Minimalism: Papers In Progress

One reason I haven’t published a blog since Thursday is because I’ve been knee deep in paper! I started the paper category on Friday. KonMari says to get rid of virtually all paper because they will not inspire joy. I will admit that my paper sometimes actually causes me physical discomfort (stomach and chest tightness) when I look at the numerous piles strewn around my home office because I know I’ve let it get out of control. I have A LOT of paper and this is likely going to be the most challenging of all categories because I have files that date back to the early 2000’s!

My file cabinet has 2 drawers and both are overly full to the point it is a real struggle to get anything in or out of them. I have 2 banker sized boxes in the guest room (one for manuals, the other contains notebooks (both used and not), box of unused file folders, a legal sized folder that is 2.5″ thick of documents related to the closing of my home, another 2.5″ thick folder of documents related to house renovations, folder of certificates received both from school and work, and random things like Pokemon cards and USPS Priority envelopes. In my home office, I have two desks and a twin sized bed, both which have several piles of paper on them because I can no longer fit anything more into my file cabinet. Outside of all that, I can say I have been good about keeping all my papers in one spot of my house (my home office), which KonMari strongly recommends.  I only had a few miscellaneous papers in the kitchen which consisted of menus (all discarded) and coupons (all but 2 discarded) only.

I had switched to paperless for a majority of my financial accounts a few years ago, but never finished reconciling or shredding the papers I had accumulated prior to going paperless. Having said that, there are still a few accounts that I need to change to paperless, which I fully intend to do since I do not want to have to do this again in the future.

I started Friday night by going through my manuals, which should be discarded since KonMari says you can find what you need online. However, I didn’t follow the rule on this one because my manuals actually do bring me joy and I refer to one or another at least once every other month (usually one of my smart devices needs troubleshooting). I’m the type of person who loves reading through a manual once I buy a new product.  I also pair any warranties with the manual and have recently started to include the receipt of the product so that I know exactly when I got it and when the warranty expires so I can get rid of the document accordingly.

I did reduce the volume of manuals by at least half if not more by discarding those related to items I no longer have in my possession and ripping out only the English version of the manual. Several were reduced to a quarter of the size after discarding all the other language versions!

Saturday morning I started to tackle the other box from the guest room, but I got stuck when it came to the thick pile of house related papers because I wasn’t sure if those fell into the keep indefinitely category. I’ve already paid off my mortgage for my house, but do I still need to keep all the closing documents when I first bought the house?  If anyone knows, please do let me know! Then I figured I should keep the renovation documents so I have them if and when I decide to sell the house to calculate how much I invested in improvements.  Aside from the house related papers, everything else was simple enough to decide what to let go, which was a majority of it. I decided to postpone going through the house papers and stop for the day since I had other things I needed to do including a graduation party to attend.

Sunday, I spent 12 straight hours on the top drawer of my file cabinet, which contained a majority of my utility bills and financial accounts – credit cards, brokerage, retirement, checking and savings accounts.  Even though 12 hours may seem like a long time, I felt I got through that incredulous amount of papers a whole lot faster than expected and attribute it to the fact most of them were already switched to paperless and I was able to verify a majority of the statements were available online.  There were a few that were not, so I did take a few hours to document those, but it was a small percentage of the lot.

I am absolutely thrilled to show you my progress!

10 grocery bags of shredded statements and 1 bag of non-confidential materials later, check out the first file drawer – totally empty!

I got rid of 2 boxes worth of old checkbooks and a majority of credit card statements. I do have one checking account and a few credit cards, both a few inches thick in the 2nd drawer though.  One of my goals has been to reduce the number of accounts I have in general because I don’t need 4 different checking accounts, 3 savings accounts and who knows how many credit cards.  I’ve already started the process and closed 2 checking accounts and plan to continue after I get through all my papers.

I am quite apprehensive about how long the second drawer will take to get through because aside from the few financial accounts that have already been transitioned to paperless, the bulk of the 2nd drawer is not paperless because they are for things that may not have consistent online accounts from the early 2000s such as car related documents, medical, dental, vision, chiropractor, acupuncture, plus my other property related docs (condo) and various insurance policies.  I anticipate it could take twice as long to get through this drawer, especially if I decide to scan a lot of the documents.

This evening, I decided to tackle the shelf above my desk and the papers on my primary desk.  I easily discarded conference materials from 2 conferences I attended in March that was sitting on the shelf above my desk.  (I am pretty good about getting rid of those since I know I rarely ever refer back to them.) KonMari recommends using a vertical organizer for papers that require action, which I already have on my desk.  Problem was it was stuffed to full capacity and I ignored them all together for several months.  I forced myself to look through all of it and actioned all but 4 items which will take some significant focused time to complete.

Greeting cards are also in this category, but any I may have kept would be in my bag of photos so I’ve decided to do those when I get to the sentimental category.

I will continue to make progress in this category and hope you will be patient with me as I’m not sure how long this is going to take.   Outside of my 2nd file drawer I still have several piles of paper on my spare desk and bed that I need to go through.  If anyone has any recommendations for me as I work this category, I’m all ears!