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Post by nekomom on Jan 12, 2013 16:31:27 GMT -5
I have a huge amount of papers. I want to see a drastic reduction in quantity of papers. This thread will be to keep track of my progress. My new goal is to purge a minimum of 15 minutes each day for the remainder of January 2014:  Thursday, Jan 23: 30 minutes purging paper  Friday, Jan 24: Saturday, Jan 25: Sunday, Jan 26: Monday, Jan 27: Tuesday, Jan 28: Wednesday, Jan 29: Thursday, Jan 30: Friday, Jan 31: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First, I want to gather up the papers that have migrated into the kitchen. I am going to gather up a few containers to sort into. The ones I will keep will go into the room with my other papers. Next, I want to containerize the stacks of papers that are visible in the 'room of papers'.  Then, I should have plenty of boxes of papers along a wall. I will be able to see how many boxes I have to deal with. I will handle the boxes one at a time, hoping to get rid of as much paper as possible. This step may take a while. My goal is to be able to make better use of the space that the paper mountain range is occupying. I have such lovely ideas on how to use the space, but nothing can be done while I have a 'room of papers'. The papers need to be drastically reduced. If any of you have an overabundance of papers that you would like to see diminished feel free to join me.<input id="mac_address" value="" type="hidden"> |
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Post by nekomom on Jan 12, 2013 16:34:49 GMT -5
I'm about to start with the first step - getting all the papers out of the kitchen. I will quickly sort out the junk papers and containerize the rest. I probably have some empty bankers boxes to put the paper in. I will label these boxes with today's date and the location where the papers were such as 'kitchen island'.
My husband should be home in a few hours. I hope to be finished removing all the papers from the kitchen by then.
update: I found my kitchen island. It was hiding under all the papers.
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Post by dtesposito on Jan 12, 2013 23:49:45 GMT -5
Hi Nekomom, getting all the paper corralled will help, it will look a lot neater and you can think of it in finite chunks, not just a huge sea of paper that is too daunting to start. Are you going to try to shred a lot of it or is most of it stuff that can just be thrown into the garbage? When I helped my sister do a big paper purge we burned out her shredder.  I guess it wasn't meant to do so much in such a short period of time. Good luck with your project, I'll be watching your progress! Diane |
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Post by cando on Jan 13, 2013 4:17:09 GMT -5
Hi. Wishing you lots of luck in paper reduction! I am past the gathering point and have lots of bags, boxes & containers of papers. CD  |
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Post by nekomom on May 3, 2013 1:54:22 GMT -5
It's about time that I get back to this project now that I am feeling a bit better. I was just getting started on this right before my absence from this forum. It is now all mostly gathered in one room. I do have some bins out in the garage, but right now it will not all fit into the room unless I stack the bins higher and I can not lift the bins that high. They are only stacked three bins tall for the medium - large size bins. The smaller bins are stacked four bins tall. I may have some cardboard banker boxes that 'might' be stacked five high along the wall. I have lots of boxes and bins to go through.
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Post by nekomom on May 3, 2013 2:02:40 GMT -5
Are you going to try to shred a lot of it or is most of it stuff that can just be thrown into the garbage? Hello, Diane. First I apologize for my disappearance and abandoning my project nearly as soon as I got started. I am now feeling better and am able to get started on this again. I'm thinking half of it will be able to just be thrown out. The other half I may shred, feed to the worm bin, or burn in the chimenea that is on the back patio (free-standing front-loading little fireplace). Thank you for your support. |
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Post by nekomom on May 3, 2013 2:06:23 GMT -5
Hi. Wishing you lots of luck in paper reduction! I am past the gathering point and have lots of bags, boxes & containers of papers. CD Hello, Cando.  I now have the gathering step accomplished. Now I have a mountain range of plastic bins, rubbermaid totes, cardboard bankers boxes and all sorts of other containers and bags of papers and miscellaneous stuff (but mostly papers). Thank you for your support. |
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Post by nekomom on May 3, 2013 2:13:18 GMT -5
As soon as I get some of this reduced down I will bring in the containers of papers from the garage into the room to have all the papers all together in one location. Right now about 90% of it is in this one room. Only 10% of it is in the garage. We would all be delighted to get it all out of the garage. First I need to make room so onto the next step:
- containerize all visible papers and try to clear some floorspace in the process. I feel like I can not work when I see all the visible chaos. That is hard to understand since it is my mess and my room.
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Post by dtesposito on May 3, 2013 10:11:38 GMT -5
Hi nekomom, glad you're back to your project, I certainly know what it's like to be sidetracked!
If you haven't done this already, you might want to designate one box or basket to be your URGENT pile, in case you find anything really important and time-sensitive while sorting. Especially since you're going to be consolidating/moving things around, you might know where things are now but after you move them, you might misplace a current bill or credit card or something if you don't separate it out where you'll be able to find it.
Good luck sorting!
Diane
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Post by nekomom on May 3, 2013 11:07:33 GMT -5
If you haven't done this already, you might want to designate one box or basket to be your URGENT pile, in case you find anything really important and time-sensitive while sorting. Hello, Diane. Thank you so much for mentioning that!  I used to have a container for urgent papers, but I have recently began using that container for something else since it was the perfect size. I am all caught up on bills at the moment so I had forgotten that I created another use for that 'urgent' container. I will see about replacing it as soon as possible. For now I will put something else in it's place on the shelf above my computer to collect anything important as I sort through/shuffle/reduce my papers. Normally I always find something important once I start going through the piles. My 'urgent' container was a 14"x11"x3.25" Sterilite brand clear plastic container with clear lid found at a dollar store. I find that size to be excellent for most my needs. It is wonderful to store 8.5"x11" paper, which is average size of most of the paper that I handle frequently. The containers stack nicely. I started using the container for my current menu plans and favorite recipes. I have another larger container holding my larger collection of recipes, but that container is lost somewhere in all this clutter. I don't like looking through all those recipes very often as it is time consuming so I wanted a smaller container that held only a limited amount of paper for the recipes and menu plans that I am using more frequently at this point in my life. Now I need to purchase another, or a few more, of that same size container. Thanks again, Diane, for your support. |
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Post by nekomom on May 7, 2013 17:43:29 GMT -5
It seems like I am avoiding the floors and piles of paper by purging the bookshelves and shelves above my desk. Nice that I am working on something, but the floor is a higher priority.
I am procrastinating.
I am avoiding the anxiety of boxing up/sorting/purging the piles of papers that is taking up valuable floor space.
Dealing with the papers is what causes the most stress for me, but I have to face the fear and work through the anxiety. I hope to be able to report some progress soon.
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Post by dtesposito on May 7, 2013 17:59:29 GMT -5
Hi nekomom, sounds like you're looking at the whole project at once--can you break it down? Like, today, clear the paper from 1 square foot of floor? Or, fill one box with paper? