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Amber’s Home and Office Organizing Blog index

Criteria For Saving Paper

3 Viewpoints On Handling Paper

When we boil it down, there are only three reasons to save paper.

1. I need to take action now. In this viewpoint, it’s important or critical to act and get something done. It can’t wait to be completed. There’s a deadline approaching today or this week. These items are current and worthy of your time. It will cost you something, whether it’s money, productivity or efficiency, if you don’t complete it. If there’s no cost to count, then it probably doesn’t belong in this category. Sometimes we think everything is critical and everything has to be done right now. Not true. Our to do lists or piles or files are often littered with should’s instead of must’s. Don’t let guilt determine your action items. 

2. I’ll need to take action on this later. In this viewpoint, the action will occur later on and there’s a future deadline. These items can’t and shouldn’t be forgotten so we need a safe place for them to remain until later becomes today. Too often we waste time on things that can be done later. We do them now, because they’re fun or we enjoy them. This begins the notion or understanding or prioritizing. Prioritizing items means knowing what needs to be done today verses what needs to be done tomorrow or two weeks from now. If the item doesn’t really have to be done, you and I won’t do it at all. In that case, just let it go. If it’s a dream or idea, keep a master list going. If and when you want to make ideas or dreams reality you’ll work on getting them accomplished and they’ll be at the top of your priority and to do list. 

3. I’ll need to reference this. We all need to be careful here. Saving reference items is becoming less and less important in this day and age of technology. Free data and information is at our finger tips 24/7 so going into a filing cabinet for answers is really a thing of the past. That concept defines what we keep and don’t keep for reference items. If you can find what you’ll need through the internet, there’s no reason to keep it. For instance, consider an article announcing the top ten ski resorts in Colorado. If you’re a big skier this might interest you. Read the article and then pitch it. Odds are you’ve skied a lot in Colorado if you’re an avid skier so you know the good spots. And odds are you’ll be able to Google “Top Ten Ski Resorts In Colorado” next Christmas when you’re planning your spring break ski trip. Why spend the time filing the article away and then forgetting it’s there?  Even if you do access it again in a year or two, I bet it will be outdated and one resort will have risen to the top above the others. See my point?

This also happens with projects. Take for instance, creating a blog. That’s a large project for most business owners and it takes quite a bit of time putting a good one together, getting followers, guest posts, and then getting comments. So if you’re still considering it and haven’t started taking actual steps in your blog project, don’t save paper related to or referencing how to start a blog. When you’re actually blocking out time to start, then go grab current articles and clippings instead of going back into your drawer to read dated material. You’re more likely to download current tips and information then to be inspired by old articles. 

 

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