The basic problem with paper and paper filing systems

Some years back I found myself sifting through a filing cabinet looking for a particular automotive repair receipt that I was certain must be in there somewhere. It was probably for a set of tires I once bought or some similar long-term investment.

There was a shocking number of receipts for car repairs, many from the 1990s, from cars long since forgotten. But it was difficult to narrow down my search and I had to go through several folders looking for my quarry.

That’s when I hit upon the essence of the problem

I saw a few basic shortcomings of our home paper management, if you could call it that…

• There was no way to know what folder something might be in; Auto Repairs was as likely as Volkswagen.
• There was no way to index the content. I couldn’t easily say “Show me everything talking about Tires and my Volkswagen.”
• The file cabinet didn’t contain everything. There were little stashes here and there, piles and boxes of paper growing in the corners.

As a matter of fact, there was a pretty good chance the receipt I was looking for might be in an out-of-season coat pocket or in the glove box of a different vehicle.

I looked at my shiny new MacBook Pro and gazed at a fairly low-budget flatbed scanner across the room, and I have never looked back.

Many people think of going paperless as a means to reduce the volume of paper in their life, to reduce their environmental impact, or some other reason. I feel that the number one reason why I have gone this route is so that I can search everything effortlessly.

If I want to find every document related to my Volkswagen, I can do a quick search on the word bring up a dozen or so receipts and documents.