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Wednesday, July 10, 2019

I bequeath my collection of paper clips and staples to...

Onward to the documents!  *yeesh*

You know I'm a declutterer, a tidier, a Kondophile.  I've been sorta when I'm not too lazy, more or less meticulously clearing out clutter for the past several months. I'm not alone when I say that one of the worst tidying jobs is going through documents.

I'm very grateful for the digital age, but we have leftover piles from the paper age - user manuals, financial investment information, medical records, billing receipts, educational transcripts and certifications...  I'd actually gone through quite a bit of that stuff, and in so doing, I unearthed our trust documents, a.k.a. our "death" documents.

It's not like we have much of an "estate", but it's a good idea to get such ducks in a row.  Of course, after paying the attorneys, there's even less of an "estate" to line up...  But, there it was, in all of it's heavy bound up glory, taking up pages and pages of legalese.  Not to mention, it's laden with all kinds of identity thief treasure.



All of it exists in "the cloud", and a small pocket in front of one of the heavy dusty binders contained a tiny usb drive, which also contains everything.  All that pretty paper and toner was not sparking any joy.  No, Marie, it was not.






It was time for the paper purge.  We have a document shredder, but this job calls for industrial strength.  I found a place nearby that will shred documents for a dollar/pound.  I figured I'd scoot up there on my trusty bicycle.  Here's the pile next to my cycling backpack, and the pooches are volunteering to just eat all of it.




If I don't survive the haul, remind Magnum and the kids about the cute little usb drive.  


Do you save paperwork?  What papers do you find difficult to throw out?


6 comments:

LL Cool Joe said...

I seem to save everything but the things we actually really need. I don't do the paperwork in our house, my partner does. I can't be trusted with things like that, I'm only allowed to change light bulbs and put up shelves.

Chatty Crone said...

I tend to throw out and the other three save. Therefore I hate to say it but I am organized. My paperwork in order - for my stuff. Good luck with the others.

Lorraine said...

I'm lucky in that my job gives me summers off and I make a long to-do list of things that need doing and going through papers/bill/documents is one of them. I have a small file cabinet and when it gets too tight to put another piece of paper in, then I know it's time to get shredding. I bought a brand new shredder on Facebook Marketplace for $25 (It's worth $170) and it's a beast. Our executor to our will has instructions where to find all our important info and documents. I keep try to keep things super organized for that reason.

Margaret (Peggy or Peg too) said...

Oh Abby please come help me do this. I have done all closets, drawers and pantries. I now need to deal with all this paper in our office that we still need and what we are shredding. I blew out my shredder and haven't done anything since. Talk about procrastinating. I was doing so well until I met my kryptonite, paper!

Abby said...

Joey, keep doing those shelves and lightbulbs. Avoid the paper!

Chatty, good for you! Maybe get yourself a She-shed!

Abby said...

Clamco, we also have a small file cabinet for those pesky papers we "can't" discard - birth certs, car titles, blah blah... You've just reminded me that I should dig through that :P

Peggy, paper is a close kryptonite for me too! Our "shredder" is an old worn out thing. The shredder I paid to use was magnificent - find one of those!