Is anyone living a [mostly] paper-free life?

[dmauder]

Hi All:

Lately, I've become interested in eliminating paper from my life. The office in our home is literally a storehouse for bank / investment statements, utility bills, receipts, insurance forms, etc. I have been going through and shredding a lot of useless stuff, but I often think it would be nice to keep some (most) of it for reference and historical purposes.

So, I've been playing around with my scanner and using Adobe Acrobat to create scanned & OCR'd documents that are text searchable. Right now, I'm scanning all my past bank statements into one PDF document, and it's working pretty cool. I can search for any word or string of words and instantly see every page that contains it.

Not to mention, if I keep at this, I could eliminate a TON of paper from my office.

Now... The things I'm concerned about or would need to improve on:

1. My scanner. It's a Dell Photo 966 all-in-one. If you know anything about that, you know it's SLOW and doesn't automatically scan 2-sided pages. I'm working around that with Acrobat, but it's a pain.

2. Organization. Is there cool software out there to organize, catalog, index & tag a collection of scanned documents?

3. Backup. I normally put stuff like this on my 4GB usb key, and then back up regularly to an external 250GB hard drive. But, nothing goes offsite (well, my usb key that goes with me). What about remote backup services?

So, I'd be really curious to hear tips & tricks from others who might already be living a paper-less life. I've been getting online statements from my banks and investment companies for a little while now, but I still have SO much paper stuff from the past, and would love to do something with it so I can shred and see it go bye-bye.

Dave

[bravebluemice]

While I cannot offer you any reccomendations as to your process or equipment, I can give you some insight into what it's like once you're there.

I do not have any office software on my computers. I used to be near obsession with creating binders of things (a binder for this, a binder for that), to the point that I could have opened my own publishing shop.

I spent some time living in my car in college, and found that less was more; my printer wouldn't run on my power inverter. That broke me of the habit, and I don't think my printer has been turned on for over a year.

I read everything on my laptop, or desktop screen, and do all of my word processing in Google Documents, so there's really nothing for me to ever lose, or take with me, or back up. I have an billion dollar company's infrastructure.

I suppose when it comes to submitting my work to various publishers down the road, a proof copy will be nice, and I'm glad I still have all the equipment.

As for all of the past bills, paystubs, etc. I only have one file drawer in my desk, and it holds my paper copies of taxes for the last decade. That's the only thing I keep. There's a circulating file (circular file ) for six months or so worth of bills, and beyond that, I don't keep records. I figure some database at the credit card company or utility company keeps them until the statute of limitations runs out, and until then, if I need something I can always subpoena them for it.

But honestly, not worrying about it is the best I can do. With no reference to the past, I can have no preconceived notions about the present or the future. It keeps me from thinking, "Gosh, the prices of everything sure have gone up!" To me, if I need something, it's a need, and I have to buy it. Period. It doesn't matter if it costs more or less than it did... (That's just IMO, some people find it interesting to track stuff, I feel like I have bigger fish to fry...)

Sorry for the longwinded answer, but the bulk of paper in my house is just sticky-notes so I can remember what it was that I was going to tell myself to think of doing/getting/writing/etc...

Good Luck,
~BraveBlueMice

P.S. My entire web business writing and publishing my own science fiction is entirely based on GoogleDocs and some web hosting. I don't keep any of the files on my HDD, and with the high availability of WiFi hotspots, there's very little downtime to access my documents. How can you go wrong?

[dmauder]

Originally Posted by bravebluemice

I read everything on my laptop, or desktop screen, and do all of my word processing in Google Documents, so there's really nothing for me to ever lose, or take with me, or back up. I have an billion dollar company's infrastructure.

I suppose when it comes to submitting my work to various publishers down the road, a proof copy will be nice, and I'm glad I still have all the equipment.

As for all of the past bills, paystubs, etc. I only have one file drawer in my desk, and it holds my paper copies of taxes for the last decade. That's the only thing I keep. There's a circulating file (circular file ) for six months or so worth of bills, and beyond that, I don't keep records. I figure some database at the credit card company or utility company keeps them until the statute of limitations runs out, and until then, if I need something I can always subpoena them for it.

