Conquer the Paper – Pt 2

If you missed last week, I am participating in The Lazy Organizer’s SMART Habit Saturday! I chose one new habit to work on and report back with my progress each Saturday. My habit for April is scanning. If you missed it, read about my project from last week. I am digitizing all paper in our house (receipts, manuals, magazine articles, report cards). Scan it and toss it is my motto! My new habit includes scanning old papers for 10 minutes each morning, and scanning all new papers that come into the house immediately (such as mail).
I am tired of paper RULING MY LIFE! The files, piles, and boxes of papers are plentiful. they are not only in my desk area, there are more storage boxes elsewhere. There are also 44 (yes, 44, ranging from 1/2″ to 3″ size) 3-ring binders filled with 3-hole punched papers. Also, there are 3 boxes of photos which need to be scanned.
The 10 minutes of scanning per day was a hard habit to start. Once I get started, I want to keep going for longer than 10 minutes! It is liberating to see the stacks shrink as the pages go right into the trash can! As for scanning the new documents immediately, that went better. My husband hung up an “inbox” on the wall above the scanner. We put new papers in there to scan, and make sure it’s empty at the end of the day!