Going Paperless

As a IT Professional, I spend my time helping organizations implement technology to help drive the overall success of the company.  I research many different technologies and try out lots of different products.  Every once in a while, I will find something that works well for me as an individual.  I am going to share one of those with you today.

We have a lot of paper at our house.  We have bills, paystubs, insurance statements, certificates, letters, invoices, receipts, cards, health records, mortgage documents, warranty information, tax information and more.  Because Meredith is super organized, we created a nice file system with hanging folders and printed tabs.  Beautiful system, but we want to get some space back in our office.  We have lots of room used up by these files.  As I looked at all of the files, I realized that we really don’t need a paper copy of all these files.  So, I decided I wanted to scan everything.

I then had to find a place to store all of these scanned files.  I thought about storing them as files in folders on my computer, but that is risky.  What if my hard drive fails?  Then I wanted an easy way to search these files and gain access to them on a moments notice.

I then came across a website called Evernote.  Evernote is a site that lets you capture and store anything.  It is an electronic version of my brain.  The great thing is that you can access Evernote from any computer and from almost any mobile device.  Evernote also has an easy way to find things.  The search is powerful.

Examples of how I use Evernote:

• We were at Tyler’s first soccer practice earlier this year.  The Team Mom hands out the medical forms and wants us to fill out some information on Tyler and our health insurance.  It also asked about immunization records.  Rather than waiting to go home and dig those records out, I pulled out my phone, opened Evernote and did a search for immunizations.  Up came Tyler and Lauren’s records that I had scanned into Evernote previously.
• Our mortgage company needed verification of my income.  I logged onto to Evernote and sent them scanned copies of my paystubs.  I didn’t have to go home and dig them out.
• Storing of recipes.  That way I can access them anytime I need, especially if I am at a store and wonder what ingredients I need.
• I keep my journal on here as well.  I have also scanned in my older journals as a backup.  That way I have a safe, electronic version of all my journals. (I am not 100% complete with this project, but I am getting close)
• Scan a copy of a bill from any company or service that I use.  For example, I have a copy of my electric bill or gas bill.  That way if I ever need to call them, I have a copy of a bill and my account number handy.
• I use this a lot for Church.  I store all the talks that I have given.  I store quotes that I want to remember.  I store all the documents I receive from leadership training.  All accessible at anytime.
• Scouting.  We were attending an Eagle Court of Honor and one of the participants in the program didn’t know that he would be doing the Eagle Charge.  He asked me if I had done one before and I told him to not worry.  I have a copy on Evernote that I would give him.  I printed it out and everything went smooth. 

There are a lot of other examples, but these are just a few that came to mind.

Back to the paper.  After we scan these documents, we determine if we need to keep a paper copy.  If we don’t, we shred them.  You will have to decide what you need to keep.  Read this article on the IRS.gov website for information on keeping records.  If you are a pack rat, then you need to call Meredith up and have her help you get organized.  She is a pro at organizing.

Am I a salesman for Evernote?  No, and there are probably many products just like Evernote that do the same thing.  I just know that it works well for me.  Meredith doesn’t really care either way, just as long as we can get to things when we need to.  She knows how to get into Evernote if needed.

Since I started scanning and getting rid of paper, I created a pile about two feet high of paper that needed to be shredded.  How about you?  Are you keeping stuff you don’t need?  Scan it, store it and get rid of it.