Storage help-three ring binders

[happily single]

I have about a dozen assorted three ring binders with materials,from different classes I’ve attended. I don’t need to access them frequently, but I’m not ready to part with the written material. Any ideas on a way to store them away? I’m open to taking them out of the binders as well.

 

[seashoreCM]

You can combine the material into fewer binders so it all takes up less space. (And give away to Goodwlll, etc. the empty binders.)

Caution: The material stuffed into any one binder should be able to all fit on one side of the binder lying on a table with the rings open, without pages floating off. That is about the maximum fill above which you start to get ripouts when you close the binder, go to the next class, and open it up again. Like, the first page and last page tear out. Soon thereater the second page and second to last page tear out. And so on.

 

[frog3101]

 

[NYCgrrl]

Scan the documents you want to keep and store them in computer files.

 

[Toolulu22]

I brought my course binders, thesis work, textbooks, conference and workshop binders to work and stored them away in a cabinet. I’ve kept materials that are on usb or external hard drives. Rarely have I needed any of it, but I occasionally look at them with nostalgia. I’ve recently begun culling some of it, but it’s hard to throw out something that took so much effort.

 

[_19disnA]

If you are done taking whatever these classes are, the first thing I would think about is how often (if ever) you might view this material in the future. I would weed out things you don't need, before spending a lot of money on storage for something that will take up a lot of space and be seldom used. Even storing electronically involves the cost to convert it and whatever means you use you have to organize it such that you can easily locate what you are looking for. Having to look in 5 boxes to find 1 document would certainly waste a lot of time.

Even while I was in college, I RARELY (if ever) needed to refer to something from a prior class, regardless of whether it was some textbook or term paper I wrote. Eventually, I just tossed all of that material in the trash and have never had a need for it.

I assume when you refer to things in a 3-ring binder, these are probably old term papers/tests or various class handouts. What field are you in where you would ever need to refer back to these?

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Scan the documents you want to keep and store them in computer files.

This was my first thought as well.

 

[MillauFr]

Yes scan them. If you truly want to keep these long term, scanning is the only way to ensure that. The paper will degrade with time.

 

[happily single]

If you are done taking whatever these classes are, the first thing I would think about is how often (if ever) you might view this material in the future. I would weed out things you don't need, before spending a lot of money on storage for something that will take up a lot of space and be seldom used. Even storing electronically involves the cost to convert it and whatever means you use you have to organize it such that you can easily locate what you are looking for. Having to look in 5 boxes to find 1 document would certainly waste a lot of time.

Even while I was in college, I RARELY (if ever) needed to refer to something from a prior class, regardless of whether it was some textbook or term paper I wrote. Eventually, I just tossed all of that material in the trash and have never had a need for it.

I assume when you refer to things in a 3-ring binder, these are probably old term papers/tests or various class handouts. What field are you in where you would ever need to refer back to these?

Thanks for the thought out response. The binders are full of courses I’ve taken as a massage therapist, so I will occasionally go back to them. I also share the info with other therapist. I’d say I reference each binder 1-2x a year.