An accordion folder. File under what makes sense to you. You can cross reference some of the information.

P for plumber, then one by name.

If you have a desk than hanging folders are good too.

Staple the business card onto a folder and file.

Of course many can be added to your contacts on your iPhone and you can group them.

Contractors, doctors etc.

Sorry no help - I put everything in the Notes on my iPhone. I used to reach for a scrap of paper but then I either didn’t know where I put the scrap or didn’t have it when I needed it. No more scraps. I do have a couple small piles of business cards in a drawer in my office.

You'll probably laugh at this considering you know where I worked -
I use an old 3 x 5 file box that I bought from eBay. I love the look
and feel of wood and paper and it's so simple to update because you
just toss out the old card and add a new one.

As eld mentioned file it under both name and P for plumber. You can also staple the business card to the index card and file your extra loyalty cards (Shop Rite, Talbots etc.) in there too.

I'm also guilty of jotting info down on post-its and scraps of paper and the back of catalogs. I now keep a notebook next to my laptop and that's where I jot down all the wonderful recommendations that I find here - book, movies, TV shows.

You may be interested in a smart notepad. For Father’s Day, I bought DH a smart notepad by Wacom. It turns any handwritten notes and scribbles into digital files that you can save to the cloud. He’s a hard one to shop for, because he buys anything and everything. He doesn’t have this one, and he does a lot of his academic research and creative thinking on paper. So I thought he may find it useful, even if it’s redundant.

Here is a link https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1272987-REG/wacom_cds610s_bamboo_slate_smartpad_small.html/?ap=y&ap=y&smp=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=CjwKCAjw_qb3BRAVEiwAvwq6Vli_wP9osZfjB2W7JU9CYqHQwH0xQaH3M8K5dO5OVFYZsLgjOnusBxoC8PgQAvD_BwE

Book names....I put on my GoodReads list.

Everything else gets tossed after I put what I actually may need on my ‘notes’ app. The plumber and handyman we use are already in my ‘contacts’ list.

Without electronics, I'd use 3x5 cards. Address books drove me nuts because I have to have names alphabetized. An addition or deletion caused one or more pages to have to be re-written. I wouldn't do multiple cards to file under different access categories. You'll forget the duplicate when updating information, then you have a right one and a wrong one.

With electronics, a spreadsheet program can have a lot of information for which you can set up filters. Sample columns: Title, author, genre, who recommended, comments. What was that book Sue mentioned? Filter the who recommended column to show only Sue. Voila! Easy to find the book even if you have recommendations from hundreds of people. Want a mystery? Filter the genre column.

All great ideas. My problem with electronic filing is that I have to remember to look there. It’s not physically in my face. I have used Goodreads for books, but only sporadically.

Love the wooden file box. Something like that or a Rolodex might work. I do need a bigger space for book/ movie/ tv shows though. I did try an expandable file folder but there were more spaces than I needed and stuff got lost in the bottom.

Getting closer, though! Love the ideas.

maire cate, here’s what I sometimes use for scrap paper. Look familiar?

That brought back many memories. Dedtired - love them!

I also use mine as an address book and we keep it next to the calendar and phone in the kitchen. That makes it easier for DH to use too.

This looks like the one I have but this one is pricey. I have a larger walnut one for 5x8 recipe cards.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-ARTS-CRAFTS-Mission-OAK-Dovetail-Wood-WEIS-3X5-Index-Card-File/163759455477?hash=item2620d2fcf5:g:WhMAAOSwfp9a~wDL

My library rents books from MacNaughton. They still enclose catalog cards with each book. I grab a stack now and the when I’m there to volunteer. It’s always fun to read the title or subject of the book.

I keep small spiral notebooks - like 5 x 7 size. Some open like a book, others flip up. I keep one that's strictly for garden notes, another for house things, like ideas for a project, a product I'm interested (which may also have a bookmark in my browser) or products used and whether I liked them or not. I also keep a list of paint colors, where they were used, walls/ceilings/trim or furniture. My brain just works with pen and paper, not apps. If the info on a page is no longer relevant I tear it out. If only a piece of info is outdated I just line it out. However I no longer keep my address book up to date and rely on my phone contacts but I do keep a stack of business cards. The card file is another great idea.

