The Radical Paperwork Optimisation approach involves 6 steps. (Read more here.)
Step 3 is another necessary awareness exercise, but unlike the first two steps, it’s very practical.
It’s no longer about thoughts, feelings, and desired outcomes; it’s all about the facts of the current situation:
Step 3 – Compile an overview of the types and amounts of paperwork you currently have in your life: Your Paperwork Inventory.
The information and data you collect in this step will build the foundation of Steps 4 and 5 of the approach.
Compiling the inventory is straightforward and doesn’t require special equipment or knowledge.
You can use a notebook to collect handwritten notes, type the inventory in your notes app, or create a simple Word document or spreadsheet.
Yes, this step will take some time and effort.
But it is so valuable!
It will help you gain the clarity you need to make confident decisions and take powerful action in the coming steps.
Because –
if you don’t have a clear picture of the current situation, you will struggle to make clear decisions on your journey into the desired future.
How to create the Paperwork Inventory
#1 – Schedule some time(s) for this exercise in your calendar.
#2 – Create an inventory of the PHYSICAL paperwork you keep in your home.
#3 – Create an inventory of your DIGITAL paperwork.
In this article, I want to discuss #1 and #2 of Step 3 of the Radical Paperwork Optimisation process.
#1 – Schedule some time(s) for this exercise in your calendar.
The amount of time you will need depends on your personal situation, of course.
It depends on
-
- the amount of paperwork you have accumulated,
- the number of various types of paperwork you have,
- the number of locations where you store the paperwork.
No matter how much paperwork you think you have, you will find out you have more than you thought. 😉
That’s why I recommend you don’t try to compile the complete Paperwork Inventory in one go.
To get started, plan a 30- or 60-minute session.
After the first round, you will know better how much time you want to schedule for this exercise in total.
#2 – Create an inventory of the PHYSICAL paperwork you keep in your home.
a) Create a simple table with 4 columns on a notepad or the computer.
Column titles: room, storage area, what, notes. (See example below.)
Tip: Give the column ‘notes’ enough space. Because – the more notes you take now, the more clarity and certainty you gain for the decisions you’ll have to make later.
b) Start in an ‘easy’ room – containing only small amounts of paper.
For many people, the kitchen is a rather ‘paper-neutral’ space. For others, however, it is one of the most paper-cluttered rooms in their homes.
Go to a room that’s ‘easy’ for you and look around.
Then, start taking notes.
-
- Where in this room have you stored any paper? – Write it down.
- What type of paper is it? What is it about? How much is it? – Write it down.
- Any thoughts coming up? – Write them down.
Tip 1: Don’t start decluttering or reorganising now! Instead, just take an inventory. (You can keep track of any decluttering or organising ideas for later by adding them to the ‘notes’ column.)
Tip 2: Take photos of the areas where you find papers. They can help you remember what you have when you go through your list later. And serve as ‘Before’ pictures. At the end of your Radical Paperwork Optimisation Project, you can compare them with the ‘After’ pictures (which will be fun and make you proud).
c) Go to the next room and continue writing down any paperwork-related insights. And then to the next room.
Don’t skip any rooms.
The last room should be the most ‘challenging’. (Often, that’s the home office. Sometimes, it’s the attic or garage.)
EXAMPLE
A simple example will make it easier to understand the workflow and the purpose of the Paperwork Inventory exercise.
The image below is a snapshot of the starting point of my Paperwork Inventory exercise.
I did it in 2020 when I started my personal radical paperwork optimisation project. (It was the turning point in my decades-long struggle with too much paperwork!)
I continued with the pantry (even there, I found some papers!), the living room, the bedroom (no papers), and the hallway. (I skipped my husband’s office because the papers there (a lot!) were his business.)
My last and most challenging room was my office. I needed 3 hours and 15 pages on my notepad to create a broad overview of all the paperwork I kept in cupboards, filing cabinets, boxes, binders, hanging-folder drawers, and shelves in my office.
Let me quickly put the data I assembled in the kitchen in a readable table:
However, even this small and simple example shows why we need a Paperwork Inventory to understand better what’s currently going on.
Even the paperwork in my ‘easy’ room proved that I had kept many papers that were no longer useful and just took up space. Space that I could use for things relevant to my daily life.
More importantly, what I collected in my simple spreadsheet,
-
- the facts about my current paperwork,
- and the thoughts I had about the facts,
helped me gain the insights I needed to define the ideal future situation, make firm decisions, and take effective and efficient action.
I won’t evaluate my findings here now because that’s part of the next step of the Radical Paperwork Optimisation process.
I hope this example helped you get a clearer idea of what a Paperwork Inventory is and what a physical paperwork inventory looks like.
In another article, I discuss the inventory of the DIGITAL paperwork we all so easily and massively accumulate on our devices.
Get started now with your personal Radical Paperwork Optimisation project – take the first step: the Retirement Readiness Check.
You can download it for free.
It will automatically sign you up for the Optimised Paperwork Newsletter –which will then guide you through the paperwork optimisation process. Into a well-organised and relaxed retirement!