But honestly, not worrying about it is the best I can do. With no reference to the past, I can have no preconceived notions about the present or the future. It keeps me from thinking, "Gosh, the prices of everything sure have gone up!" To me, if I need something, it's a need, and I have to buy it. Period. It doesn't matter if it costs more or less than it did... (That's just IMO, some people find it interesting to track stuff, I feel like I have bigger fish to fry...)

Sorry for the longwinded answer, but the bulk of paper in my house is just sticky-notes so I can remember what it was that I was going to tell myself to think of doing/getting/writing/etc...

Hi BraveBlueMice!

This post was actually very helpful because it put a little different perspective on things for me. It got me to thinking of other ways I can reduce and/or eliminate paper clutter from my life.

One thing I looked at is all the project files for my job. I have many different customer engagements throughout the year. For each one, I print a few things off and put them in a manila folder labeled with the customer info. Into that might go some handwritten notes while on the job, and of course, expense receipts. Finally, there is a customer sign-off document for each job.

Well.... I've already started scanning all the important stuff from each folder and throwing the paper away. I'll store the PDF's on my computer with a backup to an external drive, and archive copies to CD. I'm already feeling all streamlined!

As to your comment about sticky-notes, I've decided to start using Toodledo as an online to-do list/reminder manager. It has a really slick interface and it's powerful beyond words. The thing I love best is that I can get information into it about a million different ways. Well, OK...maybe not a million, but quite a few (email, IM, Twitter, Jott, Launchy, Firefox add-in, Google Gadget, or right on the Toodledo website). And the best part?? NO PAPER!

Anyway... back to scanning!

Dave

DISCLAIMER: The Toodledo link above is a referral link. Toodledo is free, but they have a paid Pro version which gives a few extra handy features. So...they give each person a referral link which can earn you free months on the end of your Pro account if other people sign-up. I'm still using a free account, but might upgrade to Pro later.

[beel]

some friends of mine are "paperless nomads".
not exactly what you are looking for, but i thought you may find it interesting nonetheless.
The Paperless Nomad

[beel]

if you have online banking, you can probably get PDF files of your bank directly from your online account. not sure if every bank has this, but mine gives an option of PDF's if you want to order old bank statements. this should save you a lot of time having to scan them in yourself.

[Jcs]

Box.net seems nice storing files. Amazons S3 looks promising too but is more developer oriented at the moment (correct me if I'm wrong ).

[Freelancer]

Dmauder and bravebluemice thanks a lot for your posts.

It gave me a completely fresh look on paper work, there I was thinking of systems (complicated ones) to store all sorts of 'stuff' while at the same time I'm already reasonably organized on my PC.

If you don't mind, can you keep me updated through this thread or over PM on your progress with this goal? I'm really interested in hearing more about this, what its like, how you got there etc.

Right now I'm still living with my parents, in a room cluttered with paper. My plan is to switch in ~6 months to a different education and move out. Now at that point I'm basically starting fresh with everything. My plan is:
- Get a laptop, external Harddrive and (big USB) stick to back up stuff (thanks Dmauder for that idea ).
- Get a scanner to scan bills etc. and put them 'somewhere' (to be defined program).
- Back up Every week.
- Only use paper for; Notes, Agenda's, random idea's blurps during the day. Then whatever I might use in the future (sometimes you just want to write something down without reviewing it later) I can then scan into my laptop where I have it with me everywhere.

I'll also look into GoogleDocs although I probably prefer using other programs, they just feel comfy because I'm used to them.

If you where able to start completely fresh how would you have set it up? (basically I've got no paper trail behind me once I move or very little)


If I hyjacked your thread just say so and I'll start my own, 'Ahhhh moments' make me want to jot things down as fast as possible and this time the place to jot it down turns out to be your thread.

Sorry for the longwinded answer

I don't think anybody minds.

[dmauder]

Originally Posted by Freelancer

If you don't mind, can you keep me updated through this thread or over PM on your progress with this goal? I'm really interested in hearing more about this, what its like, how you got there etc.