As the resident Queen Note/List Maker, I finally found a system that works for me.

Phone numbers I write down on note paper go into the address book, and I don't even bother writing down the name of a work-person unless I need one immediately or the very near future.

Last week I reordered both items below and it took me a year to go through the others, except a couple of friends who liked the cube so much I gave them each a chunk. lol

In every room I have a small note pad that I buy from Amazon, 12 pack, 50 5x8 sheets each.

On top of the pad I tear off about 50 or so sheets from this cube, and each piece of paper is "tear off" and they won't come apart, but not sticky notes which I did away with. These also make a great bookmark.

There is always a black Pilot G-2 07 sitting on top of the pad. DH and I use the same type of pen which comes in handy.

700 tear off pages

I use the cube paper to write notes to myself, and about once a week I add the notes to the notebook in the room I may need it.

Sounds complicated but it makes my disorganized mind so much easier. I love the stacks of notes next to the pc for future purchases or things I want to look up when I get the time.

Holy smokes, Oakley. I bow down to you. That is a system and a half.

DLM, I do have a spiral notebook dedicated to gardening. I keep an envelope of the tags that come with plants I have bought. Sometimes I look at the tags and wonder what the heck ever happened to that plant.

one thing that kind of works for me is Pinterest. If I’m researching a particular project online,I often pin ideas there. I was looking at my Boards the other day and had to laugh at how many projects I started and abandoned.

Can, my lists have lists and sub lists. I check off a few then throw it away.

I’m not sure how electronic this is, but I put a lot of things on my phone. I have an app, I guess it’s an app,, called ColorNote. It’s kind of a Post-it stack. I don’t even bother titling most of my notesl It‘s basically a stack of paper! It isn’t “fancy” at all, hardly any “features and functions” at all, which is how I like it.

I have one “sheet of paper” for books I want to read, So it’s handy when I’m in the bookstore or at the library.

I have another for audiobooks, so when I’m at the library before a trip, I can look at it for ideas,

I have another list of. videos we want to see. If we are at the library, or at home with Netflix, I have my phone and can look at it,

There‘s another “sheet” for gifts I think of that I might want to give various people.

Another has the instructions for the HVAC system at my parents’ house. And codes and combinations for places And thins, And one for drafts of notes I want to send People. And clothing sizes for the significant people in my life. Hmm, it’s basically a stack of little pieces of paper, but I can’t lose them! My organization method is, i can choose the color for a“sheet”, and I can order them by date, or alpha, or color.

For something “electronic”, It sure is “papery”.

Ooh, I also have a list of houses we pass on our walks that are for sale, so I can look them up when I get hone.

Phone numbers, addresses, emails, go right into my cell phone directory. We don’t have a landline, everything is on my cell.

It really is like having a spiral notebook on my phone, all I have to do is open the Colornote app and look through the list of the first line on each “page”, then tap on that to see the page.

Hmm, I should probably back up my phone this weekend, there‘s a lot on it! It’s like a little notebook, file cabinet, in my pocket.

What I would do if I had to use paper is I would use those long metal spike things and I would take each piece of paper and put it on whatever Spike that I chose for whatever subject I have written down.

What I do is use technology. I text whatever I'm trying to remember to myself. When I'm ready to record it on Excel or something like that I then copy and paste on to email and email it to my PC.

I also take copious pictures and download them onto my PC and then put them on an Excel document if I wish to save them. I then make notes right on there or on Photoshop or something like that. If I really want to have a hard copy of it I print it out. So far that has worked very well for me to remember my stories that come to me out of nowhere. Also for things I want to remember about people Etc.

Pss, Pinterest is electronic.

