I purchased the ScanSnap 1500 for my home and immediately scanned 3 cabinets full of household documents. I then scanned all my pictures and organized them by child, family surname, and event.  Here are some cool things I have done with my ScanSnap:

1. I use the Paperless software with it which allows me to organize my documents with tags and search for them any way I want
2. I scan any new docs that enter my house every two weeks and then shred them. I have absolutely no paper clutter in my home and can find my documents very easily by using the search feature.
3. Preparing my income taxes is a breeze. As I collect items throughout the year that must be included in my taxes, I categorize them as “taxes 2011” and then in January do a search on all of them and send them electronically to my accountant. He says he has never seen anything so efficient!
4. I scan all my receipts and retain them for 6 months in case something happens and I need to return something. I also use this information for my budget.
5. I just remortgaged my house with a company in a different state and it was a snap  to do. They needed about 30 documents from me, all of which were already scanned and filed. I just went into Paperless and emailed them to the mortgage lender. It probably saved me 10 hours of work to search for the documents and then copy and send them.
6. I have scanned about 19,000 photos of my family and digital scrapbooking files. I use Adobe Lightroom to organize and categorize them which makes finding them easy. I also make copies of these for my family members so they also now have all the photos they are in.
7. Everyone says, “You’re crazy for doing this. What if your hard drive crashes?” Easy. I back up my files every two weeks (during my scanning schedule mentioned in item one), put it on a thumb drive and my husband takes it to work with him (in the event of a fire).  That way, if I lose anything it is only the documents that have not been scanned in the last two weeks.
8. Saving magazines is a thing of the past. I scan the articles I want to save and discard the magazine.
9. When someone asked if I can fax something to them I just email what they need because whatever it is, I already have it scanned.

Kelly