Getting Organize & Going Paper-free

I am so sick of paper. That is one of our biggest challenges to keeping the house clutter free. Paper, paper, paper! Mail seems to be the biggest problem. It stacks up quickly. Since we don't have a good filing system, it just seems to lay around the house until I finally clean and throw it into a bag with the intention of sorting it and filing it when I get a chance (and think of somewhere to put it).

In the past I made a meager effort at organization. I tried to use a canvas wall organizer that we bought when we first moved it (nearly 10 months ago). But I didn't give it enough thought and energy. Until recently it has been hanging on the wall and gathering whatever items we haphazardly threw in. As expected, Steve and I thought different pockets were holding different groups of papers. Things were mixed up and misplaced. We both ended up frustrated.

All of that is about to change! I have labeled each pocket with three different categories: Action Items, Scan, and Shred.

I may need to rearrange the scan/shred pockets. Not sure yet.

Near the organizer I placed a cardboard box to hold recyclable papers.

Left = One of many bags of paper to sort! Right = Recycle

Now as soon as mail comes in it is sorted and placed into the appropriate pocket (or recycle bin). This simple step has seriously reduced the clutter on my kitchen counters.

Now for the more challenging parts for me: taking the action. I am working on conditioning myself to go through my action items at least once a week. I'm trying to get it to where nothing stays in that pocket for more than a week. This is a tough one for me, especially since some of the items in there are for Steve and I'm not sure he's fully with me on this one yet.

The other component of taking the action is actually doing the scanning and shredding. I had a lot of old documents that needed shredding. I spent yesterday doing that. It really didn't take me that long (I should have done it long ago)! I was able to do it while Madelynn napped. But, the scanning is a different story. Not only am I trying to keep up with the paperwork as it comes in, I also need to go back and scan all the old items I have. As I mentioned in the title, I am going paper-free (as possible).

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours scanning the papers in my scan pocket. It took me so long because I am still trying to figure out a quick and easy way of doing it. I sorted the papers based on whether they were one page, back to back, or booklets (manuals). Then I slowly started scanning them. Naming and organizing the documents was also time consuming. I don't think I have a solution for that as of yet. Also, it was frustrating because once I finished scanning, my shred pocket was filled up again! Grrr! I hope to eventually have it down to a science and be able to just do them both at the same time. We'll see.

After scanning & shredding yesterday.

Today I decided to bring my scanner upstairs (thank goodness for wireless and a techie husband). I am scanning old documents on and off through out the day. It's working well. The kids play, I have laundry going and I'm scanning. I thought the kids would try to pull at the cords but they're pretty uninterested in it with their toys around.

Today's workstation.

I have many many more boxes and bags of papers to scan (my goal is to scan all of my teacher papers as well). But I do feel as though I am making progress. Now I need to condition myself to keep it up. Wish me luck!