I know I am not alone (although I also acknowledge there are far more organized and efficient people than I) when I confess that I tend to get a “backlog” of computer files and paper files. As I make changes and adjustments to projects, I might make more copies and forget to delete the old ones. This can create problems when I end up with several slightly different versions of one file or project and can’t remember which is the most recent!
E-mail inboxes can get bogged down with e-mails that are no longer relevant, and file folders saved on the computer or in the good old fashioned way can become cumbersome and difficult to maneuver if we let them get filled up with things we really don’t need to say. I know that many of us get in the habit of saving everything “just in case” and then we might tell ourselves that we will go back and clean things up when we are completely done with the project or enough time has passed to make the files obsolete. Then, we never carve out the time or get around to going back and clearing out old files. Before we know it, it takes forever to hunt for things and we’ve got six slightly different copies of one document saved.
Cleaning, clearing and purging as we go is the best bet, but if that can’t be done, periodically force yourself to take a slow or sluggish day and clean out old files. Meanwhile, you can add creation dates or even an “updating” date to your computer files so that you can figure out what is the most recent version of something. That way you can find it faster and if you really need to save multiple versions, dating them can help you keep track of your work.
See also: the Computing Blog