Operation Declutter 2012: Class Notes

After 4 years of undergraduate and 4 years of graduate school, plus a year as an Extern, the amount of "class notes" I've accumulated is RIDICULOUS.  This picture was taken a couple of years ago, so imagine all those binders, plus several more that I accumulated over the next few years, all brimming with class notes.

Since I rarely ever go back to the class notes (because I have no idea where anything is in the binders), they have sat on the bookshelves since the class ended. 

However, I knew there were things inside those binders that could one day be useful, so I decided to take the time over this "break" to finally do something about the situation (and no not the Jersey Shore "Situation").  Enter my new best friend:  

Its a Fujitsu Scan Snap 1300i.  My sister and I actually did a little research to find a scanner that would work well to decrease our "paper clutter situation" but didn't cost an arm and a leg (we decided to split the cost of the scanner).  It scans about 12 pages per minute (12 ppm), and scans both sides at the same time (duplexes), is Mac AND PC compatible (a must for Heather and I to share) and has an option to make the document you just scanned searchable (OCR).  This was all foreign language to me a few weeks ago. #notreallyasnerdyasIthoughtIwas #I'manerdwhoamIkidding

Update: The scanner does do color scans, and you can alter the quality of the scan to save on file size.  I saved all of the files on my computer and barely noticed a dent in my available space.  The scanner can hold 10-20 sheets of paper at a time, but there is an option to "continue scanning" after the current scan is done, so each PDF can be up to 1000 pages long.  There is a more expensive version of this scanner that has the capability to feed up to 50 pages, but the scanner costs ~$190 more, so we decided price overweighed convenience for our purposes.  Additionally, the 12 ppm is NOT with duplex considerations, so it actually can scan 24 ppm.   The only issues I had with the scanner were usually because I missed a staple so it misfed.  It shows the last page saved so you can be sure you aren't missing any pages being scanned and restart the scanning process at the appropriate location.  This scanner also has the capability to scan pictures at high resolution, but I haven't utilized that option yet.  

So we bought the scanner from Amazon and I used my Discover card to get free one-day shipping!  I took it out of the box, and after a few hours I had already scanned what I needed and was ready to get rid of this: 

It was a few binders worth, but I was addicted. #rehabforscanneraddiction

So I set up shop at our kitchen table and scanned/sorted away!

I brought every single binder I owned upstairs.

I had to remove staples and post-its from the notes to get them to be "scannable" so I created a little pile in a dish to keep all the staples and post-its corralled.

And before long, my pile had turned to this:

Holy paper. My pile of filled binders was slowly starting to get smaller...

...with Bentley keeping guard.  The good news was I already had a bag of binders to get rid of!

 A few days later with some free time dedicated to sorting and I accomplished this:

I did NOT scan all of these papers, but maybe a 1/4 or less.  There were definitely things that I did not need and couldn't believe I kept this long.  It was time.

Plus I now had a few (dozen) binders to get rid of.  This isn't even all of them!

And I'm not the only one who is happy about getting rid of some clutter! #furkidaddiction

We bundled up the paper into paper bags for recycling and dropped them off at the recycling center.  One part of clutter off of the list and now the scanner goes to Heather for a bit!  It was a great idea to split the cost since we don't both need the scanner sitting at our houses.  #Scannersharedcustody

With one type of clutter gone, it's time to tackle the next!  I'm thinking some of the "clothing clutter" is up next.

What kind of clutter are you tackling?  I've even found a few more types of clutter to add to my list!