Get Everything Done

Hi all, I am new to this site and these systems. Someone just directed me here and I've been hopping through all the incarnations of these systems to see which one appeals most to me. I definitely will try one of them, and will be using paper.

My question is about keeping the pages after all the tasks are done or dismissed and one has moved on to create new pages. Do you all keep the old pages or toss them?

I want to try using this system for a huge project - to declutter, clean, and organize my home, which is in terrible shape right now. Working on this is often overwhelming. Most of the time, I don't know what to focus on next to dig myself out, and that means nothing gets done, but the situation has become urgent - so that is why I need a system to help me.

I really don't want to save old lists in a file cabinet - saving too much stuff has gotten me into the mess I am in now. I want all clutter and excess crap gone, but I am curious if there is any advantage to holding onto old pages - maybe just the most recent in order to see one's accomplishments and/or copy stuff to new lists, but I'm not sure. To those of you who do throw out your old pages, how many would one need to keep while working an open list? Do you have a system for discarding old lists/pages? Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer!

The most pages I've ever had was around 10 and right now I am hovering around 4-5, though that is probably because I am a high school student so I have a smaller workload. It's a matter of personal preference whether you keep your old pages or not. Personally, I like to keep the old pages because I like having a reference of past tasks.

Are you doing it with looseleaf? If you use a spiral or composition notebook or something similar, it shouldn't make too much of a mess if you don't take out old pages.

Yes, for now I'm using an 8.5x11" loose-leaf binder because: I already had this embossed cardboard binder, which I've always enjoyed using, it's in my favorite color, and the kinds of bound notebooks I like are too dang expensive for me right now!

I did a search before asking about this and came across a couple of posts where people were talking about archiving or filing away their used pages, and although I know I do not want to do that, I was curious why people do that. I mean, how often does one refer back to old task lists from a year or whatever ago, and to what purpose?

I rarely refer to anything older than the past month. I don't keep ALL past items, I just don't archive anything in the current notebook. I do throw out my notebook once it gets full (after moving out still relevent items).