Right now I'm still living with my parents, in a room cluttered with paper. My plan is to switch in ~6 months to a different education and move out. Now at that point I'm basically starting fresh with everything. My plan is:
- Get a laptop, external Harddrive and (big USB) stick to back up stuff (thanks Dmauder for that idea ).
- Get a scanner to scan bills etc. and put them 'somewhere' (to be defined program).
- Back up Every week.
- Only use paper for; Notes, Agenda's, random idea's blurps during the day. Then whatever I might use in the future (sometimes you just want to write something down without reviewing it later) I can then scan into my laptop where I have it with me everywhere.

I'll also look into GoogleDocs although I probably prefer using other programs, they just feel comfy because I'm used to them.

If you where able to start completely fresh how would you have set it up? (basically I've got no paper trail behind me once I move or very little)

If I hyjacked your thread just say so and I'll start my own, 'Ahhhh moments' make me want to jot things down as fast as possible and this time the place to jot it down turns out to be your thread.

Hey Freelancer! Not at all -- the more the merrier!

I'm almost embarrassed to say, I was up until 5am this morning scanning and shredding documents. I went completely "paperless" with my job/customer files. Everything from 2007 is now safely backed up on CD (2 copies), and on my USB and external drive. One copy of the CD will go in my media fire safe, and the USB stick is always with me -- so I feel safe. And this SURE beats a 3 inch thick stack of manila folders and paper!

Going forward, I have a new "system" to keep me almost 100% paperless in my job from now on. This includes faxing expense reports from my laptop, scanning customer sign-off docs immediately and then shredding the original, and referencing customer info on my blackberry instead of printing it out and carrying it with me.

In addition to all that, I scanned something like 3 years worth of electric and gas bills. Adobe Acrobat has amazing OCR skills, and the scanned copies look darn near as good as the originals! I separated them by bill type and year. Ex. all my 2005 electric bills are in one PDF, and so on.

Once that was done, I went online and signed up for electronic statements and electronic bill-payment from both utilities. Not sure why I never did that before... Oh well. Anyway, as I get a new statement each month, I can append to the current years PDF in about 3 seconds.

Let's see, what else.... I guess I still don't have a great organization system - just a granular directory structure. And I'd like to find a good, automated backup solution of some sort.

For now, I'm using MS SyncToy (free) to keep my laptop and usb stick files synced over to my external 250GB drive. If you're afraid of the beta version, here's the current full version.

And, I'm considering something like box.net (as jcs suggested) or MediaMax for offline/remote backups. I'm just a wee bit concerned about security and privacy...

BTW, if you're going to get on this bandwagon, be prepared for some VERY strange looks from the wife/husband when they get up at 5am and you're sitting indian-style in front of the shredder.

This is just the beginning!

Dave

[Freelancer]

I'm almost embarrassed to say, I was up until 5am this morning scanning and shredding documents.

Be proud rather then embarrased !

I went completely "paperless" with my job/customer files. Everything from 2007 is now safely backed up on CD (2 copies), and on my USB and external drive. One copy of the CD will go in my media fire safe, and the USB stick is always with me -- so I feel safe. And this SURE beats a 3 inch thick stack of manila folders and paper!

Sounds great, gratz on your paperless state !
If you want to be completely save find a way to also back it up over the internet (if its save), that way you'll be even better protected then those paper monkies.

Going forward, I have a new "system" to keep me almost 100% paperless in my job from now on. This includes faxing expense reports from my laptop, scanning customer sign-off docs immediately and then shredding the original, and referencing customer info on my blackberry instead of printing it out and carrying it with me.

I keep hearing about this blackberry machine, I'm not a techie (yet, to many advantages not to learn this stuff) so enlighten me. I think its something like a carry around laptop/phone?
I'm right now learning Phenomenal Memory and whatever customer information I might receive I'll just store inside my head, with occasional reviewing I'll be able to easily remember it without a need to review paper (or digital) stuff constantly.
From Paper to Digital to Brain.

In addition to all that, I scanned something like 3 years worth of electric and gas bills. Adobe Acrobat has amazing OCR skills, and the scanned copies look darn near as good as the originals! I separated them by bill type and year. Ex. all my 2005 electric bills are in one PDF, and so on.

