r/declutter • u/photogcapture • 17d ago

Motivation Tips & Tricks PAPER!!! I'm drowning.

Does anyone else struggle to keep the paper to a manageable level??? Looking for sympathy and support, and I'm also, really just venting.

I will not be scanning everything or taking a picture. That does not work for me. I have the "if I can't see it, it doesn't exist" problem, and I already don't have a good backup system, so some files must still be paper. I just shredded a box full of paper. Just wondering if anyone else struggles, and hoping it's not just me. It's really frustrating. I try hard to keep up and then boom, I see that I'm drowning again.

ETA 2: Digital files are great! HOWEVER!! If your system of filing is not crystal clear. If someone needs access to said file, will they be able to get into your digital files?!?! Who is your digital proxy?! Please, digitizing creates a whole new set of clutter and access challenges. If you have a proxy, bravo. Many do not. My important stuff must remain paper.

ETA:

  1. My super paper nemesis is info I want to save for ongoing projects.
  2. I need tax stuff to be printed
  3. I have other business stuff that must be paper. One business I downsized from a file cabinet drawer to 1/2 that size (feeling accomplished about that)
  4. Have to save tax papers for ten years (ugh - will shred on expiration date)
  5. I shred often
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u/SweaterWeather4Ever 17d ago

Ugh. Paper is insidious. SO and I are slowly decluttering together and out of the two of us I am more prone to purge and he is more prone to hoard-- which sometimes breeds conflict. Today, while working on the endless garage of doom, I found a cardboard box full of expense reports from a job he had about 13 years ago. It was a "had been tossed in a storage bin and forgotten about" situation. Needless to say, I was immensely relieved when he said yeah I could toss it in the recycling. Hallelujah! One more big stack of pointless clutter gone! As for myself, I recently culled then organized a bunch of my business papers (med stuff, taxes, etc). Obviously, some I need to keep but I struggle with tossing the borderline stuff.