Decluttering A Ridiculous Amount of Papers

I don’t feel so lonely NOW that I know someone else has 25 years of paper clutter. I think about it ALL the time. So ALL the time that I stop enjoying myself.

The idea of going through the papers annually. This is a revelation to me too. It doesn’t really matter which month of the year. Great video.

I just threw papers away from 17 years ago 😵‍💫🥴 My decluttering was inspired by The Minimal Mom. Now your video was recommended to me

“Don’t judge me, Janet.” needs to be on a t-shirt.

I am currently FINALLY going through papers I have stored for YEARS in rented storage, moved several states south, taken from East Coast to West Coast then back again then back again AGAIN, then through 3 more residences before sitting untouched while self-isolating through 2+ years of pandemic IN THE SAME ROOM. Yes; this has been growing and been added to since the last century. So am I using the Marie Kondo method? NO. Before Marie Kondo was even an adult, I had planned to pull it all out and sort through it in one go...but never did. Over the years I could never get myself to start. The closest I came to starting was buying 3 large bins to sort into. The plan was to sort into 3 categories: -Essential Originals: Certified & official documents, like birth certificates, marriage licenses, car titles, education/training certifications, etc; also anything that should go into a Memory Box, like children's drawings, awards, etc. Those would be filed. -Necessary Data: Documents containing data I may need to retrieve at a later point. Those would be scanned and saved on an exterior hard drive and replicated on a backup hard drive (I lost data on an exterior hard drive that failed and was professionally unrecoverable). If the data can be obtained digitally, then scanning won't be required, just downloading. After scanning/downloading, the sensitive data would be destroyed through shredding and recycling. -Sensitive Useless: Unnecessary documents containing sensitive info. Basically, anything with identifying info on it or financial info, etc. Those would be shredded and recycled. -Straight trash would go directly to recycling. Very ambitious. TOO ambitious. The pile was too high, the work daunting, and I could never gird my loins well enough to dig into it. I currently live in a studio apartment which is bisected by what I call my "Box Canyon"; you have to pass through a 6ft high stack of bins & boxes on the right and a 4ft stack on the left to pass from the apartment entrance & kitchen into the combination living room & bedroom. I spent all pandemic staring at this monster as it mocked me and sapped my will to wrestle it down. So? Well, Marie Kondo (and me, too) were wrong about how to kill a monster pile this big. I am finding it works better to take it in bites. They say the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time; it's the relentlessness that takes it down and eliminates it. Well, I am finding progress pulling out a box or a bag or a portion of a bin at a time and going through it. I'm seeing floor. I'm seeing heights shorten. I'm making my way through. So, is Marie Kondo wrong about pulling the entire problem out all at once to confront and resolve it in one go? Yeah. At least as far as paperwork goes. The One-Bite-At-A-Time method is working for me. I may not do it every day, but as long as I do it at least once a week, the piles will disappear.

Now THIS is a REAL paper decluttering video!!!!!

I was under the impression the tax rule was ten- phew! I looked it up after the video to confirm. I am so glad you relayed this info! Less for me to sort and maintain!

Just found you channel! Yay! I've a long history of paper clutter anxiety. My late husband, known for hoarding would not let me throw anything away. After he passed away I went threw boxes and boxes of paper. Some from the 1970's!! Yes we were married 50 years. Now I am 95% organized. I can live with it. I feel liked I betrayed him sometimes, but I just could not live like that anymore.

I just found you and I love it! I’m doing all the same purging and you are local to me! Keep posting because it’s very motivating to turn on while I’m going through my stuff. 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

I'm so glad to hear that there is someone else who doesn't agree with the Marie Kondo method. If I pull everything out, I will get overwhelmed (and bored) and it will take forever to get back to it. Case in point: we had the whole interior of our house painted in August. I am still putting away things that were thrown in closets that weren't going to be painted. So many closets that were decently organized are now overwhelmed with clutter that I just didn't know what to do with and had to shove at the last minute. I work part-time so I have plenty of time to go through it but it is so overwhelming and it is not getting done in any great hurry.

Excellent content and hilarious delivery! New subscriber. ❤️ 🥰🤗

This is great for body doubling. I dread going through papers.

I have found that if I keep it out of sight, I worked on it less. When it was in my face, I worked harder

Have Trump come in and pack your paperwork up for you. Problem solved! 😉

I just found your channel and just subscribed..Im an office supply nerd, and have a HARD time getting rid of papers. I just found lots of old stuff that is already in the trash can outside 🙌 I was wondering how to stay on top of all this, and your suggestion for annual maintenance is pure gold, thank you! 😀 👍

That table is what im left with after 3 years of decluttering. 😢 I used to keep my high school things, my late mom's things. My siblings things,my 3 kids things, my old jobs things nd my past businesses things. Hhhmmmm, is this what healing feels like?❤

Me watching your video. That I already watched & liked a year ago, while surrounded by papers that I am part-way through decluttering. Don’t judge me either 😂

Thank you for this video! It really inspired me to continue to tackle the paper clutter in my home!

In 2018, after my husband's passing, my daughter was using his computer and said, "I can't close the filing cabinet." My files were also stuffed. Enter Freedom Filer. Setting up the system took time and paying for the labels took money, but this was an excellent investment. I took 12 bags of shredded material out of the cabinets such as info on cars we no longer owned and tax returns from 25 years ago. Ten years is my limit. If it's older than that and it's not sentimental, out it goes.

You should make sure that Social security has recorded the right numbers for earnings before you discard old taxes.