The dream of becoming a paper-free home was looking really do-able, then my oldest started in elementary school. Overnight, she began bringing home what seemed like reams of paper: worksheets, drawings, newsletters, permission slips, bus schedules, classroom updates, ad infinitum. Now, I get that they need paper to support the important work of learning that they do. And I truly appreciate all the notes the teachers send home to communicate what's going on in the classroom (I also appreciate when teachers opt for emails now instead of paper!). Yet I needed a way to manage all the paperwork. Given my feeble attempts at keeping baby books -- which I don't believe I've updated since the births of my two children nearly 5 and 7 years ago -- there's no way I can't possibly keep all of these papers. It'd be like that scene at the end of the movie Brazil where Robert DeNiro's character disappears under layer after layer of paper. My current system is: review papers, provide positive feedback to appropriate child, recycle papers. Sometimes trickery is required (i.e., hiding school papers deep in the recycling bin, otherwise the kids dig them back out, loudly proclaiming how hard they worked on this one particular addition worksheet and that I really need to keep it for their memoirs).
Recently, I've added in a new step. Many of the school worksheets are printed single-sided, so I've now got a small bin near my printer to keep these papers. And they become my primary print paper supply. Now, I don't print very often. But when I do need to print up a recipe or bank statement, it is embellished with some especially fine classwork on the back, which certainly makes filing more enjoyable. Whenever I get around to filing. Maybe after the baby books...
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