Can You Really Go Paperless?
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Some weeks ago, when we all posted pictures of our workspaces, I was part of a brief private discussion about workspace clutter. Someone said, if you go paperless, it is easy to reduce the clutter. I agree. However, it seems like not everyone in my life wants to cooperate with me.
Image by James Nash
Here’s what I mean. I love school days because I get all the extra hours in the morning, but I also don’t love the paper they send home. I have two in the same school and get duplicate copies of every piece of school wide communication. I don’t even want to think about the amount of paper I’ll get when my third child starts school.
When the children go anywhere, they love brochures – what is it with kids and brochures and flyers? Where do you think those end up on? Uhuh. Mom’s desk. Then there are receipts and business cards! Oh and, there’s the art work. How can you ever turn down or throw away all those drawings and I love you notes that were written *just* for mommy (or daddy)?
In the end, I’ve given up on *going paperless* at least in the home office. But what I can do is reduce the paper that I do have control over like:
- Signing up for e-bills and making payments online
- Using Evernote instead of post-it notes
- Printing all receipts into PDF format
- Reading digital resources and digital products that are PDF format on my PDA
- If I have to use paper which I still love by the way, I’ll use my Pulse Smartpen so the paper can be discarded and I still have a digital copy of all my notes.
- Scanning all business cards – the Cardscan is fantastic
- Investing in Neat Receipts
What about you?
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Lynette enjoys discovering new ways to use technology or new technologies to use in a business and in turn help her clients apply them.
You can find also Lynette at her 
Having paper copies makes multi-tasking a lot easier for me. Particularly on a phone, where you can run multiple apps, but it takes longer to find the right window.
I understand what you mean. I like to keep a few sheets of paper in front of me all the time it has a space for notes so I can jot down notes during phone calls. I find navigating the computer while on the phone distracting.
Try a dual monitor setup…I find that with more desktop space, you can prep for a phone call, and have everything open with the additional screen “real estate”.
Steve
PSIGEN Paperless Software
Thanks for the tip Steve!
Lynette,
If you need the paper while you’re working, you can keep it in an inbox on your desk and then scan the pieces that you want to keep to your computer. This way you have the convenience of working with the paper and the advantage of electronic storage. I also recommend using a desktop search program (I use X1 Professional) so that you can find the documents easily later. There are many multifunction printers that have good scanners these days, and they are cheap!
Hi Dan, great suggestion! I guess I’m just too lazy to spend time scanning and then organizing those scanned images. Some papers aren’t worth scanning. Especially school notes that are only relevant for 1 or 2 days like reminders and stuff.