Filing on the mind

[dame_grise]

A recent post got me thinking about my filing. I write, and I'm descended from pack rats.

I have an easier time getting rid of stuff than my boyfriend, but I do have a harder time with information or other things that might be filed. Currently I have nearly one entire drawer of my 2 drawer cabinet filled with articles from classwork and a few hobby interests when I was in graduate school in the early 90's. It hurts my heart just to throw them away ("What if they're useful?!?" my conscience cries at me.). But there isn't much other room to file anything new.

I don't even know how to put this in perspective anymore.
 

Comments

[automaticdoor]

What about scanning them to PDFs?

[dame_grise]

I've thought about that. I'd probably have to find a way to do a few at a time.

[scheherezhad]

I have the same problem. I also have a two-drawer filing cabinet, and the bottom drawer is mostly full of my notes and handouts from a language class I took eight (eight already!?) years ago, because part of me thinks I'll study it again someday. The rational part of me is like, "when was the last time you even opened that drawer?" But packrat habits =/= rational. *sigh* :/

[kalloway]

I was finally able to get rid of a lot of old university stuff via actually looking it over. I graduated ten years ago and from a highly technical field.

All the notes I'd kept were so hilariously out of date that I realized they didn't really even have value as information. (Predictions of having something like High Definition Television within the next five years, etc.)

That was all I needed to be able to get rid of them. Yours might be easier to part with as well if it's really not 'good' information any longer.

[adair]

Ah yes, information retention. I have a lot of stuff kept 'in case'. I'm working though it for out-of-date stuff, or something i can find on the net and save on my computer. Even 10 years ago that was not easy to do, but a lot of things - health issues, for me, and household repairs - are ready available so I can let go of the paper. If you have just one file drawer to go though it's not an overwhelming task.

[peaceful_sands]

I think it can sometimes help if you look at as kalloway has in her earlier post - not as an overwhelming whole but as just a few papers at a time. A few papers scanned or relegated to a no longer needed status is less traumatic than contemplating the whole lot. It also becomes manageable in terms of time and energy. You won't see a change overnight, but give yourself a few weeks of doing a little at a time and things will begin to be noticeable. Speaking personally, I've also tended to look at it as 'if I actually needed this would I even be able to find it or remember I had it?' which has helped me get rid of a bunch of stuff.