In our ongoing quest to carry less around with us, we’ve found that paper remains a main sticking point. We love paper: books to read, notebooks to fill, bookmarks, stationery – you name it, we have owned it and tried to get rid of it. But get rid of it we have, at least in a few cases! Read on for more about how we’re doing in the quest to become paperless.
1. Books
Reading on a tablet is not as much fun as reading a book. We find that we can’t remember things we read electronically nearly as well as we do when they’re on paper. Tablets are heavier than we would like. (We do not have dedicated e-readers.) But still: given the amount we read, paper books are simply unsustainable. So we’ve made the switch, for the most part. Nonetheless, we eagerly scour the shelves of every flat we live in for readable material, and sometimes we find a good used bookstore and buy a few (light) paperbacks. We read them and either leave them or pass them on to someone else. We also spend time in libraries that have English books (like the spectacular Bjorvika library in Oslo!). So we give ourselves an 8 out of 10 in this area.
2. Journals/Note-taking/Calendars
We thought this aspect of becoming paperless would be harder than it was; we both grew up writing longhand and – even though we type quickly – it is an entirely different feeling. But we’ve become accustomed, for the most part, to keeping lists on the computer. We occasionally write things out and type them in later, but we do most of our writing on a computer now. This was more difficult for John, who wrote his first book and his early articles in longhand before typing them. He maintains that he does not compose as well on the computer.
That said, we still have a paper calendar, along with a few important lists, in a refillable notebook. We want to be able to access some things even without electricity or internet, and we like hanging out in coffee shops playing with our paper.
But – we confess – we are not really paperless in this arena either. We can’t resist a well-made paper notebook. So we buy them from time to time and fill them up with notes or journal entries. Right now we have far more than we need (two+ each; see featured image), but we are working our way through them. Pens are a different issue entirely; we also have more of them than we – strictly speaking – need. One of us believes that as a civilised person, he must have a fountain pen Speaking of old-fashioned, we also still sometimes hand-write thank-you notes, which requires yet more paper. (The recipients are often astonished.) Our score: 7 out of 10
3. Financial, Medical, and Other Records
We’ve have only electronic copies of many of our important documents; there are no emotional attachments here, and that format means we can keep them in several different places in case of data loss. Nearly all of our legal and financial materials (bank statements, tax forms) are now automatically electronic, and we pay bills online. We even occasionally pay friends online, through Venmo. We do have a check-book, but we’ve written only two checks in the last twenty-six months.
Our tax records for the past seven years are in a filing box kept by a family member in the U.S. Each year she shreds the old ones, and the current ones aren’t in paper form, so soon the box will be nearly empty. That box also has important legal documents: birth certificates, social security cards, marriage certificates, wills and living wills.
We continue to accumulate most medical records in paper form. As it happens, our health insurance provider requires us to keep paper originals for three years when we submit for reimbursement. So we mail them to family members once a year or so. (Here’s hoping they can track them down if we happen to need them!). Our score: 9 of 10.
Meaningful/Sentimental Papers
We sorted through tons of paper before we hit the road: old papers, letters, photographs, diaries, etc. We scanned the majority of what was meaningful to us, but we have stored four photo boxes full of handwritten cards, letters, photographs, and old family movies. Probably this could be a lot less; in our next sorting of that stuff we hope to reduce it further. Though there will always be some things we keep for sentimental reasons. Score: 8 out of 10.
So we’re not paperless by any means, but we’ve made great strides. And we can envision a world in which we start to have even less paper around. How about you: are you trying to get rid of paper in your life? If so, how is it going?
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