The concept of a ‘paperless’ life is something that I’m finding more and more appealing. Lets face it. We’re inundated with paperwork every day: letters, bills, pay stubs, receipts, warranties, instructions on how to use your printer, etc. We can sort all this information and file them separately using a file folder. However, the process of going through each folder looking for instance, an old pay stub can be very frustrating and time consuming.
A better alternative would be to scan all your documents into an image or PDF and work with digital copies. Double clicking a folder on your computer is much faster than physically looking for a tab in your file folder. You can keep a physical backup of key documents (e.g. signed letters) and trash the rest. I personally have a folder on my computer called ‘Administration’ where I save all my scanned documents. Furthermore, I use sub folders in order to create categories and keep things organized (e.g. Automotive, Work, Medical, Housing, Income Taxes, etc.).
You don’t have to restrict the use of PDFs to just scanning. You can also use it as a substitute for printing. Anything that can be printed can also be saved as a pdf. All you need to do is install a ‘virtual pdf printer’. Once installed, click as if you were about to print the document and select the virtual printer. You will then be prompted to save the document as a pdf file. An excellent free program that allows you to install a virtual printer is CutePDF (http://www.acrosoftware.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp). It’s easy to use and takes less than a minute to install.
Going digital is an excellent way to reduce your stack of papers, reports, etc. It’s also very good for the environment. In an age of information overload, less is better.
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