21:03 – The trial and error of scanning!

Here we are at day three of our 21 day challenge, and I guess it’s time for a quick update on how this is going.

As I have sorted through my papers over and over again the last couple of years, I find that most everything I’ve collected is stuff I need and want to scan, which means there are a lot, a lot of scanning to do 😦

I bought a new printer earlier this year, mostly for the sake of having a proper scanning device. This particular printer will scan double sided documents as well as single sided ones, and as it has a automatic document feeder it will do bulk scanning.

So how is this printer/scanner working out?

After a bit of trial and error, I have found that I need to be a little careful about putting to many pages in the document feeder at a time. The automatic document feeder can hold 30 pages, but unless the the paper is completely prisine, I have found that everything runs just a little smoother if I don’t fill it to the top of it’s capasity.

I’ve also found that it sometimes, mind you not all the time, but sometimes, is a bit temperamental when it comes to paper quality. Curled corners, tear or two, or mixed sized paper, does not always seem to agree with the scanner. This has resultet in me having to do a few re-scans to get everything right.

I am finally starting to get the hang of it, and I now know a bit more about how to proceed, to get things running more smoothly. Hopefully this will speed up the process, because, until now, it’s been a bit slow going for my pacience

When I scan my documents, I mostly use the scan to PDF function on my printer. I alternate between duplex or single side scanning, all depending on what’s in the document. Now unfortunately I can’t mix the two in one session, so I have to decide up front what I want.

As I do not yet have any good software for editing my pdf files, I have to be a bit “crafty” when I scan my documents.

If there is only one or two double sided page(s), within a large document, I will copy the “second” page, add it to the pile and scan everything as single sided pages. If there are more double sided pages than single sided, I will scan everything as double sided, and just live with the blank pages in the file.

If you guys have any experience with a good, and cheap, PDF editing software. Please let me know, so I can check it out. And if I come accross one, that doen’t cost an arm and a leg, I will off course let you know.

Now that we have talked about the scanner, is there any progress on that pile?

Well as you can see from the picture below, my work-space is a mess (yes, that’s my dining room table 😉 ), the piles are still all over my livingroom floor, and my pile of done and scanned stuff, is only about 6 inches high.. even thought I am working on it, as we speak 😉

My next post

After a comment from tigerofmyheart, on her already having a bag ready to go, but no shredder in sight. I was thinking about doing a small piece on the importance of shredding your papers. On why, how and where you can have this done for you.

Stay tuned.. that’s what’s next on this page!

JOINING IN

There is a saying “The more the merrier”, and so far there are a few of us who will be attacking the paper piles. And I for one, can’t wait to see what stacks we all will shed!

– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, is joining with about 15 minutes a day
– Viv, at GriefHappens, said she needed to be on this “like an over-sugared kid in a bouncy house”, and are joining with 30 minutes a day 🙂
– Jena, at All Round Better me, is in for 60 minutes a week
– Amy, at More time than money, also joining with 60 minutes a week
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, just told me she is joining, woohoo

Sitting on the fence
– Gilly, at Anything Except Housework is waiting to see if we survive it all 😉
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, is hard at work on her front porch, and haven’t quuuuite decided yet 😉

Anyone else want to jump in? Let me know, and I’ll ad you to the list 🙂

21:02 – Document KEEP overview!

It’s day two of our 21 day challenge.

Yesterday we talked a bit about what kind of documents we need to keep, should keep and want to keep. I promised I would make you a printable picture of the KEEP overview.

It’s not all fancy but it should work for your needs.

Click here to get a printable version

What have I been up!

Enough of this talking about what to keep… have you gotten any decluttering done? Is there any progress on your pile?

Well, yes 🙂 There are some progress, but that will have to wait for tomorrow. I can’t let you inn on everything right away you know 😉 Right now I’d rather tell you about, who all is joining in on this endeavor.

JOINING IN

There is a saying “The more the merrier”, and so far there are a few of us who will be attacking the paper piles. And I for one, can’t wait to see what stacks we all will shed!

I hope I didn’t miss anyone.. if I did, or if you just decided you want to join. Let me know, and I’ll add you in on the list.

Guess that’s it for today,

see you all around. tomorrow

21:01 – Sorting time!

It’s day one of our 21 day challenge, and the first thing we have to do is gather every scrap of paper that is using real estate in the house. I hunted high and low, and my pile can be found in yesterdays post.

