Shedding of Innocent Stuff: Paper by the Pounds

This is one of the most aggravating aspects of my reality; try as I might, paper always seems to find me. What's worse, it always seems to accumulate. Much of the time, the paper that accumulates is not of a high enough importance to actually keep it, but I get terrified when I try to decide if I should throw it away.


I woke up early this morning to try to get through what has amounted to reams and reams worth of paper related to certain areas of my life. There are household papers (receipts, warranties, manuals), there are mortgage papers (which we have paid off, but we need to keep a while longer just in case), there are financial papers (account statements, balances, accounts that no longer exist), tax papers (going back as long as Christina and I have been married, and I would really like to purge some of these years), and yes, the most egregious bulk of papers consuming my existence, Scouting papers. In fact, my Scouting paper is approximately 60% of the stuff I have accumulated, most of which is not relevant at this stage anyway (most of the papers are flyers related to events and activities with a moderate but not indefinite shelf life). I had hoped I would make a decent dent, but I was not completely successful. I did manage to vacate my office of all superfluous paper, but in the end, all I really did was bring it down to the garage and downsize it a little bit (There is so much more I still need to do).


Today, though, I have prepared myself for what shall be a merciless battle. Granted, all of the paper and items are in the garage, but that gives me one tremendous advantage... it's all in one place now! IN anticipation of this, I have hooked up the shredder, gotten out the multiple page protectors and clear cover binders, and tonight will be a massacre of unparalleled proportions. In short, I will not set foot into my house until the paper monster is drawn, quartered, beheaded, and the items in question given their due place:


1. Home papers in the filing cabinet in the appropriate slots.
2. Financial papers in their appropriate folders.
3. Tax papers in their associated binders (and likewise in the filing cabinet)
4. All Scout related paperwork put into binders and (gasp!) put into our Chartered Organizations Scout Closet!!!


Do I believe this will be a once and for all victory? Of course not, but I do believe, if I really approach this with the necessary effort, that it will go a long way towards resolving this issue. It will of course take diligent effort to stay on top of this, and make sure that it doesn't creep back up on me again.