Once that was done, I went online and signed up for electronic statements and electronic bill-payment from both utilities. Not sure why I never did that before... Oh well. Anyway, as I get a new statement each month, I can append to the current years PDF in about 3 seconds.

Sweet well done !

Let's see, what else.... I guess I still don't have a great organization system - just a granular directory structure. And I'd like to find a good, automated backup solution of some sort.

Personally I'll just update stuff manually or figure this out when I get started, its still something 'for the future'.
I've got most of my online stuff either in The Journal (very handy, Steve has a article on it) or Excel (for anything spreadsheety like) with some random stuff scattered in Word as well. I'll probably scan stuff into Adobe in the future, if its not to tech heavy I'll be able to handle it.

For now, I'm using MS SyncToy (free) to keep my laptop and usb stick files synced over to my external 250GB drive. If you're afraid of the beta version, here's the current full version.

And, I'm considering something like box.net (as jcs suggested) or MediaMax for offline/remote backups. I'm just a wee bit concerned about security and privacy...

I'm going to bookmark this thread then return to it in a few months to check up on software stuff. Thanks for the suggestions though.

BTW, if you're going to get on this bandwagon, be prepared for some VERY strange looks from the wife/husband when they get up at 5am and you're sitting indian-style in front of the shredder.

Not married and no current girlfriend so the moment I move out of my parents place I'm all free !!

This is just the beginning!

For sure, right now I'm in the process of refashioning my life situation in all its expressions towards the person I truly am (or want to become depends on how you look at it). A big part of this is that I'm a linear thinking person, step-step-step, plan plan plan and organize stuff nicely. I also noticed I enjoy having little stuff around me. This plan of going paperless is a extention of that.

[dmauder]

Originally Posted by Freelancer

I keep hearing about this blackberry machine, I'm not a techie (yet, to many advantages not to learn this stuff) so enlighten me. I think its something like a carry around laptop/phone?

It's a phone / PDA / very addictive device!

The model I have is issued by my company, so I couldn't really get the latest and greatest one with a camera, etc.

Suffice it to say, the blackberry (crackberry ) is my right hand! It's email, calendar, notepad, phonebook, web browser, GPS/maps, weather man, restaurant and hotel locater, etc. As you can see, I depend on this little baby a lot!

Dave

[Freelancer]

Originally Posted by dmauder

It's a phone / PDA / very addictive device!

The model I have is issued by my company, so I couldn't really get the latest and greatest one with a camera, etc.

Suffice it to say, the blackberry (crackberry ) is my right hand! It's email, calendar, notepad, phonebook, web browser, GPS/maps, weather man, restaurant and hotel locater, etc. As you can see, I depend on this little baby a lot!

Dave

Sounds interesting for sure. Won't be needing it for the near future though, I'm only a student after all.

[Amandaaa]

hmmmmm.

now that I think about it... there really isn't any paper in my life!

all of my bank statements and bills are electronic and automatically debited. snail mail is so outdated that everything comes through my email. my school communicates with me through our online access system. my assignments are sent as attachments. I type my notes rather than handwriting them. all of my "thinking" and goal-setting is done through my keyboard. me and my financial advisor work together through the computer and the phone.

the only thing that I really use paper for is my good old-fashioned To Do list! I seem to remember what I have to do better when it's hand-written and laid out on an actual real-life calendar.

...I'm sure that there are PDAs that could handle all of that for you too, though.



(and my life is pretty simple right now, so I'm not sure if being paperless would work for everyone. ? It depends on your job and your particular lifestyle.
good luck though! )

[Amandaaa]

3. Backup. I normally put stuff like this on my 4GB usb key, and then back up regularly to an external 250GB hard drive. But, nothing goes offsite (well, my usb key that goes with me). What about remote backup services?

^ I'll get back to you on that one. my sister is an expert on this stuff...

[dmauder]

This is getting a little comical... I'm scanning everything I can get my hands on now, and my wife is getting a little concerned. I keep holding my tiny little USB key up and saying, "Look honey, those 3 bags of shredded paper now fit on this little thing!"

[bravebluemice]

Just today, I proved my system works.

My wife comes in wondering something about a payment that cleared, but her bank statement said something different.

