Wow, it has been a crazy past few weeks but I think I have gotten all of the events we attend out of the way and am ready to start writing again.  Let’s get back to the paperless process.

I read a statistic today that says the average worker loses one hour of productivity each workday.  That is a horrible statistic.  That means that a company of ten people is potentially losing 2,500 hours a year because people can’t find something.  That’s crazy.  Translate this to your home life and you begin to see that being disorganized can be the reason you don’t have enough time in your day, week, year, or life.  Putting a system in place that allows you to take little steps each day can make you happier because you have more time to do the things you love.

Going paperless, or mostly paperless, involves a commitment on your part.  You don’t want to get half of your documents scanned and electronically filed then suddenly stop and go back to the old ways of piles and files.  Remember, it is much easier to grab a disc or thumb drive to take with you in case of an emergency than to try to think about which documents you need to grab if you are faced with an evacuation situation due to fire or weather.

In previous blogs I covered getting the right equipment and setting up naming conventions or rules on how documents should be named.  Let’s get on with actually scanning the documents.  I have two different scanners; one that only has document feeder at work and a combination document feeder / flatbed scanner at home.  I prefer to use the document feeder because it is faster since multiple page documents can be scanned at one time.  My Fujitsu scanner at work came with a clear plastic “carrier” sheet which is really cool because it allows me to put a small or odd sized receipt through the document feeder.  The carrier sheet is simply two clear plastic sheets that are sealed together on one end.  You place the receipt between the two sheets of plastic then insert the sheet into the feeder, sealed end first.  The receipt is held in place and scanned without moving or getting jammed.  I understand that you can buy this accessory for most document feeder type scanners but my HP scanner at home didn’t come with a carrier sheet so I just use the flatbed scanner.

Here are the steps I go through at home to use my HP Scanjet 5590 scanner.  Every scanner is different and every setup is different, this is what works for me.  Most scanners come with software that allows you to choose the file type the document can be saved as.  I found that it works best for me if I use the full version of Adobe Acrobat that I have on my computer to scan to.

First I gather the receipts from the day then I open Adobe Acrobat then from the file menu I choose Create PDF then choose From Scanner.  A pop up box comes up and asks me what I want to scan.  I make my selections based upon the document type (color or black and white) and press scan.  The scanner recognizes the document and brings an image of the receipt up on the screen.  I review it quickly then name it according to my naming conventions and file it in the designated folder in my electroni File Cabinet.  As soon as I am done scanning, naming and saving a receipt, I put the receipt in a box I have next to the scanner.  I usually save original receipts for 30 days in case I need to dispute a credit card charge, bank deposit or return something to the store.  Some receipts like the debit card purchases I make for gas and groceries I throw in the shredder as soon as I am done scanning them.

That’s it.  I know you want going paperless to take more steps but it doesn’t.  You can really go paperless and stay organized if you start now.  I recommend that you don’t go back and start scanning all of your old receipts unless of course you really want to.

Your Daily 15 - If you already have a scanner spend 15 minutes familiarizing yourself with its operation.  Figure out how to save documents in different file formats.  I think that saving the documents as a PDF is best but you may have some other way that works better for you.  Remember, if the system you create isn’t easy, you won’t keep up on it.  There really is some security in knowing where everything is and being able to find it when you need it.

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