My Saturday’s frequently begin at a slow and lethargic pace. I’ll wake up as early any previous weekday but the ‘knowing’ that I don’t have to get up for anything in particular keeps me tucked up tight in bed… That, and the fresh feeling of cold that besieges my inadequately-heated flat.
Anyway, after consuming the breakfast that you saw me make in a previous post; while doing my weekly clean a day late (or early – well, I never usually save a Saturday for it), something took over and compelled me to attack the mountain of paperwork that had wedged itself inside the bottom drawer.
I’ve been holding on to so many sheets of A4 for too long…
Is it really necessary to old to outdated wage slips?
How many invoices of purchased items do you hang on to?
And old bank statements…
As you can see from that first photo, I’ve always kept my sheets well organised with each color representing a different category (ie. power tools, car stuff, eBay, etc.). How many other people actually do this?
About two-years ago, I did purge in to this stash but I’ve still not since quite been able to close that drawer without stuffing my fingers in first. At that time, I made a pact to go through all my eBay invoices and to remove (for shredding) anything that is dated before the previous year. So, this weekend, I did the same in shredding every sheet of paper I could find that was dated before 2013. This required a greater effort with other folders because I’d not previously been as diligent in my decluttering and would hold on to every receipt from a ‘one-time purchase‘ (ie. a company that I might never purchased from again)… But why? Just to show (myself) that I had once, and only once, bought something from them?
Technology is moving on and so many of these details can now be stored and accessed online. Honestly, I’m more likely to filter through a list of e-mails or e-mail a customer service address directly than I am to dig out my folders for anything more than a vehicle MOT certificate.
Some of my folders were titled as ‘Clothes’ or ‘Books’ or ‘DVDs and CDs’. But as my splurging days of a decade ago are now over, I found I was able to condense the 2013> sheets in to a reduced number of folders (now simply titled ‘Amazon’, for example). As far as the financial stuff goes, I’m keeping my annual P60s (they’re labelled with ‘DO NOT DESTROY‘ down one edge) and my wage slips for the previous five-years and no more.
Above, you can see the mountain of paper work I’ve selected to be removed from my life. What’s more, I was able to free up FOUR empty folders and that drawer that couldn’t be closed or opened, well, it’s not even half full any more! My ten-year-old <£15 A4 paper shredder sounds and feels like it’s finally on the way out though!
Thanks for reading and… Happy shredding!!
PS. What uses might you have for shredded paper? My favorite has also been to use it as a packing material to fill the dead space and to secure an item inside a parcel.