You’re not ready with your pile yet? Right! Everyone, you’ve got 15 minutes to gather it all into a huge pile.

Now! Run…

Ready? No.. not yet? You need a little more time? No problem…. (minutes are passing)

OK guys. Everyone have their piles? Yep? Great.

Seems like we are all ready to get down to business 🙂

It’s time to start SORTING the stack!

One, two, three.. ready… NO,no… hang on a minute! I just thought about something. There is something we need to talk about first!

You might be really tempted to chuck it all right smack in the middle of sorting through your papers (I know I would love that), but you should not do this.

You see! There are some personal files we need to keep, and some we should keep, in addition to the ones you want to keep.

Let’s talk about the these real quick.
My lists below are a compilation of what I have found on the web. Not everything will be applicable for everyone, I might also have missed some documents. Anyways, the lists should work as a general guideline for what we need and should keep. Now, you might not want to hang on to all, I’ll leave that up to your discretion 😉

Disclaimer! If you own a business, there are specific rules for what you need to keep. My lists are for personal documents only.

NEED TO KEEP (physical copies and data files if possible)

Will, Power of attorney and living will
Birth and death certificates
Marriage license, prenups and divorce papers
Social security information (US) or other equivalent type of documents (rest of the world)
Proof of citizenship
Adoption papers
Alimony arrangements
Child custody agreements
Military records
IRA information/contributions
Retirement/Pension plan documents
ID cards and passports
Insurance policies (might be OK to have as physical paper in addition to any digital copy’s)
Vehicle titles and loan documents
House deeds and mortgage documents
Any other loan/mortgage documents, this also includes personal loans
Business license

In short, you’ll want to keep physical copies of things related to state/federal matters, including certifications, licenses, or deeds. Why?
1. You, might want to have easy access to these, just in case you need them.
2. If you need a physical copy and don’t have one, it’s a pain to have them replaced, since you have to make a direct request to a government agency, and we all know how “fast” they work 😉

SHOULD KEEP (data files and/or as physical copies)

These are documents you should hold on too, for a while. You don’t need to keep them as physical documents, unless you really want to. Scanned files are fine.

Tax records and receipts, including the yearly statements you need for the tax return (Norway – IRS can go back 10 years = keep 10 years, US = 7 years – check out Forbes info on this, UK – 22 months )
Pay stubs (keep for a year, until you can check it against your yearly statement)
Bank statements
Social security statements
Annual insurance policy statements
Retirement plan statements (401(k), 529, IRA, etc)
Home purchase, sale, or improvement documents (keep as long as you own the house + at least six/seven years after you sell (for tax purposes))
Medical records (should keep as long as they are relevant for your situation)
Medical bills (keep at least a year after payment in case of disputes)
Warranty documents and receipts (keep as long as you own them)
Pictures of expensive items you own, in case you need them for an insurance claim

There are also some documents you probably should keep the most recent version of, for your own piece of mind:

Canceled checks and bank deposit slips (until you receive your monthly bank statement)
Bills (until you have proof that the payment was received)

I’m sure there are more I have missed, but in general A GOOD RULE OF THUMB can be to think (when deciding what to keep)

“How hard is this document to replace? Will I need to hang around a government office, hospital, bank or on a phone for hours to get hold of a copy?” Is the answer a resounding YES, then it’s probably best to hold onto it 🙂 Anything else, can probably be scanned or found as online documents.

WANT TO KEEP

Then we get to the documents/scraps of paper we want to keep. maybe they are ideas, a great article, drawing or sentimental items like old letters. You are the only one who can decide on these items. But to keep that particular pile under control, make sure the paper/document is important to you, inspires you or gives you tremendous joy (like drawing from a kid, letter from a dear one and so on).

NOTE!

As I mentioned before, I shred all documents before they leave the house. You should too! If not, you might risk people rummaging through your trash finding personal information about you, that they can use to empty your bank accounts, buy things on credit cards or even completely steal your identity. If you don’t own a shredder, make sure you at least tear the important stuff.

OTHER

This turned out to be a long list of things to keep in mind when sorting through your papers.

To make it easier for you, I will add a printable picture/file on this tomorrow, in case you would like the overview on hand as you sort through your papers – I know I could need this 😉 Why not add it right away.. well, I haven’t made it yet.. and as it’s 11PM here, I can’t get to bed soon enough 😉

Until tomorrow everyone, until tomorrow 🙂

Nighty nite…

21 Day Paper Challenge!

I mentioned a couple of days ago that it is time for a new 21 day challenge. A paper challenge this time.

