Episode 1: Admitting I have a problem is the first step to recovery.
For many year's I have stubbornly clung to the paper in my home, partially because of the industry I have worked in, partially because of the fear of audit. This is a series of post's for the next few months where I will share my experience of eliminating paper around the house with Document Management at Home.
When there were just a few bills, an accordion folder was enough. But it wasn't long before I needed to upgrade filing systems (and then upgrade again, and again). There is a different filing system for different stages of life (see bottom of post), each one bigger than the last. This can really add up, but no one really can tell because it happens slowly, every few years needing more storage for stuff I never look at. The space being a bigger problem than the cost of storage.
The documents kept coming and even though more things are sent electronically now, I was not getting ahead. Stop the madness, but how.
I realized that it was time to stop the inevitable cycle and go electronic. Businesses do this, why can't I. I have tried to get all of the paper organized before, and really, I have done an alright job of keeping things organized. But paper storage days usually went like this. 1.) Get frustrated by the clutter and decide to spend a few hours cleaning up. 2.) Open stacks mail I never looked and and organize open mail into piles for storage or trash. 3.) Put documents I don't need in the recycling bin, if they are confidential shred it first. 3.) Put files into manilla folders, then into file folders. This happens every 6 months or so, but the problem doesn't go away, it just gets filed away. So now it is time to do something about it. I will share my experience of trying to eliminate paper around the house and I will share my plan for managing all of the records of my life.
Life Stages of Document Storage at Home
For many year's I have stubbornly clung to the paper in my home, partially because of the industry I have worked in, partially because of the fear of audit. This is a series of post's for the next few months where I will share my experience of eliminating paper around the house with Document Management at Home.
When there were just a few bills, an accordion folder was enough. But it wasn't long before I needed to upgrade filing systems (and then upgrade again, and again). There is a different filing system for different stages of life (see bottom of post), each one bigger than the last. This can really add up, but no one really can tell because it happens slowly, every few years needing more storage for stuff I never look at. The space being a bigger problem than the cost of storage.
The documents kept coming and even though more things are sent electronically now, I was not getting ahead. Stop the madness, but how.
I realized that it was time to stop the inevitable cycle and go electronic. Businesses do this, why can't I. I have tried to get all of the paper organized before, and really, I have done an alright job of keeping things organized. But paper storage days usually went like this. 1.) Get frustrated by the clutter and decide to spend a few hours cleaning up. 2.) Open stacks mail I never looked and and organize open mail into piles for storage or trash. 3.) Put documents I don't need in the recycling bin, if they are confidential shred it first. 3.) Put files into manilla folders, then into file folders. This happens every 6 months or so, but the problem doesn't go away, it just gets filed away. So now it is time to do something about it. I will share my experience of trying to eliminate paper around the house and I will share my plan for managing all of the records of my life.
Life Stages of Document Storage at Home
College Grad: the accordion folder $10.99
Young Professional: the file folder $19.71
Family Clutter: Boxes of Files $34.84
Paper Prisoner: Filing Cabinet
Hoarder: Storage Shed
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