Changing Unorganized Genealogical Habits

My current family history filing system

If I knew then what I know now, my research would be all transcribed, abstracted and perfectly accessible. But years ago, when I started, I didn't know the correct way to go about doing research, how to be methodical, have a plan and hunt for the information to answer one genealogical question at a time, let alone what to do with the information once I had tracked it down. Filing was always the least glamourous job and was usually "left until later." Somehow later never came. 

Some of my genealogical finds are correctly placed in acid-free sheet protectors in binders labelled with the family names that I am researching. Other papers are stuffed in the front of the binders waiting for me to file them correctly and still others are dumped unceremoniously in miscellaneous boxes. An added problem is that my current system is paper based. I know that I should get with the times and go digital. But it seems a daunting task. Not only would it involve scanning and uploading documents, but also figuring out which would be the best service to use to store my precious finds in the cloud. 

Finding the right cloud-based storage is just one part of the equation. First, all of those papers need to be set up in a system which will allow ease of retrieval as well as give an over-all synopsis of what information has been found for each family line. Once this is in place, I will be able to see where the gaps in my knowledge are. That way I can come up with genealogical questions which will get me further ahead (or back) in my knowledge of the family lines. 

Besides the need to set up a system, according to the National Institute of Genealogical Studies course that I am currently taking, I need to transcribe, abstract and extract information for the documents that I have. That means sitting down with all of the wills, censuses and other documents which I gleefully uncovered and spending time writing down what is actually there. Well, at least that may stop me from spending time doing research to find out information that I already have buried in my papers at home. I've done that more than once, spent time going to a repository and think I have found something earth shattering only to actually go to file it in the family binder and see the exact same piece of information in there already. 

At this point, there is a monumental organization task in front of me. If only I had started out with a great system that listed what I already had and made clear what needed to be done. But who knew that the information I was gathering would grow so large?  Maybe I should start getting better organized before it gets any bigger!