I have information clutter

[pinkytoe]

I confess I have a horrible affliction - I am addicted to collecting information. Notes scribbled on tablets, backs of envelopes for websites of interest, books and articles to read, plants to learn about, recipes to look up and on and on. If I pick up a magazine at the doctor's office, I will scribble down recipes, more websites, etc. I realized after trying to clear up a pile or two that I have enough information to look up to last a long time and yet the urge for more is always there. So...I am trying very hard from here on out to remind myself when the urge hits that I have ENOUGH information. Am I the only one here who has this impulse to uncover ever more information?

[nswef]

Oh no, Pinkytoe, You are NOT alone!!! I love your description of it as information clutter as I try to organize my little snippets into something usable. My time would be much better spent doing real organizing of anything but those snippets.

[larknm]

I put all those in a file folder and when I clean out my folders, most are old enough to no longer seem urgent and I can trash them. Doing this several times helps me see in advance that most of these notes will not get priority, so I don't make them in the first place.

[iris lilies]

Just as I adopted the public library wherever I lived as my personal library decades ago, I now have adopted Google as my note taker/finder. There is precious little that can't be found using a web search engine, at least, in the realm of small pieces of general information. And the web stores it for me. And I get images with search results, too! The internet is a fabulous thing.

[nswef]

I agree Iris lilies. I seldom cut out recipes either. But I still have snippets...I will work on that!

[Dhiana]

What I don't keep in "Google" as iris lilies does, I collect in Evernote. I've heard you can do something similar w/One Note.

In Evernote, I can type that recipe in my phone or take a photo of that recipe or Web Clip it from a page on the internet and automatically it can be filed in my Cookbook notebook on Evernote.

It has corralled all those bits of information so I don't need to keep then cluttering around in my house.

[mschrisgo2]

Oh, I thought you were going to post about magazines, newsletters, etc! Now Those I have lots of!! Also lots of snippets that fall into the category of "I might want to use this at school" (I'm an elementary teacher.) I'm in the process of culling that collection now- and really, truth be told, I should just dump it all into the recycling bin. I started all of this before I had my smartphone and laptop, and yes, Google is my friend!

[pony mom]

I'm afflicted too! I've got a stack of small bits of paper with notes scribbled on them. Then when I need something, it takes ages to go looking for that one piece. I tried using a sheet of lined paper and just listing everything on it, then crossing it off when it was no longer need. For some reason that didn't work so well. Envelopes were always good, but sometimes I'd only need one note out of seven or eight written on it.

In Michaels I found one of those small accordian-type files used for coupons. I've put some things in there so that the bits are contained and separated into categories. It works OK, and looks neater. But, there's still a few stray notes floating around.

[shadowmoss]

second the Everote suggestion. It sync's across all my computers, so my desktop at home is the base, and I add things from my phone and/or laptop if that is where I happen to be when I see something I need. YOu can use a picture, as mentioned, if that is the easiest way - picture of the magazine page, menu, sign, etc. Once a friend sent me a picture of the end of the box of shelving in Sam's that had the manufacturers name and address and web page becuase I'd told her I needed to order some replacement parts. I was in Honduras at the time. With the picture I could go immediately to what I needed. I'm not an 'app' person usually, but this one is great. I use the free version.

[Florence]

Just as I adopted the public library wherever I lived as my personal library decades ago, I now have adopted Google as my note taker/finder. There is precious little that can't be found using a web search engine, at least, in the realm of small pieces of general information. And the web stores it for me. And I get images with search results, too! The internet is a fabulous thing.

Yes!!

[catherine]

I third the Evernote suggestion. I also tend to have little bits of info all over the place. When I signed on to Evernote, I figured I'd keep only those bits of info I wouldn't want to misplace, but over time, my habits have changed, and I use it for almost all those "bits."

Frankly, it took me a while to get comfortable with it, and I still am no where near knowledgable enough about all its capabilities. I just do my simple notes and simple tagging.

[pinkytoe]

I do have a small divided spiral that I try to use by writing everything down by category - books I want to read, movies, websites, etc. I will look at Evernote.

[iris lilies]

I use an email message to myself for those bits of information that are peculiar to our household that I must keep. I copy the body of that email and add the new informational item to it and then send the email to myself. This seldom needs updating, maybe 1 or 2 times a year. This could as easily be in a Word document, I've just not got around to transferring it.

I have a few other files that I keep in Word documents such as lists of pets we've had, addresses where I've lived. None of it essential information.

For lists of books to read and films to watch: I use Netflix for the latter, and I sometimes use the Library's listing function for books. Sometimes I keep a Word document. But mainly, I don't keep long lists of books to read because I never get to them. When I hear about a title that sounds interesting, I just put it on hold at the Library, and if I get a dozen books coming in one week, I take them all home and skim them to see which ones I REALLY want to read.

DH keeps our financial records on a thumb drive.

[shadowmoss]

I use scanning for things that I want or need the 'feel' of the original. Evernote is based 'in the cloud' so one advantage of using it is that if for some reason your computer/phone/whatever you put the electronic note on crashed, the information will be online when you go log into Evernote, even if it is from a library or hotel business center computer. I don't use it for financial or personally identifiable information that has account numbers and such, I would use something encrypted for that, such as on a thumb drive.

[SteveinMN]

You're not alone. I've saved snippets of Web sites and Usenet information for years. I've kept lists of books I want to read and films I want to see; at one point I even had a list of all my albums because I too often was buying dupes at thrift stores. I do purge periodically, and pretty much omnipresent connection to the Internet makes it easier to look up information that is reasonably current rather than wondering if my note from 2008 is still valid. But I still keep a lot of info on my computer and phone. I've gotten better at telling myself to "just be real" about whether I'll ever go to that Web site again or whether I really need to keep someday-maybe to-do items I haven't gotten to in 5-10 years. But it costs virtually nothing to store it, so the temptation to salt it away is great. It's a battle. I win some and I lose some.
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