The
filing system proposed and used by Noguchi Yukio is
worth a look. To employ the system, you'll need to
discard many conventional notions about how to store
paper documents. Here's how it works:
You need a set of A4 (letter)-sized envelopes and some
way to mark the outside of the envelopes. If you want,
you can color-code them with markers.
Take every document and store it in an A4-sized envelope
with the flaps cut off, as shown here.
Mark the title and date of the document on the side of
the envelope, as shown, and the envelopes are stored
vertically on a bookshelf.
Don't attempt to classify documents. The color coding is
optional, and only there to help you find documents more
quickly.
Add any new document to the left end of the "envelope
buffer." Whenever a document is used (i.e., the envelope
removed from the shelf), return it to the left end of
the bookshelf. The result of this system is that the
most recent and frequently used documents move to the
left, while documents that are rarely or never used
migrate to the right.
Over time, some of the files on the right side of the
shelf will be classified as "holy files" which you will
retain indefinitely. Remove these from the shelf and
store them in boxes. If a "holy file" is in use, it is
part of the working file group at the left. Thus, holy
files are really dead files which you cannot part with.
Get them out of sight into a box.
When you need more space, throw away any documents that
you consider "unnecessary."
Read more on Noguchi's system
in this article by
William Lise, or on Noguchi's
website.
How do you feel about wastebaskets? That's right, you read that
correctly - your attitude toward your wastebasket will have a
profound and - yea verily -- mystical impact on your paper clutter.
Do not - I repeat DO NOT - think of your wastebasket as an evil
enemy who gobbles up all your important data. It is your sweet
and kind, loyal and true friend who needs to be nurtured and fed.
So feed your wastebasket.