How do you get beyond the fear of possibly throwing away something you "might" need later down the road. My biggest road block with clutter is getting rid of needless paper but I just seem to have a hard time determining what is important and what isn't.

A few things to think about -
First of all, you can always scan stuff and toss the originals.

Secondly, ask yourself - what's the worst thing that would happen if I tossed this and needed it later? Chances are NOTHING.

Thirdly, sometimes you just have to take a leap. Even if it's something super important, chances are you could easily replace it if you needed it.

What types of papers are you talking about?

My job requires alot of record rention so some of this is out of my control and I know I need a better system for organizing those things that I am required to keep but things like meeting handouts memo's etc. that get looked at one time and never looked at again seem to pile up while I contimplate whether to keep or not. I just have a mindset that says I can't get rid of things when I know I will probably never look at or refer to them again. I have started trying to use the scan method more.

It also seems at work that I have become the "I don't want to deal with this" dumping station. I'm equally to blame for that since I just let them drop and run rather than telling them to handle it. I'm just looking for advice on how to empower myself to get out of my head and move forward.

Your second paragraph says it all. Hold yourself responsible for doing things that you need to do with regard to filing or scanning. When you get your area clear, you will have no problem telling everyone else to be responsible for their own stuff....and if your area is looking good, the others may not view it as the proverbial dumping station.

Don't be too hard on yourself, we all have issues with this kind of stuff too. It's just that the people that you marvel at here, have been doing it a lot longer.

good luck

Is there a place where you can take the stuff and dump it off? Create a place if you need to. If it's not your stuff those responsible for it will get the point quickly.

I will work on devising a plan for making my desk a no dumping zone, some are just going to have to take some initiative and figure out how to do things for themselves. :-)

Hi, Majormess, welcome to GON!

I had a job where I had to keep agendas, meeting minutes, etc. I kept hard copies for the past four meetings, and electronic copies of anything older than that. In those days, they were on floppy disks, but these days, you could create a folder for things that might be needed at some point, but not urgently. If you have electronic copies of meeting handouts, you could set up a folder for those. If you have only paper copies, you could either scan them, or set up a paper folder for them.

I suggest asking people who dump on you if they can keep the items, or if there is a reason they are giving the papers to you. In terms of what should be retained, you can ask your boss, or find out if there is a company policy. Most places keep more than they really need to. Where litigation is concerned, I think the law requires that case material be kept for years, but that can often be done off-site.

Hi majormess. I'm new here and this is my first post. Something that has worked for me over the years is to "practice living without". What I mean by that is, you obviously do know what to do with some things, maybe even many things. Those you can handle. It's those pesky things that you are on the fence about. Why not put ALL of those in a rubbermade container, and put it somewhere else out of sight - home, attic, garage, office store room. If you find that you don't need to go into that bin for a year or maybe two, as you suspect you won't, then you can toss them for good. It's like training wheels -- you "practice" living without this paperwork, but you still have it "just in case"! You can apply this to anything at home too, that you are on the fence about. I hope this helps!

Vanessa,
Welcome and EXCELLENT suggestion!

Thanks for the welcome, ChefSam, and glad you enjoyed the suggestion. I use it all the time myself -- that will clear your desk off in a hurry