Tossing It

Been organizing a bit.  Done in stages.  Not even close to complete, but enough to see a difference.  Completing My Space recycles itself as a semi-annual initiative, seeing a spurt or two every six months.  The area is divided into zones.  Starting with the closets, I half filled a sturdy lawn and leaf bag very quickly, then it sat for months in a too conspicuous space until last evening.  At a Farmer's Market discount store some time ago, I purchased very flimsy plastic bags super cheap.  Our state no longer allows them as they clutter the environment, though perhaps not, as they tear easy.  The stuff once in them which is no longer in them may be biodegradable.  When I use them in the garden, they tear.  But if I transfer some boxes of games and puzzles with missing pieces, some dead batteries with early leaks, and some plastic clothes hangers that once held children's clothing which has since been donated, I could get that bag into the weekly garbage bin.  I transferred the items from the sturdy bag to the flimsy one.  It tore, but not such a large disruption as to return the items inside to the floor.  I tied the open top, then transported it carefully to the plastic bin in front of my garage for next week's pickup.

Papers are more pervasive, dominating much of my downstairs.  A little at a time, I harvested them from the kitchen and living room, transferring to small corrugated boxes that once held k-cups or beer bottles.  Then I took the box of unsorted papers, got a stack of file folders and labels with a red stripe across the top, along with a pen.  One paper at a time, or a few if clustered, I made a folder for it, alphabetized the folders in anticipation of later papers that can be put there, and in two sessions I finished.  Along the way, some could be recycled, moving a few at a time to a recycling bin in the kitchen.  Others were better shredded, moved to a separate pile, then run through the shredder next to my living room secretary desk.  A few need to go to the synagogue's Genizah where papers with the Name of the Lord are respectfully destroyed, usually by burial as an adjunct to a funeral.  Now I have alphabetized folders in a small box and a handful of scattered papers on the living room floor that can use a new home.  Next, I need to take the files that I made and take them to the file boxes in the living room and laundry room, consolidating them with pre-existing files of the same name if available, recycling the manila folder for another session in a year or two.  One day I will need to go through the files for mega recycling and significant shredding, but for now, just being off the floor and alphabetized in a file box will complete the project.

Then return to the back zone of My Space and the desktop in My Space, both perpetual works in progress.

Filing Papers

 It took days, maybe weeks.  All papers in living room with a few minor exceptions now lie in a labelled file folder.  The categories are diverse from banking statements to charitable donations to birthday cards.  But they are all in folders.  Some folders are duplicates as I found it easier to make a new one as I looked at each paper than to find which folder already existed.  Next step would be to group them in hanging folders.  Those judged never to be needed again, like accounts I no longer have or receipts from prior years go in an obscure place in one of five filing units.  Others go closer to the front, probably in the filing drawer of my desk in My Space.  I would like sorting to be a joint effort with my wife, if possible, so we each know where to find things.

Then vacuum living room in time for Pesach rug cleaning.  Then invite guests which is the ulterior motive for ridding the living room of papers.

Sorting Papers

It's not yet been the first anniversary since closing out my storage unit, a repository for the unwanted that drained a fair amount of money that was wanted.  I thought I would have all worldly goods from that haul removed from my living area to other storage areas within my house, and I've made progress.  Contents of my wife's boxes have been mostly moved to interior Gehenna designated as a place in the basement in front of my work bench.  I still have a line of boxes in front of my stairs that needs a better home, preferably a recycling center, though a landfill will suffice.  I bought a shredder to replace my broken one and began the daunting task of sorting.  Anything more than ten years old except key financial documents gets shredded.  Sort of fun to do that.  I've dumped two bags of confetti into plastic bags.  Though paper, they are not eligible for recycling.  There are basically two filing piles, one of financial statements less than ten years old and the other various consumer filing of credit card statements or confirmation of charitable donations.  There's a lot of paper there, but I will make an effort to have it all done by the end of the calendar year, that anniversary of ending my storage unit rental.  The project seems more tedious than it really is.  And when I am done, I will be able to make that hallway space more navigable.  Worth the effort.