21:06 – Shredding like a Looney Tune!

It’s day six of this years first 21 day declutter challenge.

Whilst I’ve been sitting here, the last couple of weeks, feeling sorry for myself (that is what you do when you have the flu, isn’t it?) I have at least been a tiny bit useful with my time.

I have been going through some of my paper monster. You might remember I started a paper scan/purge task in December, well.. rather I tried, doing a scan/purge run, and I flunked miserably since I got hit with bad migraines.

Well.. during this flu (which is getting much better now, thank you) I decided to do some more paper purging (scanning I’m leaving for later), and I’ve been shredding papers like a looney tune.

I have a portable shredder that I use with a specific trash bin, because they fit together like gloves. I can typically shred around 200-250 pieces of paper before the bin is full. Food store receipts? Well then we are talking probably 700-800.

Why am I telling you this? It’s because as part of my 21 declutter challenge, I’m counting items, and I have decided that one full bin equals 10 items out-the-door.

So how did I do?

Well, let’s see… the last week or so, I’ve shredded 8 overfilled bins, resulting in

3 big bags of shredded paper leaving the house!

With my fancy bin counting this makes

180 ITEMS OUT-THE-DOOR 🙂

Why do I shred my papers?

It’s because I value my privacy. Any information with personal details, I just shred by default.

It’s a good habit to have, because then I don’t have to worry to much about people finding a lot of details about me in the trash.

I’m hoping this will keep me safe from identity theft and such.

Am I done yet? Heck no.. I still have loads of paper to go through.. this was just shredding round number 1.

OK then… guess I should get back to the shredder then, for round 2…

21: – I think I jinxed it!

Last time I wrote to you all, I had high hopes for me being able to start back up with my 21 day paper challenge.

Well… I think I might have jinxed it (yes, Nancy, you were right, I tempted faith 😦 )

The day after my last post, I believe the universe decided to conspire against me, as a truck filled with hand grenades, blew up inside my head.. or maybe it was a small nuclear bomb… I’m not sure… whatever it was, it felt like it took my head off, it hurt like heck (and yes, there were tears) and I’ve been holding on for dear life ever since.

B and I seriously contemplated going to the emergency room, because this one, was a doozy, and it came on so sudden! But past experiences have taught us, that as soon as they hear I have migraine problems, they’ll assume it’s another attach, they’ll give me some medication (which is pretty much sugar pills compared to the stuff I have at home) and they’ll send me home.

I really didn’t feel like hanging around in the emergency room for hours, with a head threatening to fall off, for them to just send me home, so I took all the medication I dared to and went to bed. Hoping it would clear a little by next day. Thankfully it did! But only a little…

I had an appointment with my neurologist the day after this happened, and she thought I had had what they call a Thunderclap headache. During the appointment, I asked her, did she think it possibly could have been a blood related issue (like TIA), but she didn’t think so, as my latest scans hadn’t shown any potential problems.

Sadly, she didn’t mention how important it is to seek medical care should I ever experience this again, as a Thunderclap headache can be caused by artery bleeding (which I just found out from looking it up on the internet). If this ever happens again, there is no doubt.. you will find me at the emergency room, and I won’t let them send me home until they have given me a proper checkup!!!

Since Wednesdays attach, I have struggled… and sadly it might be time for me to give up my current paper challenge!

I am really sorry, this was not my plans, giving up halfway in.

You know… sometimes life just throws you lemons… but right now, it doesn’t seem to matter how much lemon tea I’m making

We are getting closer to Christmas, and any sane moments I might be having, I’ll be wanting to spend on the things that makes me happy… which means, I’m packing the paper challenge away.. for now!

