creatrope

I decided a while back if I collected some thoughts on home organization, it might give me some momentum to continue. So far it seems to be working for me.

Here’s some collected thoughts on improving paper organization in your house:

scan photographs, then collect and safely store originals:
http://www.creatrope.com/blog/resources/scanning-photographs-2/

make a plan on how to shred papers you don’t need:
http://www.creatrope.com/blog/?s=paper&searchbutton=go%21

use virtual printing after scanning to turn paper into PDFs
http://www.creatrope.com/blog/2006/08/03/decluttering-via-virtual-printing/

do two minute ‘filing’ exercises immediately:
http://www.creatrope.com/blog/2006/05/24/the-two-minute-rule-applied-to-decluttering-and-organization/

get the best bang for the effort by focusing on volume and weight:
http://www.creatrope.com/blog/resources/maximizing-storage-using-volume-and-weight/

make it fast and easy to recycle:
http://www.creatrope.com/blog/resources/maximizing-storage-using-volume-and-weight/

and more importantly of all (have less paper, don’t just organize it!)
http://www.creatrope.com/blog/2006/12/30/entropyandclutter/

there’s a bunch more in that blog that may be relevant as well…

Many cities have ‘community shreds’ where they sponsor a local reputable shredding company to park their mobile shredding truck in a parking lot. You bring a few banker-boxes full of papers and they shred them for free. Something to consider if your ‘to shred’ box of papers is more than your $50 shredder (or you) can handle.

Many of these places will also shred on their own site for some fee such as $25/100 lbs. At that price point they don’t generally do it ‘in front of you’, but if you do some research you can find one that is bonded and trustworthy.

http://www.creatrope.com/blog/2007/04/15/community-shred/

An indoor playhouse (especially if you live somewhere that doesn’t have wonderful year-round weather) might be a good option to consider if you have the room.

I’ve built this one that received a lot of play over the years:

http://www.creatrope.com/blog/make/diy-indoor-playhouse/