I switched to a paperless office years ago. Every receipt, invoice, deposit, 1099, etc. is faithfully scanned, saved to the appropriate file, entered into QuickBooks, and the tossed into the to-be-shred box.

I know exactly how much time we would save with the Neatdesk because we are currently using the wrong tool for the job: an HP ScanJet G4050. We bought this scanner because of its ability to scan the old family slides. And it did a nice job on the slides, but it is extremely cumbersome when it comes to scanning receipts. It has a huge footprint and requires a lot of user interaction for each and every receipt that is scanned.

Included with the HP scanner was a free version of PaperPort 11. I used this program to sort all of the scanned receipts into appropriate folders. I liked the theory of how the program was supposed to work, (a desktop view of thumbnails of documents contained in a folder), but it crashed on me consistently … usually every dozen receipts or so.

I can estimate that each receipt takes me approximately 5 minutes to enter into QuickBooks, scan on the HP G4050, and name & save in PaperPort. There are 1,086 scanned receipts saved in my 2008 receipt folders. At 5 minutes each, I am spending about 5,415 minutes every year working with receipts.

If the NeatDesk will cut that time at least in half, I would save 2,707 minutes each year or 45¼ hours. That’s like a week’s paid vacation! And since I work from a home office, those 45 hours (or more because I suspect the NeatDesk will be faster) will be better spent by helping my family and friends learn to use some of the great social media tools that they’re missing out on.

Let me start by offering this photo. It is of my desk/work area, taken moments ago (note what’s on the PC screen).

http://tinyurl.com/JaysDesk

So clearly, I need some organizational help.

Heck, I might need 3 or 4 NeatDesk’s and gaggle of assistants to organize this train wreck.

What would I do if I won?

After I solved world hunger and the financial crisis, I’d take an “after” photo of my neat desk and become the new NeatDesk poster boy.

I must confess I would also have to take some of the extra time to decide what color cape would be appropriate for my NeatGirl superpower costume. Then, on to rid the rest of the world of clutter and under-utilized pieces of information by telling them about the real power behind my superpower–NeatDesk!

Oh, to get back those two weeks of teeth gnashing. Here’s my situation, and what I’d do:

My brother is getting married in June. My sister is getting married in November. Yes, I am both weddings. I am the maid of honor in my sister’s wedding.

Here’s what I missed while working on my taxes:
1. My sister picked her wedding gown and vail. I went to the first “trying on of dresses,” but she picked her dress on the second set when I was burning a hole in my calculator.
2. My brother and future sister-in-law chose their rehearsal dinner location. Free food. I MISSED FREE FOOD while counting up all my business meal deductions.
3. Invitation shopping for bridal shower invitations. Seem silly? Did I tell you how much I love stationery and everything revolving around it? Instead, I was wrestling with the accordion folder that holds my receipts. It sucked receipts into its folds, and I could not for the life of me get two out. I eventually ripped apart the folder.

NeatDesk or NeatReceipts would have saved me this fate and brought me back into the loop in wedding plans and lifted the “bad bridesmaid” crown from my head. Stupid taxes.

The scanner would also come with me to college. In a dorm room, space is at a premium, so being able to capture tax documents and other information digitally is a huge advantage.