Paper Organization

This morning I continued with my discipline of playing vinyl records. They give me about twenty minutes to a side and are an enjoyable timer. Friday is the morning that I tell my self I can sleep in until the garbage guys come and take all the trash from the front of my house, just under my bedroom window.

Trouble is that right after I started doing this, the trash guys put our street first on their list, so often they wake me up before I normally would wake up. Today I made a lot of trash out of old financial papers. I was able to separate the important ones so folk going through my stuff when I am gone will be able to know where to get money to settle my affairs.

The letter below is from Flylady www.flylady.com and tells the benefit of doing this for posterity. I went through four vinyl record albums doing this, and it looks like I have a couple of more days like this before all is in order, but it is a good feeling. Music from the vinyls included: The New Folk Singers from Campus Crusade in the sixties (I saw them in person at CMU), Simon and Garfunkel, Dionne Warwick a two record set with only eight songs on each record... Now HOW was THAT a bargain?

Dear FlyLady,

For those of us who are a "certain age" - a good point about paper clutter is that it is really a mess to leave for your children to wade thru should anything happen to you. My father was in good health, but died after being accidentally hit by a car while clearing the snow from his driveway.

He did have a large well organized filing cabinet. But there were boxes and boxes of paper he was was going to attend to someday. There was no rhyme or reason for the papers in the boxes - it might be clippings from newspapers, notes to himself, letters received, copies of letters send, receipts, and tucked here and there important documents, like the deed to the house, bank loans, etc. None of my siblings lived close by, (I live over a thousand miles away), and all of us had to return to work within a short time.

Needless to say it was difficult trying to sift thru all that stuff. and heartbreaking because of the possibility to discarding something not only of monetary value, but of sentimental value. I found a diary he had started the night I was born... I'm the eldest in my family and the eldest grand-child on my mother's side.

I've inherited piles of photos. I know who most of these people are, but my children and dear grandson certainly don't. So my project this winter is to organize and label these photos. Some are of historical value and after scanning, I will donate them to the archives back home.

Thank you for all that you do.
Lilianne Fluttering in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Kelly here: Our deepest sympathies go to Lilianne. We thank her for sharing her story. Our habit for October is dealing with paper clutter. Let this be the month you set your timer for 15 minutes and start tackling the paper that is tucked away all over your home. Don't leave a legacy of clutter for your children to have to sort through when you are gone.