Small Space Questions: Getting Rid of Paper Clutter

Hi Beth,

I used to be overcome with a clutter of paper myself. I used to hold on to everything and not know what to get rid of at all. I’d go through a time in which I’d clean up and then the cirumstance would continue all over again. I’d end up with a room full of papers and wonder what the heck happened.

I tried to figure out a way in which I could come up with a system to get rid of all the clutter yet have them on hand if I needed the papers. So to solve my problems, I decided to use my computer as an electronic file cabinet.

I scanned all the papers that I didn’t need in physical form and put them on CD. To be certain that they wouldn’t be lost, I made back-up CDs for every disc I created.

I know you said you run an animal rescue group, so if this idea appeals to you, a wonderful way to go about it for you would be to sort your papers by year.

If your papers are piling up and backing up several years, you might want to put the last several years on CD and keep the most recent 1-2 years in physical paper form.

If you have a scanner (like I did) that has an auto feed, it would be best to use it because you can just put the papers in it and let the scanner scan them in. Otherwise, it will be a lot of work for you.

You just want to be certain as you scan them that you organize them in appropriate folders. You can categorize them by group or file them under an A-Z older system and then burn them on CD (your choice of CD-R or CD-RW). And then whenever you need them you can pull them up on your computer (and print them off).

Just make sure that when you scan the papers you can read them clearly on screen before you get rid of the physical paper(s). It’s worth the extra space it takes up.

Take it from me. I scanned them on draft once and didn’t bother to look and ended up losing papers that were important to me later because I couldn’t see them clearly.

Also, if filing your papers (electronically) by year doesn’t work for you, then another good idea is to file them from least important to most important.

You said you have a whole bunch of papers. However, there’s probably only a small selection of papers that you absolutely have to have on hand (most important). A good thing to do is go through your papers like you would organize (or get rid of) other items in your house…

Ask yourself how you would survive without them?

How would each record/paper affect your life if you didn’t have it on hand in physical form? If you would be okay printing it off and it would not affect your life in a detrimental way, then those papers are the ones you can electronically file away on disc without risk of trouble in the future.

Once you’ve got your electronic file cabinet set up, a good place to store your CDs is in a CD organizer. I use a CD drum to organize my CDs, because they are compact, hold a lot of CDs and are stackable.

You can buy more than one and they are made to stack on top of each other. As well, they come with a wallet and you can pull out the CD pockets from the drum and put them in the wallet in case you need some of the information on CD when you travel.

Here’s a link to the CD drum I use. You can also get these locally at Staples.

The best place to begin, is sorting the most important from the least important papers. What papers do you have to have on hand no matter what (most important)? What papers are you keeping “just in case” (possible least important papers)?

Once you’ve sorted through them and separated them, you’ll probably end up throwing some things away that you don’t need in the process.

Once you’ve gotten down to a stack of papers you’re unsure about getting rid of those are your definite least important papers and can be filed away electronically.

But let me mention, if you’re ever unsure of whether you need something or not, filing them away electronically will not hurt you because you can always return to them in a year or even half a year and get rid of them. Or keep them if you choose. The extra space they take up won’t be much or worth the extra trouble of getting rid of something you may need later.

So okay, to summarize…

Your most important papers could go on file in a “real” file cabinet in your home so that they’re always on hand. And papers that date back some time or
least important papers can go on file in an “electronic” file cabinet.

And you can always keep your most recent 1-2 years on file (in physical form) and continue to file away dated material electronically as time goes on.

To handle your “active” papers—the ones you can’t do without on a daily basis, Sally Allen recommends putting them in an active file box.

Since I’m not as well educated on organization as Sally, I’m going to refer you to her article because she has some good pointers. You might want to follow her advice on “Building and Effective Paperwork System” in this article.

I think it might help you a lot.

Here’s the link:
Get Organized! Organizing the Paper Crisis

Anyway, I hope that helped, Beth. If you have any other questions or concerns at anytime, please don’t hesitate to write me back. I’m always happy to respond. Have a wonderful day!

Tags: organizing, small space questions

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