Hi I’m Barbara from Simplify Days. Four years ago my husband and I decided we wanted to simplify by downsizing our space and getting rid of our stuff. We returned, sold and traded what we had previously spent the last four years accumulating. It felt good – liberating actually! However, we still had boxes and boxes labeled: books, journals, pictures, planners, memories, DVD’s, CD’s, taxes, receipts, client files and other business paperwork, recipes, magazines and health information in what seemed to be a towering heap.
That’s when I decide to take the leap and go completely paperless!
We have now been living the paperless lifestyle for years and love the freedom, flexibility, organization and simplicity that has come with it. Paperless living truly simplifies my life and my business.
Today I can’t wait to introduce you to four apps that have been my right hand since going paperless.
CrashPlan: A Safe and Secure Backup Strategy
Before even thinking about going paperless, an effective backup strategy is the top priority! Even if you don’t want to go completely paperless, having your digital information backed up and secure is so important. One of the easiest ways to have a continuous and reliable backup of your computer’s data is to subscribe to a backup service to create a continuous online backup.
Creating an online backup solution means that you use a third party service to store all of your information on their safe and secure servers. This means that you have a backup of all of your information stored off-site. Off-site just means a location other than your primary residence. If something happened to your home or office, this service would allow you to easily and instantly access all of your information completely up to date. There are numerous companies who offer this type of service. My favorite by far is CrashPlan. I have used CrashPlan for years and have never been disappointed with their services, features or support. They offer local and off-site backup solutions. I use CrashPlan for their off-site, online back-up solutions. You can read a free getting started guide for CrashPlan right here.
Evernote: Complete Digital Organization
Evernote has been my ultimate simplifying and paperless tool. Evernote is a free organization application designed to house all of your important information. It’s cloud based, which means you can access all of your information from any device that has internet.
Evernote allows me to easily continue working and writing on the go. I can write my next blog post on my phone while waiting for take-out or easily pull up all of my daughters medical records while at the doctors office. Evernote houses all the information for my life and my business. You can read a free getting started guide for Evernote right here.
OmniFocus: Incredible Task Management
If you’re like me, you have a lot of moving parts in your life to keep track of. From making sure your next product is ready to launch to taking the garbage out on Wednesday night, there’s a lot to remember and to check off the task list. After experimenting with many different digital task management systems, I have finally found one that tracks projects and tasks seamlessly. The app is called OmniFocus.
Like Evernote, OmniFocus is also cloud based which allows me to see my task and project list anytime from anywhere. Everything from my biggest dreams to my daily reminders live in OmniFocus. You can read a free getting started guide for OmniFocus right here.
Paprika: Integrated Food Management
Food is a big part of our life, and my life and business run much smoother when I have my food choices planned and organized. Paprika is the unlimited food management tool. From planning out my meals, grocery lists and snacks Paprika ensures I make healthy choices for keeping my mind and body healthy and alert for my family and my business. You can read a free getting started guide for Paprika right here.
The Power of Digital Organization
Going paperless is the best way to cut down on overwhelm and stress. The paperless lifestyle has been the perfect way to for me to simplify and streamline my life and my business. If you’re interested in more ways to get digitally organized then I’d love to have you join me in my free email course: Simplify with a Life Digitally Organized. In addition to a few of the apps discussed above, we’ll discuss scanning strategies and additional paperless techniques. You’ll receive 7 emails for 7 consecutive days with specific and actionable strategies for cutting the clutter and getting digitally organized.
I truly hope these apps and resources will help you manage your life and business with ease and with clarity. Let me know in the comments below what you think of going paperless! What’s holding you back from taking the plunge?
Barbara is a professional organizer and a Certified Evernote Consultant. She is the owner of Simplify Days and teaches others how to simplify with these four steps: (1)Minimize, (2)Digitize, (3)Organize & (4)Prioritize. You can simplify with her on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.
If you loved this post, you'll love these too!
