Bits of paper
Posted by: Sally on: November 10, 2009
Get ready. Here I go again - whingeing and moaning.
If there’s anyone still out there reading this blog, I can only apologise. But then it’s my blog, innit? And if I want to complain, I’m allowed to.
My frustration today is with STUFF. The amount of stuff I have. And I have tons of it.
Yes, I know I already mentioned this a couple of posts back … but I really do have SO MUCH STUFF. I feel like I have much more than other people.
When I say stuff, I mean bits of paper. Bank stuff, teaching resources, things acquired at long-forgotten SLT courses, university notes, letters, photos, souvenirs, important documents. The list goes on and on … And it all resides in dozens of bags and boxes … mainly all shoved in in a pretty random manner.
Thinking about it all gives me a real feeling of uneasiness. I want to sort it all out. Organise it. Throw stuff away … and I do try!
I am constantly trying to take control, but never seem to manage it. No time. So much to sort. Maybe my standards are too high?
Having it organised would massively improve the quality of my life. I would be able to find things. I could tick it off my mental ’to-do’ list.
Should I be ruthless and chuck everything non-essential away? What is ‘non-essential’, though?
Should I keep my uni notes? Or scan them (a mammoth task)?
Am I the only one who feels as if they are being controlled by a mass of papers? Or am I just being a complete nut-job and getting this completely out of proportion?
Maybe everyone else lives underneath a mountain of papers and files, and just learns to accept the chaos.
3 Responses to "Bits of paper"
November 12, 2009 at 6:59 am
Similarly, I found myself disappearing under a mass of utility bills. Even once paid, I didn’t want to throw them out, just in case. Just in case of what, I don’t know.
So I filed them, but then I quickly ended up with a huge, cumbersome utility bill folder.
So, as Brennig suggests above, I scanned them in. As pdf files they take up very little space. Took ages to start with, but now I keep on top of it as they come in.
At the click of a button, I can tell you how much I paid for gas, water, etc as far back as 2005. A bit anal, I know, but that’s me.
But, as Bren says, back them up… or it’s a waste of time.
November 12, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Thanks for the advice, guys. I think scanning is the way forward. Maybe I’ll take a week off work to get it done 
Seriously though, do pdf files take up less space than Word docs? … previously I have scanned and saved things as Word files and they seem to be huge!
I’m not even sure whether I can save things as pdf’s ….??? I’ll have to do a bit of investigating… perhaps it’s really easy and I just haven’t noticed that option before…
Leave a Reply
November 11, 2009 at 9:50 am
Scan them. You’ll miss them when they’re gone. And back up the scans.
Nice theme btw.