Going Paperless at Home

The idea of a paperless office was first envisioned in 1975…40 years ago. Yes, 40 years ago. The idea didn’t take off as hoped, but it’s been slowly gaining momentum in the past 7 years. As one article in The Economist states, it’s “not dead, just resting”. I converted my home office to a paperless environment 2 years ago and I haven’t looked back since. Here’s why you, too, should go paperless at home: 

It’s good for the environment. Yes, paper is recyclable, but why use it in the first place? The less paper you use and consume on the front end, the less demand. Less demand equals fewer trees being cut down each year. But what about paper that needs to be shredded due to it containing sensitive information? More and more cities are now accepting shredded paper in it recycling containers as long as it’s bagged. The City of Phoenix, my hometown, is one of those cities. 

It frees up space in your home. I hear a lot of people make comments about how space is at a premium at home. In a paperless environment, there are no file cabinets, no archive boxes, and no stacks of paper laying around. In fact, the only thing you need is a flat surface to put your laptop or desktop on. If you have a laptop, your “office” could actually be anywhere in the house. So that room you’ve been calling your “office” all these years can now be a man cave, a craft room, a kids’ play room, or whatever you want it to be. There are very few documents that have to be retained in original form (e.g. vehicle titles, life insurance policies). One manila folder or one safety deposit box is all you need. 

You’ll never lose your information. This sounds a little motherly, but what if there was a fire or some other calamity where your paper files are damaged beyond repair? As long as you back up your files properly, you will never lose your information. Options like storing data on the Cloud, e-mailing files to yourself, or storing an external drive out-of-home guarantee that. 

The IRS is on board too. Getting audited by the IRS or some other agency invariably gets brought up whenever I talk to someone about going paperless with personal finances. The IRS has been accepting scanned documents since 1997. Other agencies have followed suit as well. Originals are not required anymore. 

It will make certain tasks faster and easier. Things happen in life where you’re required to send documentation to someone; things like buying or refinancing a home or a divorce. When you get that e-mail requesting that documentation, it’s as simple as hitting “Reply” and attaching the files that you already have on your computer. It literally takes minutes. You can be done with it and move on to the next thing on your list.

So when are you going paperless?

Live in the Metro Phoenix area and need help? Visit www.organizedpiggy.com to learn more.

Click HERE to read the original article from The Economist mentioned above.