: )

How can we convince you to go only electronic? no mess no fuss, searchable.

for PC or Mac:

Www.workflowy.com

And/or find the IOS or android app

For phone numbers and business cards, we are really old fashioned...I have a rolodex by the phone in the kitchen. They make plastic sleeves for rolodex cards into which I slide business cards...sometimes I have to trim the top or bottom to fit, but it works well for keeping them organized. I file them typically by occupation like the yellow pages as I know I won't remember the plumber's name. Even all the doctors ... which I use their appointment cards which have phone and address ... are filed under P for physician. But if not, it's easy enough to flip through the J's for jones or the C's for Charlie.

For personal numbers and addresses, I have an old address book which is also my xmas card list.

For book recommendations, I try to get them into goodreads as soon as I can.

But for going to the library and needing other notes, someone here recommended Google Keep app and I find I really like it and it's free flowing format.

Once I got in the habit of using the ”Notes” feature on my phone I’ve never looked back. It’s so easy to set up various folders, books to be read, recipes, contractors, etc. also Alexa is easy to use. Just ask her to add to a list you’ve created. I know she is considered evil, but she lives here so I put her to work. Ha! Oh, and I really like the ability to share my notes with anyone electronically. I’ve worked very hard at eliminating paper in my world.

I use Alexa for for my shopping list. I have a Echo in our kitchen and a Dot in Master bedroom and one in my son's room. So, in our smaller house, she is always within ear's reach.

Even though Alexa has a To Do List, I never use it. I actually have to see it in front of me. I have a monthly calendar that has all dr appts, pest control, dinner with friends, etc. by my computer. For the daily little things, I also keep the HUGE sticky notes (with lines), they are like the size of half sheet of paper, by my computer and keep a running To Do List on those and then put a line through when I have completed a phone call(s) for the day or to go pu Rx, Post Office, go to Home Depot, menu for dinner, things like that.

I use my Notes on phone A LOT. I take a pic of, for instance, our pool pump model number, dishwasher, washer and dryer of their serial numbers and have in my phone. Also have the sizes of filters for AC in our house, wifi password, printer ink number, etc. Things I know I will need from time to time. I have a list of songs I like, and have a running list in my Notes also.

Olliesmom, I think we are much alike. In my quest to end the never-ending flow of PAPER in our house, I have cut down on paper lists. It would drive me crazy to have paper lists in every room of the house. I do love those lined sticky-note pads and I keep one in the kitchen. Although I don't make a daily to-do list, I jot things down on those sticky pads that I need to remember, grocery lists, etc. I can just pick up the whole notepad when I go to the store, run errands, etc.

I also use Notes on my iphone and of course I have alot of info in the contacts on my iphone also. However, I do like an address book. I have a Christmas card list on my PC and a hard copy of it which stays with my boxes of cards. I have an old hoosier in my kitchen and one little cabinet cubby is devoted to cards, stationary, envelopes, etc. Christmas card list is there.

With my husband's business, he has a ton of business cards. He uses a business card book. Has business card inserts where you just slip the cards in. The pages are clear plastic which is great since you can see front and back of card (or insert 2 cards per slot). He often writes notes on the back of a person's card.

We also still keep a regular calendar hanging in our pantry with notations on it. For his business, he has a calendar hanging in his workshop and uses a white board (which pretty much stares him in the face LOL) .

Oh for the address book, for workers, services, etc. I go by the profession/service (i.e. plumber). No more looking for a certain professional/service - it's in the book. I also have such names in my iphone, mainly ones that are used more often. Since we have a rental house, it is invaluable to me to have these names/info where I can find them quickly. Rental house is in another city and for some services I have to use a different one than what we would use here at our home.

I also take pictures of lots of stuff and keep in my phone till I don't need it. Such as a pic of the return form of something I have sent back - I just delete the pic once I am credited for the item. NO MORE PAPER!

Paper and laundry are two things that I do not understand how only two people accumulate so much!!

Thanks for the ideas. I may have to succumb to technology. I’ve certainly incorporated it into almost every other aspect of my life. I use my camera all the time for certain things I want to remember. However I still prefer handwritten notes with the little arrows and underlines and squiggles that have meaning to only me.

