Peace of Mind Organizing

Resisting the urge to print

28 January 2009

This morning, I was checking out some genealogy resources online, part of my quest to jump-start my family history research, and I came across a list of websites I wanted to check out. I thought I’d print it out, then put it in a general genealogy file folder. I went so far as to click Print, but stopped myself before clicking Okay. It’s a list of websites. It really belongs in my Bookmarks, where I can easily access the list and just click on the website, rather than typing in the URL.

So I resisted. Instead I bookmarked it in a file called Genealogy. And somehow that felt big. I think I fear that I’ll not look in my bookmarks, despite the fact they’re fairly organized. I think it might be how some of my clients feel about filing paper. If they put it in a filing cabinet, they won’t remember they have it, so they won’t know to look for it. They’d rather keep it out where they can see it. And then they become overcome by piles.

I’m not really in danger of becoming overcome by piles, but I could pretty easily be overcome by files.

This afternoon, I downloaded a free ebook on creating vision boards, written by Christine Kane. (I’m only a little ways into it, but I highly recommend it. Get one yourself!) I started reading it and thought, “This is good. I should print it out.” Mind you, it’s 67 pages long. So I came to my senses. It’s perfectly easy to read on my screen and I can save money and space by reading it that way. Why would I print it?

Since I had two such forehead slappers in one day, I felt the need to post about it here. Next time you’re tempted to print out reading material (or emails), stop and think about whether it’s truly necessary. Perhaps you can read it on the screen or simply store it in your computer, using folders within Bookmarks/Favorites or folders in your email reader to make sure you can find it when you need it.

It saves money. It reduces clutter. What’s not to love?

Tagged with: paper piles, printing, technology

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