Our office depot only does it with certain brands.I went in and bought 2 ink cartridges for my canon i960.and she told me they didn't give the paper anymore for that brand.I told her they did b4,but she insisted not any more. Kathi

Interesting thoughts -- we could all improve on paperwork storage in our homes. Two things I think I'm doing well that differ from the above mentioned Script, and someone else might find some ideas in my methods: Taxes. Yes, like Script, I am scrupulous about maintaining records for my taxes. About a dozen years ago I went to the office supply and bought two big boxes of BRIGHT GREEN folders (green like money). I labeled them Taxes 2000 ... Taxes 2001 ... Taxes 2002 ... Taxes 2003 ... and so on. Given my family's typical lifespan, I made enough green folders to take me to age 110 -- probably more than I'll need, but I'm ready! They're all stored in my file cabinet, taking up very little space. Now when I receive anything tax-related -- a charitable receipt, an end-of-the-year bank statement, whatever -- I have a place to file it. In April, I have a place to file a copy of my taxes, and I can go back and see previous tax years. For the rest of my life, this system is in place. Death folder. Ours is a notebook. Two identical notebooks, actually, since we have two children. Our girls are young adults now, but they've never dealt with an estate -- even if they don't open it 'til they're old, it'll be useful to them. It contains a lot of stuff: - A personal letter to the two of them - A list of our wishes about funeral and items we'd like donated to various family members or charities - A list of things they must do immediately; it starts with going to our house and taking possession of the dog, but it also includes small details like canceling our voting registration and destroying any medicines in the house. At every turn this list includes addresses and phone numbers, including the lawyer we suggest for probate, the funeral home our family's always used, and family members who should be contacted. - A copy our will; they know what's in it -- everything split between the two of them - A list of our financial assets -- bank accounts, investments, insurance, deeds/maps of real estate ... when our youngest became a legal adult, we made the two girls co-beneficiaries of every account; note that this was done before either was married, so our two kids -- not future son-in-laws -- will own these items. - A list of the bills we pay each month -- electricity, phone, even the guy who cuts our grass. - Official copies of our birth certificates, our marriage certificates, and the girls' birth certificates -- they might not be needed, but the girls won't have to scramble to find them - A flashdrive with all of the above in digital format plus photographs that might be useful in putting together the funeral Our rule: We keep two years of tax returns in the notebooks ... the reason being that someday an accountant will file our final estate tax return, and he or she will want our last two years of returns -- so every April we pull out the notebook, discard one old return and insert the newest ... so our rule is that every April we look over the notebook and update anything that's changed. For example, last year we changed bank accounts, and someday we hope to add items concerning grandchildren to the book. Our girls know that the notebooks are stored in the safe, and they know where the key to the safe is hidden, and they know it's labeled with a misleading name so that a thief wouldn't look at it twice. Last thought on this notebook: Though this project took us the better part of a year --- we kept remembering one more thing, one more thing that really should be included -- we didn't find it difficult emotionally. I suspect that if we were older and/or one of us were in poor health, it might've been different.

I could pile my desk up with papers and sticky notes as well. The corkboard on the doors of my armoire solve the sticky note problem for me perfectly. The 12 x 12 drawers I stacked on the shelves help deal with the paper clutter. You can set him up files for the different kinds of papers he has and let him file them in the drawers above the desk. If you eliminate the desk space, where will your husband begin piling up his papers? On top of your keyboard maybe? He'll have to put his papers somewhere, so it might be best to have an organized system to accommodate them. Hopefully he can be trained to file them and keep the desk tidy if he has a system that works for him. Good luck!! I have a nice big keyboard drawer under the desktop. I need the desktop for current projects I'm working on (or for my lunch tray. LOL) so I try to keep it clean and ready for use. Also, when the doors are closed, the desktop sticks out an extra 6 inches from the doors in front. So if I have too many papers on the desk, they'll stick out from under the doors and that drives me nuts--another incentive for keeping the desk surface clean. Another option: If you get an armoire like mine, you may have vertical compartments on one side that are designed for books, clipboards and file folders. You might be able to file some of his papers in those vertical dividers. I don't know if you can see them clearly in my photo above; they're above the single white drawer. They're on the upper right of my cabinet--3 vertical compartments that hold my envelopes, notepads and a book. Also, my armoire has a CD rack on each side of the monitor. But the racks can easily be removed. Then you could attach some wall pockets on each side of the interior armoire to file his papers. They'd then be right there within easy reach for him. Another option which I used on my old desk is a divided monitor shelf. I can't remember where I got these shelves. I actually have four stackable shelves, each with two compartments. I'm using two shelves under this fax machine in the picture below. On my desk, I used two shelves as well. I could slide papers and files into the compartments and keep most of the desk clear. And it elevates the monitor to eye level. Here is a link that might be useful:

You've got two categories: the stuff being brought home for keeps, and the stuff that is homework, that has to circulate back. For the first, you have to consider whether to keep. The teacher gets through the day, and the kids often (not always) learn by doing things with paper, and once the projects have served both those functions, those papers will have served the purpose they are in the world for and can go. There are precious little artworks or journal pages in there that really express your children and that you may want to keep, but most can go. Problem is, I could never really distinguish when I was in the thick of it coming home - I had to wait a few years, or at least to year end. Your best friend, in my opinion: plastic boxes. Just pry open the lid, slip in this week's batch, close and forget for now. The boxes don't have to live in the hallway - the kids could put their stack of paper in their cubbies, or in those wall files, and it could be transferred once a week to their box - in the basement or something. The inevitable homework that accidentally gets mixed in with the keeping stuff can be easily retrieved. The wrought iron wall files will look like he(( stuffed, but maybe if you empty them once a week you'll enjoy them nonetheless. Jannie: gotta love it - mine's 19, and I am sure I have stuff of similar vintage. KarinL