Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to limit the quantity of paper that
Speaker 1: comes into your life so it's easier to stay organized,
Speaker 1: and so you can treat the paper you do keep
Speaker 1: as more special. Today's episode is inspired by a book
Speaker 1: I recently read by Lisa Woodruff called The Paper Solution.
Speaker 1: In it, this professional organizer teaches people how to manage
Speaker 1: the paper that comes into their lives without dropping balls.
Speaker 1: In a later episode, I'll talk about her Sunday basket technique,
Speaker 1: but today I want to talk about limiting the quantity
Speaker 1: of paper you need to deal with, as paper tends
Speaker 1: to take space and time. So there was a theory
Speaker 1: at one point that we were on the verge of
Speaker 1: a paperless world. All communication would be electronic and no
Speaker 1: one would need paper for anything anymore. That didn't really
Speaker 1: pan out, partly because people are people. I'm old enough
Speaker 1: that I once worked for someone who wanted all emails
Speaker 1: printed out so they could be treated with a dignity
Speaker 1: of postal correspondence and then filed appropriately. Thankfully, most people
Speaker 1: have moved past that, partly because most email is so
Speaker 1: not worth printing and saving. But we still have a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff. We get mail in the mailbox, We
Speaker 1: get forms from doctors and dentists and schools. We print notes,
Speaker 1: We have books, we have magazines. I've gotten better about
Speaker 1: checking stuff over the past few years, but there were
Speaker 1: definitely times in the past when I saved all my
Speaker 1: magazines because I love the pretty pictures and I thought
Speaker 1: I might look through them to get ideas in the future. Indeed,
Speaker 1: I had this whole big paper ideal file I was
Speaker 1: keeping for a while. It sat like a time capsule
Speaker 1: for something like eight years in my closet. Eventually I
Speaker 1: opened it. There was indeed a whole lot of nice
Speaker 1: two thousand five photography in there, but I got no
Speaker 1: ideas whatsoever. Kids artwork and school work is also complicated.
Speaker 1: Some is good and some is less memorable. My teenager
Speaker 1: printed up vast quantities of math worksheets this spring, which
Speaker 1: would then sit on the counter. It took a long
Speaker 1: time to get them into the recycling bin. As I've
Speaker 1: been pondering this in my life, I've realized that one
Speaker 1: of the best techniques is to avoid letting stuff stack
Speaker 1: up when I bring in the mail. Anything I'm not
Speaker 1: interested in goes straight to the trash or the recycling bin.
Speaker 1: Otherwise it can sit in the pile for months. Magazines
Speaker 1: now getting max of two months before they go out
Speaker 1: the door. The daily newspaper is a little treat for me.
Speaker 1: We subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, but it needs
Speaker 1: to be gone in two days. It was hard for
Speaker 1: me to admit that I will not read a daily
Speaker 1: newspaper from a week ago, but I think I've finally
Speaker 1: gotten over that. As for my kids artwork, my current
Speaker 1: policy is that anything that really makes me smile or
Speaker 1: that shows my kid's personality can stay. So a cartoon
Speaker 1: my daughter drew about how she wanted to be an
Speaker 1: artist so she could be famous. Is a keeper a
Speaker 1: math work sheet demonstrating the ability to reduce for actions, Well,
Speaker 1: not so much. I also tried to reuse the paper.
Speaker 1: I have. I print out outlines for my Best of
Speaker 1: Both Worlds podcast, but I try to use the back
Speaker 1: of those sheets for grocery lists or notes. And finally,
Speaker 1: I am a big fan of programs like doc You
Speaker 1: sign as an author and podcaster and small business owner,
Speaker 1: not to mention as someone who sometimes rents vacation houses
Speaker 1: because my family is too big for a hotel. I
Speaker 1: deal with an incredible number of contracts. Anyone that I
Speaker 1: don't need to print out is a huge win. In
Speaker 1: any case, you might try taking a look today at
Speaker 1: what sorts of paper tend to stack up in your life.
Speaker 1: How could you reduce these stacks? Can you keep stuff
Speaker 1: from coming in? Buying e books instead of paper books
Speaker 1: was a big breakthrough for me. Getting any recurring bills
Speaker 1: or statements electronically is also helpful and often easier to
Speaker 1: track down. Always ask if there's an electronic ticket option.
Speaker 1: Don't take receipts you don't need. We're nowhere near the
Speaker 1: paperless office, as anyone who's been working from home these
Speaker 1: past few months and is now responsible for her own
Speaker 1: printing has learned. But we could get somewhat closer. Everything
Speaker 1: will be less cluttered if we do, and then we
Speaker 1: can treat the paper we do have with some more respect.
Speaker 1: I love little bound notebooks and stationary with some tooth
Speaker 1: to it. These are much more exciting than a receipt
Speaker 1: and never going to use anyway. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura, Thanks for listening. Here's to making the most
Speaker 1: of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four, then Breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast. At i heeart media dot com
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows. One