I figured that since it’s a challenge, I will need a few rules/goals. How else would you guys know if I’m keeping up my end of this 😉

Rules/goals:

I will dedicate at least 60 minutes a day (yes, every day) to sorting out my paper monster.
I will update you all on a regular basis, on what I’m up to, and on how much has gone “out-the-door” (read: trash pile) 😉
Out-the-door – I’m hoping that about 90% of all my papers will be shredded at the end of it all. Why not a hundred? Since there are some papers that we need to keep physical versions of, I guess I’ll be keeping those. Since I don’t know how many there are of these, I’m going with the “hopefully 90% out-the-door” 😉 As you can see from the piles below.. it’s not easy to say exactly how much will be going out-the-door!

When do we start?

Tomorrow is a god a day as any to start, so I’ll see you then?

Melinda, you ready?

Paper and paper clutter!

Now that the great cooktop debacle is over, I want to talk to you about paper.

I’m not talking about things like wrapping paper or nice little pristine notebooks waiting to be filled.

No, I’m talking about all the paper we tend to hold on to. The paper “clutter” that seems to be everywhere.

Stuff like old tax returns, pay slips, bills, manuals, scraps of paper with notes on, receiptsm magazine and newspaper tear outs, insurance papers, financial statements, health info and notebooks filled with random notes.

Off course, some paper we need to keep, but those tend to easily get lost in the pile of paper we really don’t need to hold on to.

Just about everyone I know, have way to much paper floating around. And I for one, want that to be over, once and for all.

It’s time to tackle the paper monster, hanging around in the house.

You might remember I tried this back in May. My intention was to scan all the important ones, and then get rid of it all.

Now as you probably gathered from lack of posts about that particular task, I never succeeded.

I sorted some, and even scanned some, and then I had to tuck it all away because of visitors. And you know how that goes. Out of sight out of mind! Yeah, that particular project never made it out of the cabinets again… until now!

I really do want this stuff gone! So I’m giving it another try, but this time I’m doing it in a way that might help me actually get there.

You might remember my 21 day declutter challenge in September! Which turned out to be a pretty successful project, mostly because of you guys.

I’m thinking maybe a new challenge is the way to go, to get my pile under control, a 21 day paper challenge.

I might try to tackle the project by topic, but topic or not. There are a few steps that will be the same, regardless of what pile I’m attacking.

SORT
I will sort papers into what I need to keep, should keep, and want to keep. The rest? Goes into the toss pile.

SCAN
All papers in the keep pile will be scanned.
When a piece of paper has been scanned, and checked that it looks OK, a new evaluation is needed.
Do I need to keep this as a physical copy or can it be tossed now that it’s scanned?

FILE
As I scan along, I will end up with a few documents I will need to keep physical copies off, like for example birth-certificates, ID cards, passports, vehicle title, active mortgage documents and so on. There are more, of course, but we will get to that.

The physical keepers, I will categorize and file into binders.

SHRED
As I sort, scan and file my paper, I will end up with quite a lot of paper in the toss pile. All this will be shredded, then tossed.

I’m super careful with anything that might have my name, bank details, credit card details, health information or anything else on, that might say things about me. I do not want to set myself up for identity theft, therefore I shred all personal papers leaving the house.

21 DAYS
21 day, sound like a long time.. will it take you that long?

I have no idea. My experience from earlier tells me that the scanning part will be what takes the longest. And from a health point of view, I want to spend as little time in front of the computer as I can.

Right now, there are piles and piles of paper to go through. Sadly as most of it has been sorted several times before, and I believe most of the papers I have.. are the scan-able ones… ouch 😦

Will I get it done, in 21 days?

I’m certain I will get it done (cocky I know).. but if I don’t… at least I’m going to be a heck of a lot closer, than I am today 😉

Do you have a pile pile from hell, that needs some work? Why not join me and we can tackle the paper monster together.

Not everyone will be scanning, I’m sure, but there might still be work to be done, with sorting, filing and shredding.

I would love the company 🙂

Our recycle plant – and a awesome find!

A couple of miles down the road from me, we have a large recycle plant. They will take anything you want/need to get rid off.

One of their best ideas is the “Used goods/Exchange house”.