It won’t be the the last you hear about the challenge, as I’m faaaar from finished, so I will mostly start it up again next year;-)

That’s if from me, right now! MY challenge is officially over…

Everyone else though, are still at it 🙂

– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, is on day 4 of her Paper Purgathon
– Viv, at GriefHappens, is working away at clearing the clutter, papers included 🙂
– Jena, at All Round Better me, has been getting some of her papers out of the way.
– Amy, at More time than money, joining with 60 minutes a week
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, joining too
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, has done some paper stuff, but is staying away from the scanning part (and I can’t say I blame her..)
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, is working hard on the living room and front porch, and are filling bags of paper as she finds them, she might be with us now that Thanksgiving is over… sorting out some of the bags she has collected.

On the fence
– Gilly, at Anything Except Housework is no longer on the fence. She had to withdraw from this challenge. She is now full time care giver for her dad, and mum, after an operation. We’re here for you, Gilly!

21:xx – A DO OVER!

We are at day XX of our 21 day challenge, and I seriously want a DO OVER!

Who could have predicted I would be running into weeks of more than average hellish migraine when I started this challenge? Well I for one, did not! Had I known, I would have postponed this challenge until January or something.

There was a moment a few days ago that I thought I had turned a corner, well… that was… until I had a shoulder/neck treatment which knocked me for a loop, and sadly not in a good way 😦

I should really be used to this by now, I have after all been ~~nurturing~~ hanging out with a 24/7 headache the last 6 years… still… when I get these rounds of elevated strength migraines, they completely knock my socks off, over and over again (seriously, if you tripped and fell… your inn for a super soft landing with all the socks lying around).

All I can do is hang on for dear life… and spend my days “nicely” tucked in a cocoon. You know, eat my pills, sleep a lot, sit there quietly and do nothing, absolutely nothing 😢 except maybe watch TV and possibly read 5 minutes here and there, but outside of that… nothing!

I get so little done that my house hasn’t even seen the vacuum machine for ages! Eh… well… that’s not strictly true as I’m sitting here looking at it as we speak, so we have SEEN it. Lately the rubble in my house has been getting so bad, I’ve been considering rock climbing classes just to get to my front door. Maybe it’s time, to make the vacuum earn it’s keep 😉

Beside contemplating cleaning my house, there has been next to no energy to tackle things like.. say…. my paper monster.

This migraine has seriously stopped my paper declutter challenge, dead in the tracks!

And it’s making me want a

I know it’s not really all that fair, to everyone else, who has already been working hard at it, me chickening out this way. But I’m thinking maybe I have a legitimate excuse?

So this is what I’ve been thinking. I’m not going to do a complete do-over, starting from scratch. But I am slowing everything down, so much so, that I will only be counting the days I am actually getting something done. Which means that since I have done absolutely nothing since day 11, my next one will be day 12 (as opposed to day 19 or 20 or whatever we would be at in real life).

I’m sorry, I’m messing this up like this! I could off course throw in the towel right away, but I don’t really want to have to do that, which is why I’m changing things up, to see if that makes it possible for me to complete this challenge.

I hope you all don’t mind to much!

And everyone else, how is that going?

– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, is on day 2 of her Paper Purgathon
– Viv, at GriefHappens, said she needed to be on this “like an over-sugared kid in a bouncy house”, and are joining with 30 minutes a day 🙂
– Jena, at All Round Better me, is easing into this.. slowly 😉
– Amy, at More time than money, joining with 60 minutes a week
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, joining too
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, has gone through some of her papers as well.. but is staying far away from the scanning part (and I don’t blame her..)
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, is working hard on the living room and front porch, and are filling bags of paper as she finds them, she might be with us now that Thanksgiving is over… sorting out some of the bags she has collected.

Still sitting on the fence
– Gilly, at Anything Except Housework is no longer on the fence. She had to withdraw from this challenge. She is now full time care giver for her dad, and mum, after an operation. We’re here for moral support, Gilly!

21:11- An update!

Here we are… oh gosh.. at day 11 of our 21 day challenge. I can’t believe it’s day eleven already.

