Saving Space Tip #1: Scanning Documents

I've been looking at tons of pictures (and plans) of tiny houses, and so been thinking about how one actually lives in such a house, particularly as a couple or with children. The more I think about it, the more simplicity seems to require a lot of planning. Our current place is less than 500 square feet, and it's more than adequate right now, but it can be pretty difficult to reduce the number of things in the house.

One of the ways we've reduced (and are still reducing) our paper has been by scanning all our bills, paystubs, receipts, cards and programs, etc. I'm sentimental and so I really like keeping things as reminders of events. I spend most of my day at my work, so I keep a few special cards at work, but otherwise, we're heading towards complete paper-freedom.

You need:
Electronic storage space (aah, the power of virtual space!)
A scanner that's simple enough that you don't dread scanning
A bag for all the paper recycling (some of which may have to be torn up before you throw it away)

We've gone through much of our documents, but there's plenty more to go. Getting to the maintenance stage may be key, because once you're there, you'll just be scanning a few monthly bills or cards once in a while.

The Office and Long-Term Change

I work in a very small non-profit organization with a relatively high number of part-time employees (myself included), and I've been thinking about how to make the office function more smoothly, as I sometimes have an administrative role, or just a free couple of hours. For those of you in small offices, I'd be really interested to hear about how you work to make the office a simpler place.

I think one major challenge is that we work primarily with people-- rather than ideas, things, numbers or words-- and so our major tools are our voices, our language skills, and our connections to communities and state agencies. Unfortunately, although we work mainly with people we have to somehow convey what we do to funders, and keep tabs on what we do.

Thus one main reason I think this is important is that streamlining-- having a simple, accessible filing system, simple e-mail, and standardized labelling system would help people who are new to the office, and help people who are just around for a short time better slot in and be useful. And I think it would also significantly reduce waste if we could link our computers together and have access to electronic files rather than having to print out all the time. The challenge is everyone really needs to be on board with anything new, and so change has to be gradual to be sustainable.

Simplifying the office should not be about looking good or about being part of a trend, but about what works in a particular context so that people can do the job that matters most well. I've been struggling to figure out what exactly this means in the context of our NGO. So, I will let you know how introducing recycling to the office goes.

The first two steps I'm beginning with are standardizing our labelling of files (I bought a label maker today!) and learning how to recycle paper. That's my goal for January. In February I'd like to think more about computers. I know that most offices have really simple networking systems, and I'd like to learn more. It seems so basic but if you're in an office that doesn't use a lot of e-mail communication or filesharing, it is pretty daunting.

Reading Books on a Pda

I am a book accumulator.

Of all the things in the world, I tend to accumulate books. I haven't really found a good way to deal with this proclivity, but two things that I've realised are
(1) It can get expensive, particularly if you move often and don't want to accumulate too many things
(2) It can get heavy if you can't decide which book you want to read (which can stop you from wanting to walk as far, etc)

One solution literally fell into my lap, in the form of a second hand pda.

With this, you can read documents for class in plain text or pdf format. You can read all the classics for free, and you can avoid taking up space and having a massive collection of paper that you are not using. My pda uses very little energy-- it has to be recharged about once a week if I read while on public transportation and at night for that week.