This is the first in a two part series of articles helping people to organize their papers and go digital at home

One Sunday morning, I found myself in my home office, swimming in a sea of paper.

Two industrial filing cabinets hidden in the room's closet had long concealed the paper proof of my existence.

I had accumulated the documents, page by page and inch by inch, over several years. Power bills, pay stubs, phone bills, rental agreements, warranty information, and handwritten notes going back to 8th grade shared silent communion in the dark.

These papers were seldom if ever used, but it was comforting just knowing that they were ready and available if needed.

Then, without warning, the breaking point happened.

My file hiding and abandonment system, faithful and flawless for years, was now full.

I am not talking just a little full. I'm talking so full that I skinned my knuckles trying to get another Visa statement in the folder. There I was, cartoonishly trying to defy physics by compressing the very atoms that made up the paper files so that I could cram another 1/2" of files into condensed bricks of manila and white paper.

Frustrated, I threw the process in reverse and started pulling files out of the cabinets. The papers spilled out onto the floor as if through a breached levee.

Everything came out. In the aftermath, I took a look at what I had and found a way to make the hard decisions easy.

Some of the lessons learned in the process may help you on your own journey toward simplifying paper's grip on your life.

Step 1: Decide What's Important

Seeing the papers spread out on the floor reminded me of going to a reunion and seeing long forgotten friends.

This was not a time to get comfortable and nostalgic, however. It was time for action.

The first step was to decide, not only what documents were important, but also how important they were.

Start by creating three basic stacks:

1. The "Most Important" stack. For me, this included Passports, birth certificates, marriage license, social security cards, homeowners insurance policies, jewelry appraisals, titles/deeds, mortgage information, and important medical documents. These were set aside for storage in a small Brinks fire safe from Wal-Mart.
2. The "Important" stack. This stack included tax returns from the past seven years, bank statements from the past three years, credit card statements waiting to be reconciled, retirement account information, product warranties that were still in effect, and my handwritten notes and journals dating back to 8th grade.
3. The "Shred It" stack. This stack was for two types of documents. First, there were papers that never were important and never should have been saved to begin with. Second, there were documents that may have been important at one time but are no longer important to keep.

Sorting the documents up-front like this made a terrible mess of my office, but it did not take long to do. When the dust settled, the "Shred It" stack was the largest, followed by the "Important" stack and then the "Most Important" stack. I had my work cut out for me.

Step 2: Shred

Papers ruining my Sunday, meet my friend, the Shredder.

I though that this would be therapeutic at first. I was wrong. All feelings of tranquility that come with mindlessly destroying things was over before I shredded the first hundred sheets.

You see, a home shredder is built to shred a day's worth of junk mail. It is not designed to shred a filing cabinet worth of old bills.

Using a home shredder to destroy large amounts of pages quickly becomes an exercise in frustration. Clear the paper jam, clean up the confetti, and wait for the motor that you just overheated to cool down so you can resume, count five to six sheets of paper, straighten them out, watch for staples, watch your fingers... and then repeat that over and over and over again.

If I only knew then what I know now.

There is a much simpler way to purge your old paper documents. For about $10 per copier paper box full, I could have had a professional document destruction company shred these records for me, saving me hours and hours of work.

Using a professional would have been better for the environment, too, as they usually recycle the paper bits for reuse instead of sending them to a landfill.

Step 3: Scan and file Your "Most Important" Documents

The world is becoming more digital. I want to be on the forefront, but there are some things that I simply prefer having in paper.

These were the documents in my "Most Important" stack. The documents in my "Most Important" stack would staying as paper documents, but I also decided to scan them as PDF files using a small flatbed scanner.

Why start scanning with these documents and keep the paper originals?

There were three important reasons:

1. I wanted a paper copy of these documents just in a fire safe in case a scanned copy wasn't legally acceptable or the document had some sort of milestone sentimental value. After all, nobody in airport customs accepts a scanned passport, and it is kind of nice to have a real copy of your diploma or degree instead of just a scan of it.
2. I wanted a digital copy so that my paper originals did not get damaged by frequent handling. A digital copy of unique documents, like my passport, was valuable to me in getting a replacement if the paper copy were ever lost or destroyed.
3. Most importantly, starting scanning with these papers was valuable, hands-on training for how to scan and organize the rest of my documents. The size of this stack was small, so it was not overwhelming. Since I knew that I was keeping the paper originals, I was not as nervous about messing up my scanning or filing.

Interested in finding out more? Check out part 2 of the series for steps 4 through 6, along with a helpful worksheet for planning your personal paperless adventure!

i/oTrak is committed to making paper easier. We are a Kodak Authorized Info & Photo Scanning Equipment Reseller and Document Conversion Center. We offer a range of back-office services to help businesses of all sizes with their document needs, including E-Z Scan, E-Z Store, E-Z Shred, and E-Z Send.