Stuff that is improving my life (part 1 of a series)
I have, until recently, been consistently shit at dealing with paperwork. I do have a paper file, but I filled it up with crap during a brief organised phase years ago and then gave up and went back to leaving piles of paperwork around the house - gas bills, tax stuff, insurance details, whatever - all in big piles. I'm OK at keeping stuff organised electronically, though, so I figured I'd find a way to move the problem from paper to data.
So, a few months ago, I bought a printer/scanner with a document feeder and started scanning in both new post and the piles lying around the house.
Once scanned in, everything gets filed into folders by company name, and subfolders named with the date on the letter/document (written backwards like 20101130 so that the files will sort properly) and a couple of words of description. Then I FTP a copy of everything new up to toybox as backup.
This has worked amazingly well - all the piles of paper have gone (actually I have a big bag of it that needs burning/shredding when the opportunity arises), the old file will soon go to, I can find whatever I need instantly (insurance details from two years ago? here. contract number from my mortgage? here.), and I have access to it all from anywhere with an internet connection.
I was asked for a recent utility bill at a car hire place recently, and rather than going home and spending half an hour fruitlessly searching, I just pulled up my phone and emailed him my latest gas bill inside of 2 minutes. Proof: data beats the SHIT out of paper.
So, a few months ago, I bought a printer/scanner with a document feeder and started scanning in both new post and the piles lying around the house.
Once scanned in, everything gets filed into folders by company name, and subfolders named with the date on the letter/document (written backwards like 20101130 so that the files will sort properly) and a couple of words of description. Then I FTP a copy of everything new up to toybox as backup.
This has worked amazingly well - all the piles of paper have gone (actually I have a big bag of it that needs burning/shredding when the opportunity arises), the old file will soon go to, I can find whatever I need instantly (insurance details from two years ago? here. contract number from my mortgage? here.), and I have access to it all from anywhere with an internet connection.
I was asked for a recent utility bill at a car hire place recently, and rather than going home and spending half an hour fruitlessly searching, I just pulled up my phone and emailed him my latest gas bill inside of 2 minutes. Proof: data beats the SHIT out of paper.