Buried Under Paper

I could get buried under all the paper at this house! I could get lost for weeks and miss a meal or something -wouldn’t that be a crying shame? Everything else gets lost around here, that’s a fact. I lose my keys, my glasses, the calculator, the checkbook. A frantic search usually proves that I’ve placed a stack of paper on top of them. In fact, not too long ago one of our cats disappeared and I…

I’m sorry, the storyteller in me got carried away for a minute.

The truth is that we have a truckload of paper we don’t need. I keep greeting cards, notes scribbled to myself on the back of envelopes (even when I don’t know what the heck they mean), weeks worth of junk mail, business cards for people I don’t even know, and anything else you can name. Because I have a storytelling business, I’ve kept old tax records, but I have them going back fifteen years. From what I can understand on the IRS site, it looks like the the most you need to keep is the last seven years (if you are honest!).

This has to stop! I’ve got to set up a filing system for the things I need to keep, and get rid of the extraneous. I need a new office shredder, because the one I’ve got is wearing out. Amazon has one that interests me. It’s the Fellowes 32057 Powershred P-57Cs Shredder pictured here. I think it would do the job, and it gets good reviews.

We do have the option of sending some of the papers with my husband to work, so that he can shred them on an industrial shredder. There are also companies in my area that specialize in coming out to your house and shredding huge amounts of paper for you. That may be an option.

I’m compulsive about shredding personal papers. I can’t believe that people will paw through the trash in the hopes of stealing someone’s identity, but they do. If they get into my trash, they deserve everything they find. I’ve got five cats and four litter boxes to make that garbage can fragrant …Peeeyoooo!

This journey began on a separate blog (you can click here to read About Out Of Chaos), but that wasn’t really simplifying was it? I moved all of the posts to This Eclectic Life under the category Out Of Chaos. I’ll be adding more from time to time. I hope you join me.

Other posts you might enjoy:

1. What Did We Do Before Paper Towels?
2. Re-thinking Recyling
3. The Fading Sunset; A Prayer
4. The Easy Way To Line Kitchen Cabinets
5. Alien Buried at Aurora?

Tagged as: clutter, paper, simplified life