With so much optimism, the home computer-age ushered in this naïve notion that we would not have to keep so much paper clutter in our lives. But all it takes is one computer crash, where you lose all your documents, to know that everything has to be backed up and printed out. Even now I think about all the pictures of my friends and pets, which I have not printed out, and how I would feel if I lost all those memories. This article was originally written before “the cloud” and other document-saving programs. And yet if the entire electrical grid goes down, who knows what will happen to all our on-line documents, not the least of which is our banking information.

I know that I can I-Cloud or whatever, but I’m also one of those folks who really, genuinely wants as little of my personal data floating around in cyber space as possible, in spite of my love for writing and sharing.

With my own office, I have some loosely tied together systems of organization that work for me. With client files, I keep all the current ones in my office. If a client does not get updated from me for 3-4 years in a row, I move those files to the back office file cabinets in another room and this also makes way for new and current client files in my office and within easy reach.

If, after eight solid years, I don’t hear from a client and update their property, then I will either toss the file completely, or save just the floor plan. If having measured and drawn a very big floor plan was a lot of work, I will save that piece of paper a little longer, so that I don’t have to reproduce it, should a long lost client resurface. This has happened, even with a few people contacting me who were in the same house 15-30 years later.

Paper clutter can be overwhelming, even to a semi-organized person, and this is why just Paper Clutter alone is a niche specialty for some Professional Organizers. These days, much of what we have includes legal documents and tax receipts and some papers we need to keep indefinitely. Over the years I have invented and re-invented my own systems and always started out with the broadest of categories for separate file drawers.

If you have to keep track of another person’s life besides your own, that is a special responsibility which demands current up-to-date organization. One of my neighbors visited over 100 skilled nursing facilities when her partner needed to be placed in one of them. This kind of fact-finding project requires astute record keeping and organization.

All business-related tax receipts go in another drawer with sub-categories. All files related to my School or my books and publishing go in another area. It’s good to keep warranties and contracts together in their own file as well. Another file for all things related to the pets and their vet bills, etc. So, even the simplest of lifestyles can generate an entire room or more full of paper!

Each year I relish shredding all the old tax files and paper that I really do not need anymore. I have even taken a chance on printing out reports in a smaller font than I would normally want to read, but just to save on paper and have something on file.

I have learned from Professional Organizers that many people hang onto papers that they don’t really need. You don’t need to save an entire magazine, just for one article in it. We can all downsize on that kind of paper and then scan into our computer files the items which really are not vital to keep a paper copy of. Organizing your computer files is a whole other topic!

I had an epiphany about what I really needed to print out (client reports) in ratio to the odds of me losing the file stored on my computer, and the odds of my client not being able to retain their own secure copy. I now save myself thousands of pieces of paper and loads of ink every year, by not printing out copies of certain non-essential reports. I don’t need a report to remember how I advised a client. All I need is a copy of their floor plan and I am good-to-go. Even if it took me a couple of hours to re-produce a report from scratch that was lost electronically by both parties, that is a small amount of time compared to the amount of time, paper and ink for printing out hundreds of reports per year that almost no one asks for a replacement hard copy of. Do you have anything similar to this in your own life and business circumstances?

So the take away of this little blog entry is to ask you:

  • Do you have some non-essential paperwork and documents that you really don’t need to print out?
  • Do you have some current paper clutter that you can get rid of by scanning and saving digitally?
  • Do you have some documents you can store on a secure server off your own computer?
  • Do you have a second computer you can save documents in that is not connected to the internet and not “hackable”?
  • Can you print out some things in smaller font and print out less paper?

Some of the paper you may be keeping is not really necessary to hang onto. I have been tossing receipts of bills that are not even needed for tax deductions. I have been tossing marketing materials that are not even usable anymore.

Most importantly, is the source of your paper clutter related to documents and receipts you really need to keep or just miscellaneous things you have not dealt with?

Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions (R) Since 1992
from the Tao of Organizing Blog Series