Purged, Merged and Shred

1/22/2017

Sounds a bit like a rock group doesn't it?  But in fact, it all relates to paperwork, and lots of paperwork!

Forty-two years ago, by today's standards, everything was smaller, from our paychecks to our bills.  Our house payment initially as only $200 and compared to our house payment today, seems less like a house payment and more like petty cash.

In 1974, identity theft hadn't yet become a "thing".  We randomly tossed out mail, which had our name/address on them.  Why not?  It's not like somebody was going to dig through the trash and find a catalog or some junk mail with our name on it, would they?

Of course, 1974 was a pre-computer and pre-internet time.  People couldn't Google you and find out some bits and pieces of your life.  Everything you wrote, be it on Facebook, on a blog or email could be, and often was, subject to scrutiny by some unsavory character.  Said character(s) missions in life are to: (a) put a virus (which used to mean you needed antibiotics) on your computer; and (b) pick up random but useful information about you.  Information they can and do use to their advantage, sometimes really messing with your life.

When I get an email from a person or company that I don't know, I never open them.  I forward them to Jeff who is much more computer savvy than me (ya think?) and he takes care of the email.  Nine times out of ten, those emails aren't harmful, but then there's that old 10% that could be and often does spell trouble.

Yesterday, it was rainy and cold outside.  It was a perfect day for me to: purge, merge and shred paper. By now identity theft has become a real problem and we shred any junk mail that shows our name and address. Credit card applications are a definite shred item.  It would be much too easy for the "bad guys" to garner the necessary information to fill out the application, using our name and information, but using their address.

There was a time, when we kept everything.  Paid bills, expired insurance policies, folders on cars we haven't owned in a very long time.  Well, you get the idea.  While Jeff was doing accounting work, I gathered up paperwork by the handfuls, and started sorting them into piles.  There was paperwork that needed to be purged and/or merged into pre-existing folders.  The biggest pile, of course, was the shred pile.  I started going through said folders, and pulling out paid bills from oh I don't know, several years ago!  I don't recall when we started saving out utility bills, for example.  Pretty sure that we were never going to have to go back a year to prove we'd paid a bill!  But still we (I) dutifully saved and filed them.  And, then yesterday, I opened up some of those folders, and began to toss papers into the shred trashcan, and yes we have one, doesn't everybody?  I was relentless.  I was brazen enough to toss out even the paid 2015 bills.  Horrors.  Of course, by the end of my paper shuffling, the shred trashcan is full, and my next tax is shredding. 

I am sentimental, so I keep anything and everything that is a good memory.  I keep all of my memories in my hope chest, which by now is getting rather full!  I have no immediate plans, or for that matter, any long term plans, to clean out the hope chest.  My memories are in one place and not in the way.  When I can't stuff another thing into the chest, then I can either (a) buy a second hope chest; and/or (b) start to pull out my memories and I guess throw them away.  I can tell you that option (a) is preferred.  I like knowing where my wedding dress is, where Benjamin's coming home from the hospital outfit is as well as his first pair of crocks, that are so tiny.

I don't see myself as a horder, but more of a keeper. When everything else in your life is turned upside down, you still have your memories.  I have very little recall of 2013, and that's a good thing.  But, not being able to remember nine months of your life, can be very disturbing.  I know the actions that I took, but I can't remember much after that.  I can tell you what my prom dress looked like in 1967, but what I ate for lunch a week ago, or even a few days ago, is next impossible for me to recall.

Since it's so nasty outside, it's likely that Jeff and I will end up in his office, each of us doing our own thing, such as closing out the books on 2016.  And since we have two companies, once the books are done, get that information to the accountant.  Meanwhile, I'll content myself with processing and/or tossing paperwork.

I hope your Sunday involves something more fun than paperwork and shredding!  By the way, our office doesn't look "exactly" like this, but you get the idea!

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