Paper Storage

[Retro-user]

Now comes the time during the pandemic quarantine to inventory everything, both pen and paper, and organize it to rest easily at hand. The pens have been located from whole-house scatter and now attention turns to paper. I have two categories: used (notebooks started) and unused. Have you found a shelf, a cabinet, drawer or another to be advantageous to store your papers?

[AmandaW]

I use an Ikea thing with glass doors and sides. It was sold as an indoor/outdoor cabinet and wasn't terribly expensive as I recall. I like the airy look in my study and having the glass keeps the dust out.

 

I can't find it on their website, but it looks like this:

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

For back volumes of my morning pages journal, I had been using a rattan covered box from Ikea (I use smaller, sweater-box size ones for inks because they protect the bottles from light), but they seem to have stopped carrying the brand/style I liked and I can't get the big ones now (so a lot of later volumes are just stacked upon the floor in the hallway upstairs). For some paper, I found a wooden box with a carved lid at an antique show a couple of years ago (might have been for stationery cigars or even flatware or jewelry, but had no inserts). For general stuff (printer paper and various sizes of address labels, as well as cardstock and #10 envelopes, I have one of those inexpensive plastic rolling carts with drawers (I got mine at I think Sam's Club, but I've seen similar style ones at places like Jo-Ann Fabrics).

For other notebooks, though such as composition books, I'm a mess. They're just piled up. I try to keep the ones that I use to keep track of what inks work well in which pens, and the spiral top sketchbooks I use for ink testing/reviews, mostly in the vicinity of the flat wicker basket that also has stuff like some inks, that gets taken to pen club meetings. I tried to stack other ones up as to "poetry journals", ones with other writing, those for writing classes/writing exercises from various books, and ones that haven't been cracked open yet, but have failed miserably. Wondering if should get a plain old metal file cabinet -- but not sure where I'd put it.... Oh, and a few are in drawers in the little Arts and Crafts style desk I found in an antiques mall in eastern Indiana a few years ago, but there really isn't enough drawer space.

I have been lusting after some antique dental cabinets (for pens and inks, but the shallow drawers would work as well for notebooks -- but don't have a clue where I'd put one in my house (those things aren't exactly small).

Really small notebooks (like memo pads and mini-composition books) go into a couple of smaller rectangular baskets (they were bought as a set with the one for pen club stuff), along with stamps, tape, scissors, loose 3x5 cards, stickers & post-it flags, paperclips, rubber bands, some note cards, and small envelopes. And the current stack of bills that aren't due yet....

Don't anyone suggest bookcases -- I don't have room for all the BOOKS as is....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[brokenclay]

My unused notebooks fit in a desk drawer. My used notebooks are burned.

 

Clearly I am not hoarding enough.

[Retro-user]

My unused notebooks fit in a desk drawer. My used notebooks are burned.

 

Clearly I am not hoarding enough.

Before said conflagration, is there a session of digitization for posterity?

[brokenclay]

Before said conflagration, is there a session of digitization for posterity?

 

Nope! For me the value is in the act of writing, not in the reviewing. :-)

 

When I have something I really do want to hang on it (and it does happen all the time), I usually put it in One Note on the computer. There are a few things I will copy into the new journal - for example, I'm keeping a list of all the contacts I have with people in the flesh so that if, heaven forfend, I get the virus, I'll have the list ready for the contact tracer I hope will exist.

[DrDebG]

 

This is a dresser that I keep my new journals, duplicate bottles of ink, and miscellaneous stuff such as extra cartridges, converters, etc. I have a bookcase in my home office which houses most of my ink supply and my most recent used journals. I go through a journal every 2-3 months. My used journals go into a plastic box with an air tight lid, which goes in the attic. I have several boxes of journals dating back over 40 years.

 

I used to keep a separate notebook for each thing - one for each client, one for my current study, one for personal journaling, etc. But I have found that I keep losing things, or don't have the right journal available when I need it. So, now, everything goes in one journal. The only exception are specific types of work notes that "eat" up pages and pages, or sketches and drawings for work. For those I use engineering pads, then scan them and file them.

 

Soon, I plan to scan all of my old journals as well. But before I do that I have boxes of old business stuff to scan then get rid of.

[Retro-user]

 

This is a dresser that I keep my new journals, duplicate bottles of ink, and miscellaneous stuff such as extra cartridges, converters, etc. I have a bookcase in my home office which houses most of my ink supply and my most recent used journals. I go through a journal every 2-3 months. My used journals go into a plastic box with an air tight lid, which goes in the attic. I have several boxes of journals dating back over 40 years.

 

I used to keep a separate notebook for each thing - one for each client, one for my current study, one for personal journaling, etc. But I have found that I keep losing things, or don't have the right journal available when I need it. So, now, everything goes in one journal. The only exception are specific types of work notes that "eat" up pages and pages, or sketches and drawings for work. For those I use engineering pads, then scan them and file them.

 

Soon, I plan to scan all of my old journals as well. But before I do that I have boxes of old business stuff to scan then get rid of.

 

Nice cabinet; thanks for sharing.

[txomsy]

Pocket

Tabletop

Desktop

Anywhere at hand

 

Recipes on a shelf at the kitchen with other recipes books.

 

Otherwise I wouldn't be re-using them. If I think I won't get back to them, I throw them away. I'm not too prone on burning, I've found paper is not very good for air circulation in the fireplace, may be to start a fire, but not much more. Unless it is pitted at the bottom and heavy logs are on top.

[sansenri]

if there's one thing you want to be sure about when storing paper, wherever that may be, is make sure you store it in a dry place...

Some places can be damp, especially if you do not live in a flat.

It's not always obvious when a place is damp, as if you live in it you may heat it, or open the windows often and humidity will be reduced.

Your paper however may feel the humidity more than you, and suffer.

So be sure to find a dry place, especially when you plan to stock a certain amount...