They have this separate building right before you drive into the recycle plant, where you can bring things like furniture, kitchen items, books, art, sports equipment, music instruments, old sinks… you name it, they will take it, IF it can be useful to other people.

You can not bring trash… if you do, they will direct you to the regular part of the recycle plant, where you can toss your trash for a small fee.

It’s free to leave your stuff at the Exchange house, and it’s free for people to browse all the items they have on display. Should you find something you like! Just stick it in your car.. and drive off.. at no cost to you… all free.

Last week… B and I took a full (as in an overfull) car to the Exchange house, as I figured that some of the items I had been discarding, might be useful to someone else. Last week was my second run, and tomorrow I’m doing it again. That’s three runs just with items from my 21 day declutter challenge 🙂

I love the idea of other people being able to use my old items, the items kinda get a new lease on life 😉

Now.. every time I visit the recycle plant, I always take a peak into the Exchange building, just to see if something useful would pop up, and guess what?

During last week’s trip, I scored big time!!!

I came across a small metal “tub”, which I assume, have most likely been some sort of old drinking trough for horses or something. The tub was pretty grubby looking, but I turned immediately to B and told him “I’m taking this home“.

He looked at me like I was nuts.. and I can’t say I blame him! Here we are, bringing stuff FROM my house to declutter the place… and I want to bring something BACK?

He tried to put up some good arguments, but I was pretty determined. I told him I had the perfect idea for it… HE couldn’t see it.. but it wasn’t really like he had much of a choice.. I was bringing the darn thing home if I had to carry it myself 😉

15 minutes later.. we are at my place, deep knee into cleaning the tub.. scrubbing all the dirt away, getting rid of old attached plasterboard pieces and washing away rust.

And then, I find the perfect spot… and then, I fill it with plants (to check out how it will look, come next spring)… and THEN, he finally gets it 🙂

What do you think? Not a too shabby idea.. right?

I LOVE it!

It’s perfect in my garden.. and in addition to being a different and cool planter box, it’s gonna be great for my yearly barbecue, as a huge icebox, filled with wine, beer and champagne 🙂

I mean, seriously.. what’s not to like 😉

My fellow 21 day declutter challenge bloggers;

Still in the middle of it:
– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, on day 11
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, is making some hairy goals for the month of October
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, on day 20, only one more day to go!
– Gilly over at Anything but housework, working on her closet. 11+ bags so far.

done, just like me:
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, 14 days. Total count: 146.
– Liliia at Bring your baby abroad , decluttered her old room, while visiting her mum.

21 day challenge – Decluttering this time!

Looking at my latest blog posts it’s looking a lot like a “travel” site, rather than a minimalist journey site. Now there are reasons for this as I’ve been traveling a bit this summer (only short trips) and my heart these days have been focused more on future travels than decluttering my life.

The last few years, I’ve been doing really good. I’ve been focused, been counting the items leaving the house, and I have slowly but surely seen the result of my decluttering efforts.

This year! Not so much 😦

I could say, it’s been quite the opposite… I’ve done nothing, nada, zilch on the declutter front, and it’s time, it is TIME to get with the program.

I figured that September is a good a month as any, to get back on the declutter wagon. You know, put a little focus into it, just to get the ball rolling!

So, this is what I’m thinking… Why not make myself a tiny 21 day challenge, sort of like I ~~did~~ tried earlier this year, with my blog writing. But a declutter challenge, this time around!

So what is it going to be? Well, I could off course give myself a hairy goal of oodles of things out the door… but as the intention of this is to get back into to groove of things (rather than set myself up for failure), I’m going to do tiny steps… tiny, tiny steps, just to make sure I have a chance, to get myself back into the habit.

So here it is! My goals for this challenge:

I will dedicate at least 15 minutes a day to decluttering, every day, without fail.
At the end of each week, I will give you an update of what went out-the-door.
Out-the-door – hopefully 231 items. Why 231? Well… even thought I’m going for tiny steps, I shouldn’t make it too easy on myself.. should I? I was trying to find the perfect number of items out-the-door and thought.. hey.. why not do a kind of mini version of The Minimalists MinsGame, that should give me just enough challenge. Declutter the amount of items corresponding with the day. Day 1 = 1 item, day 2 = 2 items and so on up to day 21 = 21 items. Total = 231.

And I’m starting Monday.

Monday marks the beginning of the week, and I figured that would be a great day to start it all up 🙂

Want to join me, on my 21 day challenge, my teensy weensy MinsGame?

