by Scott Holloway

Created on: January 21, 2011   Last Updated: January 24, 2011

For years everyone has heard of the benefits of going paperless. Yet in the workplace and at home the piles of paper never seem to go away. In addition to taking up unnecessary space the unwanted clutter can also be stressful to deal with at times. This is primarily due to a lack of commitment to new methods as well as the natural tendency in humans to collect things. Although breaking with old traditions may be a very long term proposition for most of the world, there a are a number of things you can do to control those piles of paper in the areas in which you live and work.

The first step in dealing with the piles of paper is to sort through them to see exactly what you have. This will require you to categorize your papers into groups such as financial statements, health-care information, automobile records, owner manuals, and children’s schoolwork just to name a few. Creating sub-categories to separate accounts you have with various businesses will further organize paperwork and allow for quicker retrieval. As you are sorting through papers it is also essential that you discard any papers which have become obsolete. A 10 year old receipt for a shirt or a 3rd grade spelling test from your now teenage son are not likely to be looked at again so discard them. Though this can be difficult for some people it will help to immediately reduce the volume of items which have to eventually organized and stored.

Once you have categorized and decided which papers are essential to keep, it is time to organize them into a storage system which will allow you to neatly maintain them in the future as well as allow for quick retrieval. Create both long term and short term storage folders for various categories. These can then be kept in file cabinets or boxes. Items stored for short periods of time such as a year or less can be placed in an area of the home or office which is easily accessible. Certain documents such as old tax returns and receipts which will not be added to in the near future can be stored in out of the way places. This will help to reduce the clutter in areas we use on a daily basis and will allow for quicker retrieval of certain items when needed.

Ultimately the conversion to electronic record keeping will greatly reduce the volume of paper we must deal with. Receiving statements and paying bills on-line will eventually become mainstream. You can begin to become more comfortable using such a process by converting a few of your trusted accounts to an on-line billing process. There are also many software packages available to assist you with such things as household budgeting, scheduling of appointments, and document retention. In addition to reducing piles of paper your important information will be archived in a safe place for later retrieval when necessary.

Reducing the piles of paper we create takes not only a change in behavior but a long term commitment. The result will be less clutter in the spaces used for living and working as well as more efficient retrieval and manipulation of information when needed.

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