Certainly we have seen several discussions about going paperless. Well, it is this GeekDad’s goal to do so in 2013! Don’t get me wrong, I am not an environmentalist or something. My extended family consists of tree farmers – so I am not trying to put them out of work. I am just very disorganized! In fact, I meant to write this post over a month ago…
Let’s start with some background information on my current situation. I work in an office environment for my day job and a home office environment for official GeekDad work. As you can guess, I am surrounded in paperwork, pictures, receipts, business cards and notes. I use Microsoft Outlook for my email and as my to-do list. This has stopped me from my previous system of to-do lists, which were on legal pads. I know many efficiency experts say not to use your inbox as your to-do list, currently this works for me. I will address alternative solutions in a future article.
For getting rid of incoming paper items, I have picked up a Doxie One Scanner with a SD Reader for the iPad. I need this solution because my iPad is the only device that is used in both offices. Loading documents and scans into the iPad is a snap and different apps help me manage all of these. James Floyd Kelly reviewed the Doxie Go Scanner earlier this month (read it here), so I am not going to go into great detail. The Doxie Go Scanner is the Doxie One’s rechargeable sister. It is essentially the same scanner but built to be used anywhere. I opted for the Doxie One because I am always in an office environment and it is just as portable – only difference is you must plug it into a power source. I am currently using the Doxie One to scan all office documents that come in, including business cards, notes and receipts. Since I am not printing any new paperwork, managing the incoming knocks out a huge dent.
Paper mail or snail mail can add a good bit of new paper to the pile. Of course I pay all my bills online (why would you pay them any other way?), so it really is just a system of receive the bill, pay the bill, scan the bill and shred the bill. In my quest to streamline this paper clutter lifestyle, I also unsubscribed to mailing lists. One great way to do this is register with the Mail Preference Service of the Direct Marketing Association. This organization is the the largest supplier of mailing lists for commercial advertising. Note that your registration is only valid for five years. You can also call 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688) to stop receiving credit card offers. After I did this, I almost needed to stop checking my mailbox.
I will be sure to keep readers up to date with new ideas discovered during my quest. If you have any to share, please do so in the comments.