I do what maire_cate does and keep a couple of small notebooks at my laptop. I make my notes on them (recommended books, notes from phone calls or emails of things I need to do or to check, suggestions for recipes etc) and then when I have followed up on my notes or put them where they actually belong (put the recommended books on hold, etc) I just cross the note off my note pad or tear out the paper and throw it away.

I have a 3 ring notepad-sized binder that i have tabs for. It's my address book and also where I write down notes in various categories. But I also have a backup address list in my "contacts" on Google. Saving it in the "cloud" means I can get it in an emergency if all I have is my phone or I am near a computer but didn't bring the notebook for some reason. Or if it gets coffee spilled all over it. I use a rolodex to organize my business cards. I keep all my savings cards I need for shopping in a folio in my purse.

Forgot to add that there are online Google programs that are copies of the MS Office suite. You can store in the cloud. I have an Exel spreadsheet I made for our wedding and I still use it as a backup, backup contact list. It has names, addresses, phone, e-mail and a "notes" section. It took a while to get it all on there so it now is easy to update one or two contacts as time goes by and people change addresses, etc. I also have one just for my immediate family and I update that one about once a year. My cousins all ask me repeatedly for copies. Don't know why they don't save the ones I send them, and also don't know why I have been elected to be family address keeper. I never even ran for the office! But since I use it myself, easy enough to share.

My answer is my phone. I like Google Keep very much and use it for almost everything, along with my calendar. I can even take pictures of things and save them as notes - like business cards. The coolest thing is that the app syncs across platforms, so I can add something on my desktop, and it will be saved on my phone and iPod too. It will record voice to text, or just record voice. It also allows you to pin, archive and color code notes and copy them to Google Docs.

If I see a recipe or article I like while I'm browsing online, I can copy and save it into a note, or simply save the URL link in a note.

The other thing I use a lot now is my phone's calendar app. It can be set to remind me of things ahead of time, not just appointments, but birthdays and other stuff, like bank deposits, too.

I send myself a text message with the info.

For a person who works in technology and has made a career of building software solutions, i am surprisingly still tethered to notebooks and lists. There are a few reasons for that..

• i remember things much better if i write them-- typing something does not commit it to memory.
• I am regularly presenting to a group with a screen share-- now that we are doing all meetings remotely sometimes i will allow the participants to see my notes but most often, i capture notes analog as i share my screen.
• I try to limit my screen time due to vision issues.. but honestly, this is a crappy reason because i tend to be at a screen upward of 15 hr a day.
• The iphone is a challenge for my eyes.. since i have my glasses optimized for work distances, i generally have to remove my glasses to read the screen.

I have some high quality notebooks that i use for work. My preference was a 6 x 9 sketchbook sold at Barnes & Noble but i haven't been able to get them for awhile now. The sketchbook format worked great for me and i liked the page quality and ALL my work notebooks were recognizable with the same cover design. I have had to replace them with notebooks with the same design but lined paper (and fewer pages/notebook).. they're just not working out well for me so i am on the hunt for a new notebook style.

I have a specific way of taking work notes-- i use meaningful indentations/positioning on the page and a variety of symbols to identify things to follow up on, outstanding questions, etc-- for this reason, i am considering moving to dot grid format. This is a format used by some of our designers and engineers.. but it's also popular for dot journaling (which i do not do). I also like to take notes on grid paper so think i will like it-- especially for my "positional notes" and bulleted lists.

For personal notes, i have inexpensive little notepads that generally get lost, a collection of envelopes and other paper scraps and piles of business cards. There's nothing to emulate there-- but it may make Ded feel like she's not alone :) Anything related to a project, party or something more involved goes into an excel spreadsheet.

I just checked, I have been using Workflowy, on my phone and laptop, since KSWL recc it to me in 2013!

It is very simple. Its essentially an enormous outline/bulleted list. Very freeform. You can collapse the outline into just the major bullet points so you can see an overview, or drop down the bullets so you see it all.

My first bullet is "today" and I put anything I need to do today, in any level of detail with nested bullets, there.

My second bullet is "this week". I have bullets for travel, for my book club, for recipes, for HH maintenance in each house, one for each kid, one for health etc etc. So my travel bullet might have an upcoming trip listed, and a drop down list of details. But it will also have bullet for places I am thinking about, and any detail under that.

