In the olden days – when dinosaurs roamed the earth – if we found a recipe we liked or a magazine article that we wanted to keep, we’d clip it out and stash it.
And what happened to that clip? Rarely did it actually make it to a file or scrapbook – usually they were left on a miscellaneous pile never to be found again.
What’s the point of keeping stuff if you can never find it again?
In decluttering our basement in preparation for a move, wayyy back under a couple of boxes I found a forgotten stack of home design magazine articles I liked – in 1992. Clearly they didn’t help me design my home at the time, the home after that, or the one after that!
The beauty of storing favorite articles electronically is how easy you can find stuff. You can create categories (or Boards on Pinterest) and add to them as you surf the web or read great stuff on social media.
You can create categories like - Great Ways to Save Money; Tips for Organizing Your Kitchen; or Fall Fashions I Love. Or whatever your hobbies or interests lead you to.
I’ve used it for short term projects too, like looking for a vacation home to rent when sharing with another family.
You can use them for things like clipping recipes, jobs you’re interested in applying for, storing ebooks, or looking at potential hairstyles to show your stylist.
But please try (really hard) to wean yourself away from the paper versions. By using a digital platform you can access your items at any time on your phone or tablet, which is a great way to share ideas or help illustrate examples.
There are several electronic versions of scrapbooks and files which are ready and waiting to help you organize your life and avoid clutter.
Pinterest. Just like pinning something to a bulletin board, Pinterest is easy to use, fun and free. It’s an image sharing and social media service for saving and discovering information on the net using images, videos and animated GIFs. Probably the best known of this type of platform.
Evernote is a popular tool to create, collect and manage a lot of different files. It has a handy Web Clipper tool that saves links of specific content as Evernote notes, and you can group by category.
Flipboard is like a smart magazine that personalizes your content based on your interests,
then shows you articles in an easy-to-understand layouts.
Twitter has an option to create lists of saved material and pin your favorite items to each one. You can click or tap the star icon to save it under your Favorites tab, which can be accessed from your profile.
Instapaper and Pocket both let you create an account and save links while you're browsing on the web via an easy bookmarklet browser button or on your phone.
Just beware – like any social media tool, these can be addicting!
Have fun! Happy clipping!