Downsizing Office Paper: A Simple How-To
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As my guest today, Iâm happy to welcome back Moreen Torpy. Iâm actually quite pleased to be todayâs stop on her virtual book tour for her new book, Going Forward: Downsizing, Moving and Settling In.
If we donât have to downsize our home or our stuff, where do we look for a downsizing challenge? Paper. Office paper. Files.
As organizers, weâre always on top of our clearing outâarenât we? Well, Iâm guessing that some of us arenât quite on top of it. Or should I just admit Iâm not there yet?
What really bothers me is my client files. Because of retention rules, we must keep them for six to seven years, and that takes a lot of space when space is at a premium. So this year, Iâve decided to digitize all my new files. Many of you probably thought of this ages ago, so Iâm just catching up. Why didnât I think of it sooner? Itâs the logical place to downsize office paper. So it will take me six years to clear the backlog.
In the spirit of full disclosureâIâm an information junkie. Downsizing my collection of books is an emotional minefield for me. So Iâve stopped buying books. Almost. I have Kindle for PC so have started a business library there and donât feel guilty about it. I havenât collected many titles so Iâm not using up my entire hard drive.
Then there are the files that puff up with importance whenever I decide to purge. They take on a life of their own, telling me that theyâre important and must be kept, for posterity if nothing else. Iâve committed to downsizing seven file drawers to four and thatâs a lot of work!
Again, as organizers, we counsel our clients to tear out pages from magazines and toss the magazines. Those tear sheets add up too. All those tips and tricks to help those same clients become organized and stay that way. Information on working with the ADHD client, the hoarder, etc. What if I canât find what I want on-line when the time comes? Will the world end? No. But it does take quite a bit of self-talk to let it all go. And Iâm working on that.
What happened to the paperless office, you ask. Well, it simply didnât happen. Iâve killed more trees than I want to admit to. And I rationalize that by saying I have difficulty reading from my monitor. The print is too small, my eyes are dry, I canât focus. Iâve found a solution to this too. Iâve learned how to zoom and increase the font size of most things, so I really donât have to print everything any more. Maybe just a couple of things…
Going forward, itâs my sincere intention to at least decrease the amount of paper in my office before the fire marshal arrives to shut me down.
Whatâs your commitment?
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