning out their storage cabinets.  For some reason National Geographic and Scientific American seem to be saved by a lot of readers.

[scrubbyfish]

Does anyone have good ideas of what to do with old Scientific American magazines?  They are too old to donate to my library (older than 2 years).  I was thinking of giving them to a teacher to have available for their students, or to let them cut out the pictures for projects.

I think that's a great idea.

Our local Value Village (thrift shop) also accepts and sells a wide range of magazines. When I need magazines for vision boards, etc, I go there because (a) no one else has cut through them yet, (b) they are 10 cents each, and (c) there's such a wide range of magazine types, so I can get a wide range of pics and words. Some churches I go to also store magazines for vision boarding, etc. Finally, I would try offering them out on Craigslist (free). I know a few people that keep boxes and boxes of magazines for (again) vision boarding workshops they lead. They love a fresh infusion, and things that widen the range of the Oprah and Better Homes and Gardens they already have.

[shadowmoss]

I just bought a feed through scanner to compliment my flatbed printer/scanner so I can scan all the real estate legal size documents I have.  My goal is to go through decades of papers I have in waaaay too many boxes.  I'll scan what is important, keep what I think I need to have hard copies of, and probably just shred/trash most of it.  Thanks for this thread to light a fire back under the project.

[Nords]

I just bought a feed through scanner to compliment my flatbed printer/scanner so I can scan all the real estate legal size documents I have. 

Please let us know what you bought and how it performs!

I'm eyeballing the Canon P215 (http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-portable-scanner-is-the-canon-p-215/) for its duplex scanning feature, but I'll probably resell it on Craigslist as soon as I'm finished with it.

[sleepyguy]

We have a very small nifty Fujitsu scanner, does duplex/colour and is extremely fast.  We're able to scan/index tons and have reduced our physical paper storage by at least 90% if not more.  The unit was NOT cheap but well worth it.  Make sure you buy a unit that has spare parts easily available.  Rollers are the main things that wear down.

[theincurableapprentice]

Thanks for starting this post.  I love to get rid of paper.  I walk through the house every morning and pick up any loose papers that have landed on the countertops or strewn across the floor (with two small boys this happens quite a bit.)  One of my habits is to rip the paper in half once I have made the decision to throw it away.  That way I know I do not need to review the information again. 

All the comments here make me want to declutter the rest of my house - magazines, cleaning out my closet, organizing the kids craft supplies, so much work to do :)

[tanhanivar]

I use an app called "JotNotPro" on my phone - just take a photo of the document, check that it's sensed the corners correctly, and save it as a PDF. I do this with all my business receipts*, and upload them directly to Dropbox. It can do multi-page documents.

It's also incredibly handy if you suddenly need to email someone a scanned or signed document, bill etc.

Hugely useful for keeping on top of receipts while travelling, too.

*I do keep the paper receipts, but label them all with "scanned", drop them into an envelope labelled with the year and never look at them again until it's time to throw them out.

[peppermint]

I haven't been keeping track of page count, but I did shred and discard a bunch of credit card applications that have been piling up that I've been meaning to deal with, and I've thrown out some other stuff too.

I would like to get some better shelving for my desk -- I work best when everything is within sight which unfortunately means paper screwn everywhere. This tendency isn't going away, but if I get some wire shelving to stack papers on I think it might increase the amount of paper that is visible to me and keep the desk surface a little tidier.

[scrubbyfish]

I work best when everything is within sight which unfortunately means paper strewn everywhere.

Same. My new system is working really well! Larger filing cabinet for archives and stuff I don't need to work with this week, and a small case for active "to do" files that stays in my bedroom/office. I have this one, but in a cheery purple: http://www.staples.ca/en/Gracious-Living-Stacking-File-Crate-1-Pack/product_805361_2-CA_1_20001  I've been free of paper piles for weeks, but am at least as productive as before, if not more!

[peppermint]

That's a good idea. Yeah, I'm realizing if I want to get away from the "paper strewn everywhere" approach on my desk, I need some stacky thing like that, preferably vertical so I can see everything at once.

I should also put my receipts into an envelope (I have been saving my gas receipts for the year, and they are a mess in the glove box), while I'm thinking about it...