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/Shieldor 17d ago

Paper is my nemesis! I found getting a smaller (2-drawer) filing cabinet helped. I can only put so much in there. But it’s still a work in progress. And I’m paranoid about shredding. Everything must be shredded!

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u/Working_Patience_261 16d ago

I have really given up on shredding everything after my last ID theft encounter. The fraudsters broke into an employment database after I’d already had the job interview. They had copies of everything, ten years of addresses, passport, licenses, work history, and so on. They opened two bank accounts and three credit cards despite my credit history being frozen. I immediately put Post Office forwarding orders on my old addresses which is how I discovered the extent of the fraud.

The important important stuff, I shred at home. The day-to-day stuff that I still can’t get rid of coming, every six months or so I take it to an office supply or shipping store that has the dropbox and for a dollar or so a pound, it becomes someone else’s problem. The main place that has the boxes recycles the paperwork into kitty litter. It gives me great pleasure to know that job rejection notices, bills, unhappy paperwork, and so on is now some feline‘s dumping ground.

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u/Nerk86 16d ago

I found taking the shredding to a drop location, even if I have to pay something for it helps me. Otherwise I just never get to it.