Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Day 20: Unpacking the Paper Pile.




Read the previous entry in this series:  Day 19: Declutter the Desk Drawers or Surface or start at the beginning with the Introduction: 5 Ways Clutter Costs.

This has been building for a long while.
Too long.

I collect my paper. First, it was here.



And then, sadly, also here:



It's a good system. I know where any given piece of paper is at any time.

(It works best, though, if there's only one collection spot. Case in point: my husband is taking the dog for grooming tomorrow and needs a record of his most recent vaccinations. Because I have two spots--I wasn't immediately sure where to look. Because he was vaccinated in April--he was near the bottom of the pile, too, so it took a while to find.)

I started with the older paper first. I tossed probably 70%. The rest I sorted on the desk.



Then, I dealt with it.

Some, I put away. Receipts. Tax info. Warranties and manuals. Paint schemes for the Exterior. Schedules, Insurance documents. Recipes--including one we had thought lost forever (Chocolate Oat Chippers). Etc.

I copied random notes I had made on scraps and bits of paper into my bullet journal. I recorded all my passwords and user ids for various sites so I could toss an agenda from 2013.

I took action on one piece immediately (a donation I've been wanting to make for ages).

This decluttering for 31 days has been good for me. I've had days where I really, really did not want to do it. I've had days where it was really hard to do it. Dealing with my paper is never, ever fun. It's tedious and boring--but it requires me to think, so it's not like I can watch TV or listen to a podcast. (I don't multitask well mentally.) So, I'm grateful for this series tonight--otherwise I would have always wondered if the Chocolate Oat Chipper recipe we'd found on-line was exactly like the one we had had.



Important stuff.

Here's what was at the bottom of the box.

How are things going for you? Are you happy with the progress you're making?
Remember, it all counts.


Read the next entry in this series Day 21: Collect All the Digital Pictures. 

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