Twenty years of paper takes up a LOT of space - fully-stocked large and small filing cabinets, multiple desk drawers, credenzas, bookshelves and tables. And we had a couple of days to pitch, sort, pack that mass into a handful of boxes. Fun!
The pandemic has redefined our equation with office space. While a small space would be nice to have, a large space is a wasteful. Now that we have designated work spaces at home and our favorite virtual backgrounds to boot, we'd rather work from home, exercise, eat right and spend time with family and pets over commuting mindlessly to an office.
Giving up the office space was a no-brainer. But that meant collapsing the myriad contracts, bills, notices, letters, insurance papers, bank statements, receipts, stationary, marketing collateral and whatnot into a few boxes. Not having another office space lined up was a terrific cure for boxing and hauling junk.
What a concept! Whaaaaat a freaking nightmare!
We ordered a more powerful shredder than the one that has limped along for many years and began the odyssey with diligence. The mantra was to shred everything we don’t need. Umpteen shredder baskets later, there was hardly a dent in the filing cabinet content and a massive pile of confetti! Ugh.
On to Plan B!
We settled on a new rule that would allow us to shred, pitch, box with care and with less effort. This got us through 20 years of papers in a few hours.
Woot!!
In the end, we had a ginormous number of boxes marked “Basura” and a dozen boxes of important papers to bring home until the next office at some point in the future.
I often say I’ll go back to paper for our personal bills if our identities are ever compromised. As shredder dust grew into a can't-see-hand-in-front-of-face storm and the trash piled up higher than me, I learned a life-altering lesson - go online as much as possible.
Yes, there is the possibility of identity theft but that risk exists at higher doses when dealing with paper. In the quest to file, sort, shred, and box, I realized that going back to paper is off the table. That train left the station a long time ago and it is not coming back.
Take it from this sneeze-head who suffered the consequences of shredder dust - buy that shredder and deal the paper that is staring back at you at home or in your office. Don’t procrastinate or else that godawful confetti will stick to you FOR LIFE.
