12 Ways to Cut Paper Clutter
I was scouring the internet looking for wonderful declutter tips for my readers and I stumbled upon a great blog post by Jennifer from DeclutterIt.
I thought that these tips would be useful. Here are some of the tips that she mentioned:
There are lots of ways to cut paper clutter – from light tips to extreme paperless technology ideas. Here are 12 solutions that run from simple to the more complex – how each tip will apply to you, depends on how much you hate all that paper.
1. Pay all your bills online: And why not move all your banking activity to online while you’re at it.
2. Ban stickies: I know, some are super cute. But good lord those stickies add up. Once you get some, you get stickie mad and use them everywhere.
3. Ban scratch pads: Also come in many adorable varietites, plus they’re small and mobile. They also create massive paper piles. But one tiny spiral notebook and write notes only in that. Recycle it when you use it up, and grab a new one.
4. Get a pda: I LOVE my pda. It keeps me organized, and I can jot down notes on it, which I later transfer to my computer
. No paper notepads necessary if you have one of these babies. Don’t let the cost detour you. Add up the cost of years of notebooks, paper, and stickies, and you’ll feel a lot better. This is only a one-time cost.
5. Quit with the simultaneous projects: If you’re office is in paper shambles, it pays to look at how you do thing. Trying to stay on top of eight tasks at once seems sort of productive, but it’s easier to keep paper under control, and stay organized if you start one task, finish, and start another.
6. Are you in serious paper trouble: Not willing to give up paper just yet? Try the Paper Tiger software
7. Be bold – go totally paperless: Paperless technology is daunting to some, but imagine if you make it! There’s a Paperless Office Experiment, at Productivity501 going on. Although, it’s been happening for quite some time, it’s the best paperless office challenge I’ve ever seen, and will absolutely get you up to speed.
8. Use it – lose it: Use paper sure but recycle the second you’re done. To encourage this sort of behavior keep a shredder right by your desk
9. Cut coupons: Literally. This isn’t an idea to save you cash. You know how many homes I see with piles of uncut coupons? More than I should. If you aren’t gonna cut them, toss them. They expire soon anyhow.
10. Get a receipt system: Either one, scan them for saving, or two, create an envelope system. Grab one large manila envelope, and a bunch of letter size envelopes. Label the letter sized envelopes (gifts, kitchen, appliances, however), and store all receipts in one place. Three create your own system – the two above are just simple ones I use.
11. Scan pay stubs: They always put pay stubs on that super thick paper, and piles add up so quick. Scanning is the easiest way I’ve found to control pay stub clutter.
12. Put your taxes on disc: I keep my taxes scanned in pdf form and then I also make a back-up disc. Before I did this I had an obnoxious drawer of tax related paper clutter.