Yes! Cool! Let me know and we can do it together!

Caught you off guard? Just jump in any day… anything out-the-door, is golden 🙂

21 day challenge update!

You’ve been wondering how I did with my 21 day challenge?

Guess it’s about time I give you an update 🙂

I did really well.. in the beginning! But then my Houston trip caught up with me.

I guess I should have known better! Doing a 21 day challenge at the same time as I was in Houston… Talk about setting myself up!

Even though, this time around, I didn’t make a lot of plans for my trip.

I didn’t make a lot of appointments up front.

I didn’t fill my schedule like crazy like I normally do.

But even so… all I needed to do was show up in town, and the next thing I knew, was that my calendar was filled with lunches, movies, dinners and trips down the coast.. You name it, it got on my calendar 😎 and I loved it!

I love hanging out with my friends, who wouldn’t? I’ve got great friends.

So there we have it! My 21 day challenge pretty much went down the drain, in favour of me hanging out with my friends 😘.

And here you have it… how I really did:

21 Day Challenge!

Hi there!

Since I’m doing this 21 Day “blog” challenge that I mentioned yesterday. I thought I would try creating a challenge calendar. I surfed the net and got a inspired by a few others, so guess who played around in powerpoint yesterday and today to make her own? Yepp, that would be me 🙂

I’ll be filling in things as I go along.. but a couple of days activities are already sorted, as you can see:

So there you have it, an accountability calendar 🙂 Dang it.. did I just commit myself?

See you tomorrow!

On again, off again, on again?

I’ve been having a bit of a turbulent relationship with my blog for a while. I’ve been on again, off again, on again, off again!

It’s not that I don’t spend time thinking about articles to write, I do… Almost every night when I go to bed, my brains runneth off with stuff I would like to write about. But what often happens, when I wake up in the morning, is that I realize, that once again.. I’m not going to get it done. Either because I have to rush off to early treatment appointments (and treatment days are a bust) or I’m waking up with a blistering headache which sadly means no “life” that day. Enough of these days in a row, and you kinda “give up” on the blog stuff.

I’ve come to realize that I need to do something “drastic” if I’m going to have a chance to get back on again. It’s either that or shutting it down all together! And just thinking of shutting it down, make me cringe, so that not really an options now is it 🙂

It’s time to put my pen to the paper.. or rather my fingers to the keyboard.

It’s amazing how quickly you fall out of the habit of writing, and I was thinking (well hoping actually) that maybe it’s just as “easy” to get back into the writing again? Throw a little elbow grease into it, and maybe it will come back?

There is a “myth” out there that says: It takes 21 days to form a habit!

Now, research has shown that it could just as easily take 30 days, 66 days or even close to a year to form a lasting habit. It all depends on the people themselves and what type of habit they want to form. Me? I’m bargaining on the 21 day rule 🙂

To get back into my blogging world, I’ve decided to give myself a 21 day challenge!

So here goes! For the next 21 days I will be spending at least 1 hour every day on blog related tasks.

That would be writing blog posts (yes several), catching up with other bloggers, making and answering comments, checking out new blogs. In general the things that I need to do, to get back into a good blogging rhythm. One hour every day, for 21 days.

I know this doesn’t sound too challenging.. but come Wednesday, I’m leaving for Houston to hang out with friends I haven’t seen for a long time. A trip filled with, visiting, hanging out, going to shows and movies, sleepovers, dining out, and off course, “copious” amount of frozen margarita 🙂 If can successfully keep up with my 21 day challenge through all that, well that just have to change my non blogging habit somewhat!

I wouldn’t expect a lot of deep and profound blog posts during my challenge if I were you. Actually… thinking about it, I can pretty sure guarantee there won’t be any deep and profound! Seriously it’s me and my scrambled brain we are talking about… with or without the margaritas 😉

What you will see, is most likely short posts (unless my brain runs off with me), some maybe even just a picture or a quote. The key thing here people, is to get back into the habit of writing and blogging in general, not to write “The great Gatsby” (which as already been done bytheway) 😉

As this is a spur of the moment challenge on my part, and I have not prepared at all (I figured I should just jump right in, as planning would probably stop me in my tracks… again) I would love any help you would like to give me on the way 🙂 Suggestions on how I should organize my time, blogs I should catch up on, things to write… any and all suggestions are highly appreciated.

So let’s get to it 🙂 The challenge starts NOW!

~Anne Lene

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)