Papers

I admit it – I am a paper hoarder.  I keep papers forever.  I have piles of papers around the house that drive my husband crazy.  But, I can’t throw anything away as I feel I may need them for future reference.  Among these papers are obviously my bills, as well as all the conditions that may apply – even though I know I will never read them.  Then I have papers from my daughter’s school and activities; some of these are for current events and some are in the near or far future.  Then I have all my writing papers - copies of articles, reference materials, and ideas for future writing, i.e. addendum material for my book, for my blog, for speaking gigs, or anything else that may occur.  I always want to be prepared, regardless of the fact I was never a boy scout.  However, with all these papers, which I must admit, are in every room in my house, I am anal when it comes to my filing system.  Even my CD collection is carefully alphabetized and arranged by genre.  By my desk, I have three filing drawers and my files are neat, pristine and alphabetized.  I can pull out my birth certificate, or my daughter’s pediatrician forms in a second.  But the piles surrounding my desk are random, scattered and stacked in no specific order.  I know that all I have to do is place them in my carefully arranged files.  But once put away, it’s as if they are gone.  What if something I’ve filed is a potentially great idea or meaningful reference piece?  What if my penchant for “what ifs” is the crux of my problem.?

Knowing that it’s better to get in the habit of periodically pulling files, and perusing my materials instead of searching like a squirrel foraging for something appetizing, I decided to try to organize the chaos.  After all, I will soon be gathering my tax information and I don’t want to miss some possible deductions that I know are floating amongst the heaps.  I grab half reams of papers and shuffle through them, delighted that some of the piles are old documents and forms and no longer needed.  Nothing feels as good as throwing away unneeded papers. Already I see a difference.  I can open my file drawers easily without having to move anything out of the way.  

I have to congratulate my motivation as my diligence to this task has resulted in a pretty good start.  Of course, I have come across bits of information that will make great future blogs, or inspiring facebook postings.  And that becomes new, albeit smaller piles to deal with….perhaps at a later date.