Don Aslett to the rescue here: in Clutter's Last Stand he has a chapter on filing paper and what to do with those little scraps of paper. I actually used to do this at one time and still have a couple of the old books around with a few numbers still useful.

Under "I Know I Kept That. . . "

1. We see or hear something interesting. It's so great we want to save it, savor it, share it: a good joke/cartoon, an excellent article, a great idea, an exciting job, an important address or date, an intelligent quote, a tempting recipe, a solution.

2. We start to record it. Because of the unpredictability of the moment, we often end up with our valuable bit of information written on the back of a used envelope, a napkin, the corner of a program, a candy wrapper, a hanky or shirt cuff, a piece of board, a boxtop, the back of a business card (or if we're lucky, a notebook or phone pad or calendar square).

3. We search in despair. "I know I kept that. . . it would be just perfect for what I need if I could find it . . . Where did I put it?" If we do find it, we can't decipher it—too much time has passed!

4. Or use and share. . . This valuable material enhances our lives and others'. (If you are here you can skip the next page). [None of us here, that's why I'm continuing to the next page.]

Losing track of something we liked and saved is almost as sad as losing a cherished memory of a loved one: snatching gems of thought out of the torrent of life is one of our great pleasures. Develop your own system to be sure you save and use them. Your method will have to fit you, but it can help to get with someone who's a good "saver" and ask them to share their secrets (99 percent will be flattered to do so).

My system isn't sophisticated, but it works, and here is all I do: I save everything that impresses me (five to fifty tidbits a day). I carry a leather notebook shaped like an outhouse (you can be sure that no one wants to steal it). I has a pouch and a pad—everything I collect or job down goes in one of these.

My notes I write out on the spot in my notebook on a sheet titled "Write & Record." I write each separate thought out in complete sentences under a key word or topic heading. I don't go into full detail or describe it completely, just enough that if I do want to go back to expand on it I'll know clearly what I meant. Writing down the notes only takes a minute, if done right at the moment the thought strikes.

When I get home I drop all of Write & Record notes (snipped into their separate topics) into a box labeled "Write and Record," and drop all the printed materials, programs, photos, documents, forms, booklets, etc., I've picked up into the "Important Paper" basket on my desk. This way I have all my notes and gleanings in one of two places—not in pockets, bags, boxes, books. . .
I don't use prime/highly productive/all cylinders time—such as morning hours—this can be done in time fragments, on semi-sick days, while watching TV or tending kids, while waiting for someone, right before and after meals, on sleepless nights, etc.

My files are arranged so that I have a drawer for each of my important interests and one alphabetized "general" file drawer. My immediate-interest projects/current enthusiasms I keep in ring binders—such topics, for me, for example, as The Life Story I Will Write Some Day, Salable Article Ideas (I've accumulated over 8,000 without any effort to do so), Janitorial Humor, etc.

Ring-binder notebooks are cheap (most of my binders are scrounged "recycles") and simple to use, and you can assemble a useful library of your very own in just your spare time and odd moments.

I use an inexpensive rubber stamp to stamp my name on all my file materials—and I don't loan files! In seconds I can find anything I have and use it.

Every chapter in this book has lots of useful information, but I think this is one we all would benefit from. I had to dig trough notes on my desktop yesterday to find my daughter's address to mail something she left here over the weekend. Too much paper!

SRS