Clutter Control

Some days I hate being a grown up.  I would like nothing better than to play with my fabric, cut up a bunch and get some serious sewing done.  But nooooooo!!!  I need to behave myself and get some serious organizing done instead.  Oh the injustice of it all.

I have been way too neglectful of my paperwork for close to a year now.  I've got all sorts of manuals, registration forms (uh-oh), insurance statements, severance paperwork, mortgage changeover documents, home improvement receipts, you name it, in so many different places, stacked here and there.  I hate when it's like this but it is always so much easier to just stack it in a pile.  So now I have to organize them into proper files:

I've come to realize that I have four, yes FOUR, file boxes.  Egad.  Now I'm in a purging mode.  Shred this. Toss that.  I have another box in my closet of leftover Christmas cards from probably each of 10 years.  Probably never gonna use them so tell me again why I saved them??

I found tax documents going back to 1996.  Don't believe me? 

Maybe YOU know why I've kept them.  I think I'll be firing up the shredder tomorrow morning.

I've got divorce documents (1992) and their accompanying child support documents.  My original mortgage documents from 1993 (I've refinanced twice) -- how long should I hang on to those?

And then there's my fire-proof box which contains things like my high school diploma, social security card, birth certificate and my ponytail cut off when I was eight years old.  Wait....one of those things might not belong there.

I always hate doing this type of clean up but when I'm done I always feel much better.  I think if I get a big garbage bag out and am cut-throat about it, I'll be much happier.  I really don't like living with the piles here and there and I definitely know I'll sleep better when all the clutter is cut down to down and put in its place.

Tomorrow......