evernoteAre you ever boggled by the amount of paper humans can produce? I am boggled every. single. day. I get paper from work, paper from my son’s school, paper from my 401k plan, paper from utility companies and bank statements.  Paper is out of control.  Since I have all this paper in my life, I need some way to manage it and store it.  While I am old enough to remember filing cabinets (just barely), I do not use them.  That’s when Evernote rushes in to save the day! I simply give it all to Evernote and it graciously keeps it all for me nice and neat.  Then, I recycle the paper and feel a whole lot better about the world…until the mail runs again.

I get many important papers from my son’s school and I want to have them close at hand when I need them.  Unfortunately, having them in the basket above my refrigerator doesn’t make sense when I’m not at home.  So, I scan them into my Evernote account and they are with me at all times.  His shot record, test scores, teacher syllabi…everything.  I have a notebook in Evernote called ‘Spencer’ and all that stuff goes in there.  Then…when I need to look up a teacher’s information, I just use the handy dandy search tool.  It’s pretty amazing.

It’s also a great web clipper tool.  I’ve mentioned before that I read many articles a day and when I find one that I want to hold on to for the long term, I just clip it into my Evernote account and it’s there for me whenever I need it.

I also use Evernote for work…when I am working on a document and need input or help from my team, I can share the document with those team members and we can work on the document together.  I keep my to-do lists in Evernote, my gratitude journal and even my Christmas card address list.  When I tell you my life runs on Evernote, I absolutely mean it.

To recap, here’s what Evernote can do for you:
  • Scan in any document, receipt, business card or slip of paper that you want to save.
  • Search tools to help you find any of the above that you scanned in to Evernote.
  • Web clipping tools to save articles or photos that you find on the internet. 
  • Ability to share documents with one person or a team of people.
  • Great for to-do lists, journaling, book or blog writing…so many things. 

Don’t use Evernote now but would like to? My friend Beth Stephens is the guru of Evernote and she recently wrote these great blog posts about becoming an Evernote Ninja.

Becoming an Evernote Ninja Part 1: An Evernote Primer

Becoming an Evernote Ninja Part 2: Adopting the Ways of the Cult

Becoming an Evernote Ninja Part 3: Enabling Super Ninja Powers