1
00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,720
Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:14,360
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

3
00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:18,560
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to limit the quantity of paper that

4
00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:22,120
Speaker 1: comes into your life so it's easier to stay organized,

5
00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:24,479
Speaker 1: and so you can treat the paper you do keep

6
00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:29,120
Speaker 1: as more special. Today's episode is inspired by a book

7
00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,080
Speaker 1: I recently read by Lisa Woodruff called The Paper Solution.

8
00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,400
Speaker 1: In it, this professional organizer teaches people how to manage

9
00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,600
Speaker 1: the paper that comes into their lives without dropping balls.

10
00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:43,919
Speaker 1: In a later episode, I'll talk about her Sunday basket technique,

11
00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:47,280
Speaker 1: but today I want to talk about limiting the quantity

12
00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:50,360
Speaker 1: of paper you need to deal with, as paper tends

13
00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:54,640
Speaker 1: to take space and time. So there was a theory

14
00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:56,920
Speaker 1: at one point that we were on the verge of

15
00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:01,480
Speaker 1: a paperless world. All communication would be electronic and no

16
00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:05,480
Speaker 1: one would need paper for anything anymore. That didn't really

17
00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:09,399
Speaker 1: pan out, partly because people are people. I'm old enough

18
00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:11,840
Speaker 1: that I once worked for someone who wanted all emails

19
00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,560
Speaker 1: printed out so they could be treated with a dignity

20
00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:19,880
Speaker 1: of postal correspondence and then filed appropriately. Thankfully, most people

21
00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,360
Speaker 1: have moved past that, partly because most email is so

22
00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:26,960
Speaker 1: not worth printing and saving. But we still have a

23
00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,440
Speaker 1: lot of stuff. We get mail in the mailbox, We

24
00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:34,279
Speaker 1: get forms from doctors and dentists and schools. We print notes,

25
00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:38,720
Speaker 1: We have books, we have magazines. I've gotten better about

26
00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:40,840
Speaker 1: checking stuff over the past few years, but there were

27
00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,319
Speaker 1: definitely times in the past when I saved all my

28
00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,280
Speaker 1: magazines because I love the pretty pictures and I thought

29
00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,520
Speaker 1: I might look through them to get ideas in the future. Indeed,

30
00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,240
Speaker 1: I had this whole big paper ideal file I was

31
00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,520
Speaker 1: keeping for a while. It sat like a time capsule

32
00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,400
Speaker 1: for something like eight years in my closet. Eventually I

33
00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,680
Speaker 1: opened it. There was indeed a whole lot of nice

34
00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:07,240
Speaker 1: two thousand five photography in there, but I got no

35
00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:12,880
Speaker 1: ideas whatsoever. Kids artwork and school work is also complicated.

36
00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:17,280
Speaker 1: Some is good and some is less memorable. My teenager

37
00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,560
Speaker 1: printed up vast quantities of math worksheets this spring, which

38
00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,400
Speaker 1: would then sit on the counter. It took a long

39
00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,720
Speaker 1: time to get them into the recycling bin. As I've

40
00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:28,800
Speaker 1: been pondering this in my life, I've realized that one

41
00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,720
Speaker 1: of the best techniques is to avoid letting stuff stack

42
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,960
Speaker 1: up when I bring in the mail. Anything I'm not

43
00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:37,600
Speaker 1: interested in goes straight to the trash or the recycling bin.

44
00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,679
Speaker 1: Otherwise it can sit in the pile for months. Magazines

45
00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:45,600
Speaker 1: now getting max of two months before they go out

46
00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:48,920
Speaker 1: the door. The daily newspaper is a little treat for me.

47
00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,880
Speaker 1: We subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, but it needs

48
00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:55,000
Speaker 1: to be gone in two days. It was hard for

49
00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:57,120
Speaker 1: me to admit that I will not read a daily

50
00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:00,800
Speaker 1: newspaper from a week ago, but I think I've finally

51
00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,440
Speaker 1: gotten over that. As for my kids artwork, my current

52
00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:08,040
Speaker 1: policy is that anything that really makes me smile or

53
00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:12,280
Speaker 1: that shows my kid's personality can stay. So a cartoon

54
00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:14,160
Speaker 1: my daughter drew about how she wanted to be an

55
00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,679
Speaker 1: artist so she could be famous. Is a keeper a

56
00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:21,160
Speaker 1: math work sheet demonstrating the ability to reduce for actions, Well,

57
00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,840
Speaker 1: not so much. I also tried to reuse the paper.

58
00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:27,919
Speaker 1: I have. I print out outlines for my Best of

59
00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,800
Speaker 1: Both Worlds podcast, but I try to use the back

60
00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:34,880
Speaker 1: of those sheets for grocery lists or notes. And finally,

61
00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:37,720
Speaker 1: I am a big fan of programs like doc You

62
00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:41,960
Speaker 1: sign as an author and podcaster and small business owner,

63
00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,400
Speaker 1: not to mention as someone who sometimes rents vacation houses

64
00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,080
Speaker 1: because my family is too big for a hotel. I

65
00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:52,280
Speaker 1: deal with an incredible number of contracts. Anyone that I

66
00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:56,120
Speaker 1: don't need to print out is a huge win. In

67
00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,360
Speaker 1: any case, you might try taking a look today at

68
00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,280
Speaker 1: what sorts of paper tend to stack up in your life.

69
00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,400
Speaker 1: How could you reduce these stacks? Can you keep stuff

70
00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:10,360
Speaker 1: from coming in? Buying e books instead of paper books

71
00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:14,000
Speaker 1: was a big breakthrough for me. Getting any recurring bills

72
00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:17,159
Speaker 1: or statements electronically is also helpful and often easier to

73
00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:21,760
Speaker 1: track down. Always ask if there's an electronic ticket option.

74
00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:27,039
Speaker 1: Don't take receipts you don't need. We're nowhere near the

75
00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:29,840
Speaker 1: paperless office, as anyone who's been working from home these

76
00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:32,440
Speaker 1: past few months and is now responsible for her own

77
00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:37,080
Speaker 1: printing has learned. But we could get somewhat closer. Everything

78
00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,359
Speaker 1: will be less cluttered if we do, and then we

79
00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:43,560
Speaker 1: can treat the paper we do have with some more respect.

80
00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:48,559
Speaker 1: I love little bound notebooks and stationary with some tooth

81
00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:51,640
Speaker 1: to it. These are much more exciting than a receipt

82
00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:57,080
Speaker 1: and never going to use anyway. In the meantime, this

83
00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:01,120
Speaker 1: is Laura, Thanks for listening. Here's to making the most

84
00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:11,080
Speaker 1: of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

85
00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,000
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

86
00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:18,320
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

87
00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:23,880
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four, then Breakfast

88
00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:27,000
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email

89
00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,919
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast. At i heeart media dot com

90
00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,440
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

91
00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:36,120
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

92
00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:45,040
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For

93
00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:48,200
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart

94
00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:51,640
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

95
00:05:51,640 --> 00:06:00,320
Speaker 1: favorite shows. One