Digitizing Your Life Has Never Been Easier
Despite all the talk about the world being “fully digital” today, sometimes it doesn’t feel like it is. I still get tons of paperwork, from invoices to insurance information to dog license applications. We don’t deal with as much paper as we used to, but it’s still a mess if not carefully organized. And if you’re like me and there’s zero chance of this organization happening in person, you should do yourself a favor and make sure it’s digitally organized.
To be honest, I don’t personally follow this advice, though I definitely will: this advice comes from Redditor razorhedge , who shared his experience of digitizing all of his documents and files. It’s a simple but good trick: digitizing your files and storing them on your phone or computer (or both) will make them always available.
Even if your IRL files are obsessively organized, you probably won’t be able to check out a particular document very quickly – it takes time to go through your drawer, find the right folder, and go through the items to find the right thing. God help you if you are not organized. But with a digital copy, you only need to find the filename, or indeed the keywords contained in the file, and it will be ready to share with any application or service.
Let’s say you need to find the renter’s insurance you bought. Instead of looking through files or boxes, you can simply search your computer for Renter Insurance 2022. And while it’s nice to have your digital files neat and organized, it’s actually not necessary. Your computer can look for files no matter where they are, so it’s not that important to keep a thorough record of everything on your computer.
Of course, this does not mean that you should haphazardly stuff your important documents into a drawer after digitization. But whether you’re organized in real life or not, at least your documents will always be at hand somewhere . Plus, scanning documents has never been easier. You no longer need a special scanner to digitize files; just use your phone to take a photo of each file and send them to your computer manually, or a scanning app with advanced features like auto cropping, PDF editing, digital signatures and more.
If you have an iPhone, you can use the built-in document scanner . There are also many third party apps, from Adobe Scan ( iPhone or Android ) to CamScanner ( iPhone or Android ). It’s a little early to talk about New Year’s resolutions, but I can state it for myself.