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stand you guys up for such a long time. Seriously, standing anyone up for even a few minutes is pretty bad manners, and here I am, a week later, before you hear from me 😦

I know I have promised you an write up of the importance of shredding your papers. On the why’s, how’s and where’s. But I’m sorry to say, it will have to wait a few more days. You see, I’m monitoring my computer time. Any prolonged time hanging out in front of my PC is not helping my headache much, so for right now, I’m pacing myself.

I’m sure you guys can hold of the big shredding party a few more days.. right? 😉

So, since you aren’t giving us the know-how of shredding, you got any other updates for us?

Well, yes.. as a matter of fact I do 😉 A very, very small, update!

Since I’ve been out, there have been a few days, where I didn’t get much (nothing… actually) done. Even so, there is slow (excruciating slow mind you) progress.

I’ve done a little bit of sorting, a tiny bit of scanning and my pile has moved up from 6 inches to 7 (yeah.. I know.. I told you it was dismally slow going).

Now hopefully, since it seems like I’m perking up some, and I have already sorted some of my future scans, there might? be a tiny, tiny hope of me getting something done over the next few day.

All I can say is.. I have this huge pile of things to scan.. I’m only about 1 fourth there.. it will be done… just might not be in 21 days, as there is only 10 days left 😦 (I did tell you it’s excruciating slow.. right? )

And how are everyone else faring at this challenge?

– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, is starting up her Paper Purgathon oh yeah.. and it seems like I’m still a queen 🙂
– Viv, at GriefHappens, said she needed to be on this “like an over-sugared kid in a bouncy house”, and are joining with 30 minutes a day 🙂
– Jena, at All Round Better me, is easing into this.. slowly 😉
– Amy, at More time than money, joining with 60 minutes a week
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, joining too
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, has gone through some of her papers as well.. but is staying far away from the scanning part (and I don’t blame her..)
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, is working hard on the living room and front porch, and are filling bags of paper as she finds them, she might be with us now that Thanksgiving is over… sorting out some of the bags she has collected.

Still sitting on the fence
– Gilly, at Anything Except Housework is waiting to see if we survive it all 😉

21:03 – The trial and error of scanning!

Here we are at day three of our 21 day challenge, and I guess it’s time for a quick update on how this is going.

As I have sorted through my papers over and over again the last couple of years, I find that most everything I’ve collected is stuff I need and want to scan, which means there are a lot, a lot of scanning to do 😦

I bought a new printer earlier this year, mostly for the sake of having a proper scanning device. This particular printer will scan double sided documents as well as single sided ones, and as it has a automatic document feeder it will do bulk scanning.

So how is this printer/scanner working out?

After a bit of trial and error, I have found that I need to be a little careful about putting to many pages in the document feeder at a time. The automatic document feeder can hold 30 pages, but unless the the paper is completely prisine, I have found that everything runs just a little smoother if I don’t fill it to the top of it’s capasity.

I’ve also found that it sometimes, mind you not all the time, but sometimes, is a bit temperamental when it comes to paper quality. Curled corners, tear or two, or mixed sized paper, does not always seem to agree with the scanner. This has resultet in me having to do a few re-scans to get everything right.

I am finally starting to get the hang of it, and I now know a bit more about how to proceed, to get things running more smoothly. Hopefully this will speed up the process, because, until now, it’s been a bit slow going for my pacience

When I scan my documents, I mostly use the scan to PDF function on my printer. I alternate between duplex or single side scanning, all depending on what’s in the document. Now unfortunately I can’t mix the two in one session, so I have to decide up front what I want.

As I do not yet have any good software for editing my pdf files, I have to be a bit “crafty” when I scan my documents.

If there is only one or two double sided page(s), within a large document, I will copy the “second” page, add it to the pile and scan everything as single sided pages. If there are more double sided pages than single sided, I will scan everything as double sided, and just live with the blank pages in the file.

