How much paper is in your life?

I use paper for sketching. Apart from that: blowing my nose and cleaning m....

Hah. [smile]

No worries on dealing with bureaucratic agencies then?

I'm not into that stuff.

But okay, I lied. I have papers, but they all fit to one FOLDER (not file...) (yet).

If I'm forced to have papers, then it's okay, but I don't use more. But I just started to be a grown up.

EDIT: Ima idiot

[Edited by - szecs on October 21, 2010 11:41:21 AM]

I have hard copies of all the important stuff I might need. I don't bother digitalizing them because it takes time, and because I might loose them (I don't do regular backups). I also tend to print invoices from online shops or services to have them on paper, even though they are stored on the website.

If someone sends me a paper record of anything, I keep it in a folder. This includes utility bills, leases, medical records, anything that I might need later for some legal reason or another.

Aside from that, I don't bother keeping them. While paper records have some slight advantages over digital in some few cases, approaching digital storage thoughtfully generally fills the same needs better and more efficiently.

My digital documents are meticulously filed and rigorously backed up. Anything important in my life needs to get digitized, because otherwise it will probably vanish. I keep hard copy files of some stuff, but the organization has degraded over time.

Quote:

Original post by Promit My digital documents are meticulously filed and rigorously backed up.

I need to focus on a standard backup schedule. I've never experienced a large loss of virtual data, the most I ever lost was a corrupted 128 mb pen drive (even that kinda sucked).

However, my dad just totally wracked one of my laptops with a virus so everything on there is gone...

Quote:

Original post by Khaiy While paper records have some slight advantages over digital in some few cases, approaching digital storage thoughtfully generally fills the same needs better and more efficiently.

I don't know how that works in other countries, but over here, only the original document (invoice, contract or similar) is fully recognized in court. A print out from a digitized version is much more likely to be thrown out, due to the inherent risk of manipulation. Especially when dealing with governmental mafia agencies ala IRS & co, you are doomed if you only have digital copies.

I tend to keep sorted boxes of papers. Usually I keep a few stacks in different parts of my room based on importance. Eventually I'll get annoyed with the stacks and begin actually sorting them into the boxes they actually belong in. Old bills/bank statements go in one box, school related stuff into various sub-sorted boxes, pay slips/medical data into another box with folders, one box for tax/government stuff, and then a few other boxes.

I tend not to keep things in digital form, mostly for the legal stand point. One of these days I'm getting some old ammo boxes to rebuild as fire resistant storage, and a proper fire proof safe.

I have everything set up for electronic withdrawal/deposit. I also only use my debit card and never get a receipt. Haven't touched cash in probably like 6 months and even then it was money from a birthday since I've never needed to withdraw money. I have used 1 check in my life.

I love being able to see every cent of my money in and out in my online banking account.

I'm hoping I can keep this up throughout my whole life. Especially with bills. My parents love filling out checks instead of just getting direct withdrawal for things. It's silly since when I've asked them about it they've never had a reason.

Quote:

Original post by Khaiy If someone sends me a paper record of anything, I keep it in a folder. This includes utility bills, leases, medical records, anything that I might need later for some legal reason or another. Aside from that, I don't bother keeping them. While paper records have some slight advantages over digital in some few cases, approaching digital storage thoughtfully generally fills the same needs better and more efficiently.

I used to do that, because my parents did and instilled it in me. Then a few years ago I was cleaning out my filing cabinet and noticed I had years and years of bills and stuff that I would never in my lifetime use. I had an "A-ha" moment and now just throw out that junk.

The only thing I keep paper copies of are my tax receipts / w2s, and important legal documents. Everything else for me is online, including my tax returns.

I never scan anything physically but almost everything I do now is electronic. e-bills, billpay, taxes. There's no reason for me to have papers in my house and I like it that way.

You cant GREP dead trees.

I only use paper for maths, nothing else. I hate anything that's on paper otherwise and I try to throw it away as fast as possible it only takes up space :P

Quote:

Original post by Tha_HoodRat You cant GREP dead trees.

Dead trees are readable 3000+ years later.

Most of the paper I hoard is whatever crap (i.e.. bills) I get sent in the mail. And I use a sketchbook to work on math problems and to draw diagrams, take notes, etc.

cigarrets, money, candy packages, bus and subway tickets, a few books.

Quote:

Original post by ChurchSkiz Quote: Original post by Khaiy If someone sends me a paper record of anything, I keep it in a folder. This includes utility bills, leases, medical records, anything that I might need later for some legal reason or another. Aside from that, I don't bother keeping them. While paper records have some slight advantages over digital in some few cases, approaching digital storage thoughtfully generally fills the same needs better and more efficiently. I used to do that, because my parents did and instilled it in me. Then a few years ago I was cleaning out my filing cabinet and noticed I had years and years of bills and stuff that I would never in my lifetime use. I had an "A-ha" moment and now just throw out that junk.

I had this same "A-ha" moment, but I still find it hard to throw out invoices, bills, receipts or notifications. I'm still afraid that I might need one of those documents for... I don't know...
My mother taught me this. She's always like "You MUST hold on to this for x years for ".
The realization that keeping on to that paper trail is mostly nonsense came to me when I found a receipt, of which the paper had turned yellow, of something that I hadn't even paid 100 euros for. I have NEVER in my life needed a receipt that was older than a week to return something.
Plus, I hate sorting out papers... eurgh!

But how wise is it really to throw out all papers except legal document? I see no harm in it really. Or am I missing something?

Like some other people here, I keep legal documents, bills, and so on. It's helped me from time to time, e.g. laptop broken a few months before the warranty ran out, that kind of stuff. I do try to digitize everything as well, it makes it easier to have distributed backups, and it's not that much of a hassle after you get used to an efficient workflow.

I use a lot of paper for working on problems. In fact, even though I have the computer running most of the time, I only use it a small part of the time. Then again, I'm a mathematician - we only need paper, pencil, eraser and recycle bin. Once a thought becomes more solid, it gets LaTeX'ed, though I also create printouts of that because they're more convenient to read when I go back over them.

2 years ago I made a real effort to eliminate as much paper from my life as possible. The main reason is, while it was easy to read if you had it in your hand, it was hard to find, and I had a tendency to lose things or misplace things. It also ended up taking up an enormous amount of space, and made my frequent moves much more painful.

I scanned things that I had to keep, I stopped buying paper books, I stopped magazine subscriptions in favor of online sources, I moved all my banking and bills online.

I have a few books that I could not get in digital form [few enough that I can carry all of them at the same time, myself]. I have a checkbook that I haven't opened in about 10 months. I have a tiny bit of cash with me that I carry for emergencies. I have a bit of junk-mail in my garbage. I have paper towels, paper plates, and toilet paper. Other than that, I am 100% paper-free.