I’m not a fan of the passive-aggression that comes to mind when some people think of Post-Its. But I definitely have a love affair with them. I had a drawer that was designated my Post-It drawer, where I had packs upon packs of them in varied shape and stripe. If I saw them on sale anywhere, I’d buy eleven packages and stash them away—after all, I knew I’d use them someday.
And use them, I did. I made to-do lists. I made lists of tasks I knew I’d never complete. I made lists of tasks I knew no one would ever possibly be able to complete. I made lists of lists to make. I stuck them in my day planner, where I used them to remind myself of things that I needed to pick up on the way home, people who were overdue a postcard or a birthday wish from me [frequently on a Post-It note itself—yes, I have a problem; shut up], and things to tell my dog that I loved about him. I stuck them like tape flags into my school books, where I marked my place in my studies, and in library books, where I marked everything I would have underlined if it wouldn’t cost me a fortune in damage fees.
And now that I’m attempting to live without paper, I’ve found myself stuck [pun intended]. What can I do without my beloved Post-Its?
Well, a lot, it turns out. Here’s how I’m phasing them out:
- A whiteboard in the kitchen. This way, I don’t have to leave notes for anyone on paper. There’s no way that the boys I live with are going more than an hour at a time without opening the fridge, and they can’t open it without seeing this, so there’s no chance that they’re going to miss whatever I have to say. [Which is typically either, "I love you guys! What do we want for dinner?", "I lost my *!@$& keys! Anyone seen them?" or "We're out of coffee. Please get some more before I have a breakdown."]
- The house wiki and the house spreadsheet. Anything I need to tell my roommates—or they need to tell me—that requires more permanence goes on the house wiki. We’ve archived recipes, important calendar dates, bill payments, and cleaning schedules [which, to be honest, we rarely ever follow, but it's a nice thought]—and it’s all paper-free.
- Stickies. Where notes to self, jottings of phone numbers and addresses, and lists of immediate importance used to go on Post-Its, now I type them into a Sticky on my desktop. Paper-free, searchable, sortable, and easy to hide on short notice, I’m loving this. I also have a Sticky-type program on my BlackBerry so I no longer have to carry pen and paper in my handbag—brilliant.
- Google Docs or [squeeee!] Evernote. One of my most treasured possessions is my collection of personal journals that I kept during my time in New York, but then Hurricane Hanna came for a visit and took some of my notebooks as souvenirs, and ever since, I’ve been loath to go lo-fi with my journaling. So I write my daily musings in a designated Evernote notebook. Since then, Evernote has become my de facto word-processing software, so anytime I need to write out a list, a draft, or a phrase I came up with and liked, Evernote was where it happened. No Post-Its necessary. Awesome.
- Tumblr. I used to use Post-Its as a buffer against my compulsion to write in books as I read them, since the library warned me very sternly against writing in their books. I’d mark the page of a quote that I found particularly inspiring or beautiful, and then went back after I’d read the entire book and archived the quotes for future reference—first in written form, and later digitally. Now, though, whenever I find such a passage, I skip all the paper and put it immediately into my Tumblr as a text or a quote post. Archived and searchable, without any library fines—sounds good to me!
Do you guys use Post-Its obsessively, or do you hate them? Please share your thoughts!
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