Simple, basic, infinitely flexible, very easy. Searchable of course. Contacts are all on my phone; personal, business and otherwise.

ETA - Id look at the online video tutorials for Workflowy and Google Keep. already use Gmail, google docs, etc, so I may switch. Seems to have more functionality (ie you can share, get reminders, save a photo) and also its free (I pay 49/yr for workflowy).

I too find paper easier to interact with and more restful physically and on the eyes. I like being not tethered to an electric cord, be it charging or plugged in. BUT, I find having cloud-based back up tools very helpful for portability. Google is my cloud platform. I also bought a backup storage drive but haven't set it up yet. Meanwhile I have most stuff backed up in paper and on usb drives.

I agree that the act of writing something by hand helps anchor it in memory, but I find I do not often need to go back to that note, so I usually don't save them, and if it's something like a name /address/date/appt, I try to promptly enter it in the appropriate digital records.

I also have a couple of bulletin/magnet boards.

Mtn, I like the idea of Workflowy or something similar-- as most of my notes are a series of bullets and headings. Im just not sure i could make the link to fully electronic (for the reasons above).. but i admit straddling paper and electronic becomes an issue at times.

I did try to move to Rocketbook-- but that was a pretty big fail. I should try it again but it took a level of commitment to the Rocketbook paraphenalia that i just didn't have.

Hello Baroness Alex, I mean Alex Baroness. So nice of you to bump up my three year old thread. My notes are still a mess.

As an early adopter I bought Workflowy for $49, no subscription.

For entertainment, e.g lists if things to watch, listen to or read, try the Sofa app. It’s very user friendly.

Good Catch Dedtired!

Ded I was thinking about this and I am wondering if you could just take a big poster board or something like that and tape or staple all the pieces of paper on a category on them. You'd have several poster boards but at least it would be relatively in one place.

Then you could take a photograph of them to have them whenever you wish to look at them as you go about your day. It's a thought anyway.

I buy poster boards for various things and I also get those large desk calendars and use the backs of the paper for various things so that's what made me think of it.

I like mini whiteboards for projects and plans that need to be constantly, ”in your face” visible to others, as in ***we have 17 people coming to lunch three days from now and this list must be completed BY YOU in 48 hours***. I put these pleasant 12” x 16” reminders in a picture easel on the kitchen island where a certain person has to pass by several times each day. Using a dry erase marker in bright red, another winning strategy. 😁

Business cards are in a designated slot in my top desk drawer. Also there is a spiral bound notebook on top for casual note taking, recipes etc. No scraps of paper anywhere.

There is an app where you copy business cards. DH has it. I do not know if you can catagorize things, but would think so. Knowing him, he has not done so.

Mom had an address book and would put them under plumber, electrician, yardwork, etc. I just add (subject) in my cell phone address book so it is searchable when I forget their seldom called name/company.

Persistent Patterson.

This is still timely, as I still don't have a great way to keep these.

I tried using the "notes" on my samsung phone, and it's just too haphazard.

That reflects more on my technical organizing skills.

I have pretty much reverted to index cards or a little notebook. Of course the downside is that the notebook is not always with me. I 've tried using a little memo thing that I can carry with me and that pretty much works......

arggh, fell for it

The thread that just won’t die. Im still overwhelmed with paper although i get as much financial stuff online as possible.

I'm way late to this party but wanted to thank everyone who contributed ideas since I have the same problem with paper scraps, post-its etc. I've always been a notebook person but in later years have succumbed to the yellow snowflakes littering my tabletop(s). I grew up in the paper world so the changes to digital are still difficult as my brain ages and remembers manual solutions more easily!

Oh my - how timely! I was thinking about this thread the other day when I read the NY Times Wirecutter recommendations for digital notebooks. I'm still a fan of pen and paper but for those who might be interested:

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-digital-notebooks/

https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-smart-notebooks-and-smart-pens/

and I'm amazed that ded first posted this 5 years ago.

Raised from the dead once again.