If you guys have any experience with a good, and cheap, PDF editing software. Please let me know, so I can check it out. And if I come accross one, that doen’t cost an arm and a leg, I will off course let you know.

Now that we have talked about the scanner, is there any progress on that pile?

Well as you can see from the picture below, my work-space is a mess (yes, that’s my dining room table 😉 ), the piles are still all over my livingroom floor, and my pile of done and scanned stuff, is only about 6 inches high.. even thought I am working on it, as we speak 😉

My next post

After a comment from tigerofmyheart, on her already having a bag ready to go, but no shredder in sight. I was thinking about doing a small piece on the importance of shredding your papers. On why, how and where you can have this done for you.

Stay tuned.. that’s what’s next on this page!

JOINING IN

There is a saying “The more the merrier”, and so far there are a few of us who will be attacking the paper piles. And I for one, can’t wait to see what stacks we all will shed!

– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, is joining with about 15 minutes a day
– Viv, at GriefHappens, said she needed to be on this “like an over-sugared kid in a bouncy house”, and are joining with 30 minutes a day 🙂
– Jena, at All Round Better me, is in for 60 minutes a week
– Amy, at More time than money, also joining with 60 minutes a week
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog, just told me she is joining, woohoo

Sitting on the fence
– Gilly, at Anything Except Housework is waiting to see if we survive it all 😉
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, is hard at work on her front porch, and haven’t quuuuite decided yet 😉

Anyone else want to jump in? Let me know, and I’ll ad you to the list 🙂

21:02 – Document KEEP overview!

It’s day two of our 21 day challenge.

Yesterday we talked a bit about what kind of documents we need to keep, should keep and want to keep. I promised I would make you a printable picture of the KEEP overview.

It’s not all fancy but it should work for your needs.

Click here to get a printable version

What have I been up!

Enough of this talking about what to keep… have you gotten any decluttering done? Is there any progress on your pile?

Well, yes 🙂 There are some progress, but that will have to wait for tomorrow. I can’t let you inn on everything right away you know 😉 Right now I’d rather tell you about, who all is joining in on this endeavor.

JOINING IN

There is a saying “The more the merrier”, and so far there are a few of us who will be attacking the paper piles. And I for one, can’t wait to see what stacks we all will shed!

I hope I didn’t miss anyone.. if I did, or if you just decided you want to join. Let me know, and I’ll add you in on the list.

Guess that’s it for today,

see you all around. tomorrow

21:01 – Sorting time!

It’s day one of our 21 day challenge, and the first thing we have to do is gather every scrap of paper that is using real estate in the house. I hunted high and low, and my pile can be found in yesterdays post.

You’re not ready with your pile yet? Right! Everyone, you’ve got 15 minutes to gather it all into a huge pile.

Now! Run…

Ready? No.. not yet? You need a little more time? No problem…. (minutes are passing)

OK guys. Everyone have their piles? Yep? Great.

Seems like we are all ready to get down to business 🙂

It’s time to start SORTING the stack!

One, two, three.. ready… NO,no… hang on a minute! I just thought about something. There is something we need to talk about first!

You might be really tempted to chuck it all right smack in the middle of sorting through your papers (I know I would love that), but you should not do this.

You see! There are some personal files we need to keep, and some we should keep, in addition to the ones you want to keep.

Let’s talk about the these real quick.
My lists below are a compilation of what I have found on the web. Not everything will be applicable for everyone, I might also have missed some documents. Anyways, the lists should work as a general guideline for what we need and should keep. Now, you might not want to hang on to all, I’ll leave that up to your discretion 😉

Disclaimer! If you own a business, there are specific rules for what you need to keep. My lists are for personal documents only.

