Why do we have so much paper? People have been talking for years about the "paper-less society". When will it actually happen? Here are some observations about paper and our habits surrounding paper to help get it under control.

Well, I am not sure that we will ever be able to achieve a "paper-less society." In my previous role as a Project Manager for Software Implementations, I heard that term quite often. However, I have never experienced it myself or even witnessed this phenomenon. Why? Among the many reasons are: that we, as humans, prefer to read text in a paper format. In addition, once we are able to automate some functions, we gain more options. For example, once we are able to capture data we can then create reports to display the data in more ways than we can imagine. There is also the possibility that the electronic version of the information will not be available when we need it.

Finally, I have found that the printed-page fills another need. Papers act as reminders for tasks we need to complete and ideas that we would like to implement. We trust that if we hold onto the paper that it will act as a trigger and help us accomplish more. Unfortunately, when we are overwhelmed by piles of paper we end up feeling frustrated and over stimulated by all that we need to do. We are often unable to find the information when we need it. Believe it or not, 80% of what we save we never refer to again.

That is why it is important to have a Paper Management System to make the task of processing paper more productive and efficient. To start, here are a few habits that you look at:

An ounce of prevention… Analyze what is sitting in your piles of paper. Are there catalogs and magazines that you don’t ever read? Do you have to print every e-mail and web page?

Weed your garden continually- if you sort and weed through the paper that is coming in on a regular basis you can eliminate the bulk of the piles before they even occur. You decide what kind of time frame is right for you and whether you need to do it daily or if weekly is enough to stay on top of it.

Relocating piles- some paper management experts will tell you to touch each piece of paper only once. While I agree that moving paper from stack to stack is not productive, sometimes it is necessary to touch a piece of paper more than once. The key is to have a consistent process for moving paper.

 

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Lauren Halagarda is a Certified Professional Organizer® and Jacksonville, NC-based member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), it’s local North Carolina Chapter and currently serves as the NAPO Website Chairperson. Her local involvement includes the Jacksonville/Onslow Chamber of Commerce and Jacksonville Chapter (In-formation) of Business Network International (BNI). To ask her a question or find out more information on organizing your belongings, space or time, e-mail Info@2OrganizeU.com or visit The Organization Connection web site at http://www.2OrganizeU.com You can sign up for her FREE organizing eZine simply by visiting her website: http://www.2OrganizeU.com