Two seconds of cross-referencing between the bank, the utility company, and our budget spreadsheet (kept on GoogleDocs), and I was able to rectify the solution.

When it came right down to it, my budget spreadsheet (into which every bill goes upon reciept (or concieved for things like the mortgage, which never changes...) and is processed from there rather than the paper bill), I've taken the most pertinent pieces of information (The amount and date due), and boiled them down to what's known.

As is such with Amandaaa, very little comes to me in the mail anymore (except the summons... Might want to answer those soon ;p)

I'm fortunate that my business ventures are also uncomplicated, thus making an organizational structure a moot point.

I prefer not to chain myself to the internet with a strawberry. It helps me to stay grounded by being able to turn on the fry-dar to find fast food, or sniff out a gas station. I consider myself fortunate to have never really needed a GPS. In fact, I'd love to disconnect more. There are times when I'd really rather be unreachable.

Good to hear you're cleaning house, dmauder!

Good Luck,
~BraveBlueMice

[simplystephen]

Dmauder and BraveBlueMice...thank you for your posts. I crave simplicity and about 10 years ago started minimizing. (I still use paper to jot things down though, as a creative I like the tactile feel and it helps with the creative moment - then I usually transfer the info to the computer). I can pretty well fit all my stuff in my 2 door Toyota Tercel with the exception of a bookcase that I made and I plan on keeping it that way. I have also lived in my car to save money and promote affordable living. (check out my blog at The Green Ravine, though I'm switching to wordpress so it's in flux). Here are a few things.

1. I no longer have a printer
2. I have all companies send me ebills (paying them is another thing)
3. I use online OPEN SOURCE solutions like google docs
4. I don't keep divorce and tax files along with some letters and stuff. I cull them frequently (when I have the time).
5. I minimize other communication devices because they just create immediate work that is not necessarily a priority (email me I say) - Life is an Emergency not everything else
6. I let go of the notion that I will ever look at it again....you will file them and they will stay filed forever. The next time you look at them will be because you are filing them, not because you need to look at them. When I figured this out I got rid of TONS of stuff.
7. If you think you need the info, think again. With the Internet you can always look it up and find more detailed info. Besides advice and methods of doing things etc. are always changing.
8. Get rid of books or keep them to a minimum, especially text...they get dated. You can always go to the library or get the book again at a used bookstore or online. Try ebooks.
9. Get your music on to Mp3's though I still have about 100 records (LPs), you know the round black disc things we use to use BUT no record player. I've reduced my cd collection though.
10. Keep asking yourself...have I used this. Will I use it again in the next 6 months. If the answer is no....let it go.
11. Clothing....I even recycle seasonal clothing by doing a donate of the majority of my winter stuff and shoes to start the season off with less stuff. Then I go to value village or some type of similar used clothing store and restock for only a few bucks.

I got a bit off topic but the point is simplifying clears your mind and prepares you for better things. So here is some food for thought. One reason we might be visiting Steve Pavlina's site and forum is to improve our lives. Well done. An aspect of this is learning to live in a more simple way. Don't just clear your papers, clear your clutter.

BTW....there are tons of backup services paid and otherwise online but the potential risk of it becoming public is something that may happen. I personally don't care about that stuff. You could get an ipod type device and back it up, there are cheaper alternatives or even more expensive alternatives like a portable Mac (it is really small). Consider a few USB keys - they are quite cheap and they just keep getting bigger and bigger in size.

Hope some of these ideas make you think....and good luck with your quest.

[mncz]

Oh my god, I love you guys. I myself do not suffer from paper overload, but my mom .... she has TONS of paper stuff she has just archived and piled away (she used to be a counsellor/teacher in university). It is taking up cubic and cubic meters of her apartment space!

Now I know what to give her as a birthday present .

[Chado2423]

I don't know about "paper" free life. At work I have programs I need to fill out. But I have noticed a slight change in my mood after deleting the "news-paper" from my daily routine. I've actually started to be less depressed.

[simplystephen]

Oh yeah....I stopped reading newspapers about 10 years ago. What a difference in stuff. And the time freed up every week, well it seems to get sucked up by the internet but at least I don't have to read the paper.