NEED TO KEEP (physical copies and data files if possible)

Will, Power of attorney and living will
Birth and death certificates
Marriage license, prenups and divorce papers
Social security information (US) or other equivalent type of documents (rest of the world)
Proof of citizenship
Adoption papers
Alimony arrangements
Child custody agreements
Military records
IRA information/contributions
Retirement/Pension plan documents
ID cards and passports
Insurance policies (might be OK to have as physical paper in addition to any digital copy’s)
Vehicle titles and loan documents
House deeds and mortgage documents
Any other loan/mortgage documents, this also includes personal loans
Business license

In short, you’ll want to keep physical copies of things related to state/federal matters, including certifications, licenses, or deeds. Why?
1. You, might want to have easy access to these, just in case you need them.
2. If you need a physical copy and don’t have one, it’s a pain to have them replaced, since you have to make a direct request to a government agency, and we all know how “fast” they work 😉

SHOULD KEEP (data files and/or as physical copies)

These are documents you should hold on too, for a while. You don’t need to keep them as physical documents, unless you really want to. Scanned files are fine.

Tax records and receipts, including the yearly statements you need for the tax return (Norway – IRS can go back 10 years = keep 10 years, US = 7 years – check out Forbes info on this, UK – 22 months )
Pay stubs (keep for a year, until you can check it against your yearly statement)
Bank statements
Social security statements
Annual insurance policy statements
Retirement plan statements (401(k), 529, IRA, etc)
Home purchase, sale, or improvement documents (keep as long as you own the house + at least six/seven years after you sell (for tax purposes))
Medical records (should keep as long as they are relevant for your situation)
Medical bills (keep at least a year after payment in case of disputes)
Warranty documents and receipts (keep as long as you own them)
Pictures of expensive items you own, in case you need them for an insurance claim

There are also some documents you probably should keep the most recent version of, for your own piece of mind:

Canceled checks and bank deposit slips (until you receive your monthly bank statement)
Bills (until you have proof that the payment was received)

I’m sure there are more I have missed, but in general A GOOD RULE OF THUMB can be to think (when deciding what to keep)

“How hard is this document to replace? Will I need to hang around a government office, hospital, bank or on a phone for hours to get hold of a copy?” Is the answer a resounding YES, then it’s probably best to hold onto it 🙂 Anything else, can probably be scanned or found as online documents.

WANT TO KEEP

Then we get to the documents/scraps of paper we want to keep. maybe they are ideas, a great article, drawing or sentimental items like old letters. You are the only one who can decide on these items. But to keep that particular pile under control, make sure the paper/document is important to you, inspires you or gives you tremendous joy (like drawing from a kid, letter from a dear one and so on).

NOTE!

As I mentioned before, I shred all documents before they leave the house. You should too! If not, you might risk people rummaging through your trash finding personal information about you, that they can use to empty your bank accounts, buy things on credit cards or even completely steal your identity. If you don’t own a shredder, make sure you at least tear the important stuff.

OTHER

This turned out to be a long list of things to keep in mind when sorting through your papers.

To make it easier for you, I will add a printable picture/file on this tomorrow, in case you would like the overview on hand as you sort through your papers – I know I could need this 😉 Why not add it right away.. well, I haven’t made it yet.. and as it’s 11PM here, I can’t get to bed soon enough 😉

Until tomorrow everyone, until tomorrow 🙂

Nighty nite…

21 Day Paper Challenge!

I mentioned a couple of days ago that it is time for a new 21 day challenge. A paper challenge this time.

I figured that since it’s a challenge, I will need a few rules/goals. How else would you guys know if I’m keeping up my end of this 😉

Rules/goals:

I will dedicate at least 60 minutes a day (yes, every day) to sorting out my paper monster.
I will update you all on a regular basis, on what I’m up to, and on how much has gone “out-the-door” (read: trash pile) 😉
Out-the-door – I’m hoping that about 90% of all my papers will be shredded at the end of it all. Why not a hundred? Since there are some papers that we need to keep physical versions of, I guess I’ll be keeping those. Since I don’t know how many there are of these, I’m going with the “hopefully 90% out-the-door” 😉 As you can see from the piles below.. it’s not easy to say exactly how much will be going out-the-door!

