I’m one of those people who saves everything. I hate getting rid of paperwork because you never know when you’ll need it.

For example, I sing in a chorus and I used to use small tape recorders to record our rehearsals. I’d set them down on the risers and inevitably kick them off, so I was constantly buying new ones. During my most recent house move, I found sets of instructions for five different cassette recorders – as if I needed to keep any of them! It’s not like I don’t know how to use a cassette recorder…

What I love the most about my ScanSnap is that I never have to stop and wonder if I should keep something or not. Everything that crosses my desk either gets tossed immediately, or scanned immediately and then tossed. No more clutter. I have file drawers sitting empty!

Everything I scan, I scan directly into Evernote. For instance, I have 20 years worth of sheet music available right on my phone.

Somebody will say to me “Hey, remember that song we sang back in the late ’90s?” And I’ll whip out my iPhone and pull up the music just to impress them. All of my music is scanned and tagged with ScanSnap and Evernote.

I use my home office to keep track of household documents and paperwork for my freelance graphics and web business. The fact that I’ve been able to get rid of all of the house-related paperwork has made it easier for me to focus on my home business. Messy desks and tables are no longer any concern of mine.

I use my ScanSnap to capture ideas for design work from magazines I’ve read or sketches that I’ve done. Sometimes I scan in handwritten notes that I’ve taken when talking to a client.Heck, I use it for EVERYTHING!

I scan in receipts that I need for tax deductions, tag them in Evernote and forget about them until tax time. You have no idea how traumatic it used to be for me to try to find all of my tax paperwork!

It is seriously a modern day miracle that I can have my entire life in the palm of my hand.

Sarajoy