Monday, January 10, 2011

Cleaning Out My File Cabinet

file cabinet, legal size, wood

See this lovely file cabinet? It's mine - and until yesterday, it was entirely filled with travel-related files. All four drawers.

Well, I do enjoy traveling, and at one point - before we had such easy access to information on the web - it even made some sense.

But now? Almost anything I want to know I can find online. And some things I can't find online can be scanned, so I don't need to save the paper.

I knew this was an area needing some attention - but it didn't bother me until recently, when I really wanted to use that filing space for something else. So yesterday I began the clearing out.

recycling bins filled with old travel literature

The old train schedules from England, the old restaurant recommendations for places around the world, the glossy promotional literature from Singapore and Spain and Thailand - that's all in the recycling bins now, along with much more.

And I have a free drawer - with more space to come, because this project isn't yet finished.

6 comments:

Paige said...

I think throwing things out is one of the greatest feelings in the world!! Ah...purging! How I love thee!!

Pauline Wiles said...

You're quite right, the internet has made so much paper rather pointless.
My Dad would probably have enjoyed your old train schedules, but he certainly doesn't need any more of those cluttering up his house :)

Blue Yonder said...

I too am starting to feel burdened by my boxes of papers. Are there any companies or services where I can drop off my boxes of papers and have them all scanned/digitized? And do you have any idea how much that might cost? I've searched online but most of the businesses I've found are geared toward document management for enterprises that have tens to hundreds of thousands to millions of documents. I might have several hundred to a few thousand - not enough for these services, but possibly more than I want to handle myself.

Jeri Dansky said...

Blue Yonder, OfficeDrop (previously know as Pixily) offers mail-in scanning services that might work for you.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you kept the stuffed animals. :)

Cynthia Friedlob said...

Scanning = sanity. I'm about to embark on another big scanning project and can't wait to toss more papers!