When do we start?

Tomorrow is a god a day as any to start, so I’ll see you then?

Melinda, you ready?

Paper and paper clutter!

Now that the great cooktop debacle is over, I want to talk to you about paper.

I’m not talking about things like wrapping paper or nice little pristine notebooks waiting to be filled.

No, I’m talking about all the paper we tend to hold on to. The paper “clutter” that seems to be everywhere.

Stuff like old tax returns, pay slips, bills, manuals, scraps of paper with notes on, receiptsm magazine and newspaper tear outs, insurance papers, financial statements, health info and notebooks filled with random notes.

Off course, some paper we need to keep, but those tend to easily get lost in the pile of paper we really don’t need to hold on to.

Just about everyone I know, have way to much paper floating around. And I for one, want that to be over, once and for all.

It’s time to tackle the paper monster, hanging around in the house.

You might remember I tried this back in May. My intention was to scan all the important ones, and then get rid of it all.

Now as you probably gathered from lack of posts about that particular task, I never succeeded.

I sorted some, and even scanned some, and then I had to tuck it all away because of visitors. And you know how that goes. Out of sight out of mind! Yeah, that particular project never made it out of the cabinets again… until now!

I really do want this stuff gone! So I’m giving it another try, but this time I’m doing it in a way that might help me actually get there.

You might remember my 21 day declutter challenge in September! Which turned out to be a pretty successful project, mostly because of you guys.

I’m thinking maybe a new challenge is the way to go, to get my pile under control, a 21 day paper challenge.

I might try to tackle the project by topic, but topic or not. There are a few steps that will be the same, regardless of what pile I’m attacking.

SORT
I will sort papers into what I need to keep, should keep, and want to keep. The rest? Goes into the toss pile.

SCAN
All papers in the keep pile will be scanned.
When a piece of paper has been scanned, and checked that it looks OK, a new evaluation is needed.
Do I need to keep this as a physical copy or can it be tossed now that it’s scanned?

FILE
As I scan along, I will end up with a few documents I will need to keep physical copies off, like for example birth-certificates, ID cards, passports, vehicle title, active mortgage documents and so on. There are more, of course, but we will get to that.

The physical keepers, I will categorize and file into binders.

SHRED
As I sort, scan and file my paper, I will end up with quite a lot of paper in the toss pile. All this will be shredded, then tossed.

I’m super careful with anything that might have my name, bank details, credit card details, health information or anything else on, that might say things about me. I do not want to set myself up for identity theft, therefore I shred all personal papers leaving the house.

21 DAYS
21 day, sound like a long time.. will it take you that long?

I have no idea. My experience from earlier tells me that the scanning part will be what takes the longest. And from a health point of view, I want to spend as little time in front of the computer as I can.

Right now, there are piles and piles of paper to go through. Sadly as most of it has been sorted several times before, and I believe most of the papers I have.. are the scan-able ones… ouch 😦

Will I get it done, in 21 days?

I’m certain I will get it done (cocky I know).. but if I don’t… at least I’m going to be a heck of a lot closer, than I am today 😉

Do you have a pile pile from hell, that needs some work? Why not join me and we can tackle the paper monster together.

Not everyone will be scanning, I’m sure, but there might still be work to be done, with sorting, filing and shredding.

I would love the company 🙂

My paper pile from hell!

I told you yesterday I was going to find ALL the paper in my house and pull it together in a pile or two!

Well I did… and here it is! My paper pile from hell!

Yeah, I should probably have heaped it all into a big hazardous pile. I’m sure that would have looked way more impressive 🙂 But, I’m just to organized, what can I say?

It might not look to bad, but I’m telling you.. there are still about 54 inches of paper… 😦

You wouldn’t by any chance be struggle with papers, just like me, now would you? Why not join me in culling it all down!

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)

Like it? You are welcome to share it :)