Miles of Piles

In an effort to "organize/purge (live with less, be realistic)," Andy and I started going through our files. These piles represent the file drawer of the desk plus the four drawer filing cabinet in the basement. It was about time we went through to purge and reorganize. Between the two different filing systems, we had duplicate file folders (financial, medical, manuals, etc.) representing our whole married lives basically (six and a half years worth) that desperately needed to be combined and reorganized.

But although we had accumulated quite the mass, we can't take credit for every scrap saved. Two of the filing cabinet drawers were full of Andy's Mom Judy's belongings just waiting to be sorted through. I'd say about half of it was various clip art that I will keep to use for kid projects, and most of the other half was reference material (mostly religious) sorted by topic. Of course we were able to save a generous file of Judy's handwritten talks, notes, and thoughts, which was the reason for saving the stash in the first place. It will help us (and our children) understand and remember her better since she is gone.

The three nearest piles on the edge are either for recycling or shred. One box simply holds empty folders, dividers, page protectors, etc. Another box is organized clip art and activity ideas from Judy. There is one box of files still to be better organized, but it is now all together. So there is still work to be done, but the purge pile has kept me motivated during the process.

One more check for goal #2.