For the past couple of years, we have tackled paper in our home.  It always amazes me that so much paper could accumulate and how many file cabinets for all this paper .  So in our household, we are working our way to minimal paper.  This is how we are doing this.

Step one was to make a promise to go through the mail each day – recycling what is junk and dealing with the remaining.  That means putting the bills in the bill pay file. Responding to invites.  Creating a folder for menus and discounts.  Keeping on top of subscriptions.  This is working in our home.

But there was still papers! Like many of you, I didn’t have a lot of time to spend on this project, so I planned baby steps.  For me, that was one major area per year.  There were two items I needed to tackle this.  First a scanner – I chose one with a feeder to be able to scan multiple pages.  Next, the shredder – I chose a cross cut versus a strip cut to really make confetti out of the documents.

Year one, was our medical records – lab results, doctors notes, insurance claims, cancelled checks etc.  We sorted these into piles – keep and scan, toss and to do.  This took time, we spent 5 minutes most days and did a little more each day.  Within the year, this was done.  One file cabinet drawer tackled.

Year two, was taxes and supporting documents.  This wasn’t as hard as I imagined.  We kept 7 years worth of paper returns.  We choose to scan the actual old tax returns before shredding them.  Now, we scan everything including the supporting documentation and keep the returns in a pdf file.

Year three (honestly, this two two plus years) was the family photos.  For our home, this included movies and slides in addition tot he photos.  I inherited all my families media and sorting this took time.  First, we the movies.  we didn’t even own an 8mm projector.  We took a giant leap of faith and trusted the titles to a company to put them on DVD.  And that worked for us.  Next, the photos. I have to be honest and tell you this was time consuming.  It took lots of time to sort and scan the photos we wanted.  Last, came the slides.  We sorted these and sent them to the same company to be put on a flash drive.  This project is done!

This year is the year of the manuals, you know those items that come with a new item and you keep it just in case.  Ours are very organized and filed by room or type of product and we do refer to them from time to time.  But they are taking up a whole file drawer.  My though process, is to download the manual as we by new products to refer to and not save the paper.  I will create a file with folders like my file cabinet.

Remember to back up anything on your computer, either in a cloud or on external media.  You would to lose your family photos or important documents with a computer crash.

We have gotten rid of three file cabinets – two four drawers and one lateral – so far.  And there is more to go.  What do you do with all your paper?

If you have been a reader of Money Choice and know me, you know that 2018 my goal is to simplify my life.

One thing I am tackling is the clutter in my life – both physical and mental.  I have been organizing my home, donating and tossing out lots over the years.  My way of doing this is to tackle on small area at a time – one drawer, shelf or other small area – and that seems to work for me.

This year as I continue this process, I have added an online year email class – daily emails to work through this clutter process.  What’s great is that you don’t have to begin on January 1 (I didn’t).  You can start whenever it right for you.  You are welcome to join me. I’m in week 2 of the Daily Om’s A Year To Clear What Is Holding You Back!

After two long years of sorting of and on, we have finally sorted through all our family’s photos, slides and movies!

My mother was the avid photographer and there were many photos, slides and movies to sort through.  It took me many years to be comfortable with the idea of tossing some.  Now that it’s done, we have kept the best, most meaningful photos of all and scanned them.  The old family movies were restored and transferred to DVD by Southtree.  Really love their services as they kept us informed with emails all the way through the process.  Now, will be sending them the slides to work on. Once there done, we’ll be set.

We cleaned out 4 storage plastic tubs and a full file cabinet of family photos.  It was a thrill to relive memories and painstaking at the same time.  Another clutter project completed.

For more resources, visit my website www.JillRussoFoster.com.