When you’re preparing to move, you can find yourself faced with a lot of paper documents. Holiday cards, leases, letters, tax documents, notes, doodles – whatever – can really stack up over time. If your choices are only “keep” or “trash,” it can be hard to let go, even if you choose one of the more responsible ways to get rid of your stuff. Digitization makes these decisions easier by adding a third option: create a virtual version for safekeeping and say goodbye to the physical paper.

These days, digitization only requires a smartphone or a tablet, but you’ll want to optimize the process while reducing the risk of data loss.

In my experience – and I’ve been digitizing boxes upon boxes of documents for the past six months – there are only a few types of records worth keeping on hand after creating a digital version. These are original government documents, legal agreements such as a will or a current lease, items that might lose their form or meaning when reduced to images on a screen, and anything you may want to display in your home.

Of course, there will be exceptions. Maybe you decide to toss every birthday card but keep the one your …

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