The Paperless Office is the next big thing so why wait?

Here’s a New Year’s Resolution I never thought I’d make:

I resolve to go 100% paperless in 2010.

Wrapping up 2009 I sifted through the hundreds and hundreds of gas station receipts, hotel checkout tabs, restaurant checks, car rental confirmations, etc. in preparation to box them and store them away in compliance with Internal Revenue Service record retention requirements.

Then it occurred to me – why?

I’ve installed paperless systems for CPA firms and trucking companies completely eliminating the thousands upon thousands of sheets of paper they used to generate – so why was I holding back and doing it all the old fashioned way?

Not anymore.

RoyalGeeks.Com is already 99% paperless on the customer side (we email all transactions and send our newsletter via email-based subscription) and we also go paperless with our own account statements from the bank, our cell phone company, etc. so why not take that last step to a sexy new place…?

The paperless office is an office with no clutter. What could possibly be sexier than that?

So how do you take that first step towards the paperless office and eliminate paper extraneous and unnecessary paper?

That’s easy.

Many retail establishments keep digital records of all purchases and can email you a copy of your receipt. RoyalGeeks.Com does this now. So does Apple. And Best Buy.

Opt out of paper-mailed bank statements, phone bills, cable bills, etc. every chance you can.

The rule of thumb is simple – If there’s less paper coming at you there’s less paper for you to deal with. That makes the paperless office more of a reality from the get go.

Since we don’t yet live in a world that operates 100% paperless we still need to contend with the stray scraps of paper that find their way into our mailboxes and wallets.

There are two ways to handle these tree-killing intruders as I see it.

Here’s the easy way.

And here’s the hard way:

Use your existing scanner (if you’ve got an all-in-one printer like 99% of the population does) and simply place a whole sheet worth of receipts on the flatbed and scan. Save the scanned image to a folder you may wish to call “2010″ with sub folders by month. On a Windows computer you may wish to drop your “2010″ folder in your existing My Pictures folder or My Documents for easy access.

So the first time you treat a client to lunch or buy gas for a company vehicle don’t stick that receipt in a shoebox. Just drop it in your all-in-one, scan it using the software provided with your all-in-one and drop it into the January sub-folder in your new 2010 folder.

This is a nice new habit that’s easy to keep and has immediate benefits.

Wishing you a hassle-free and happy new year!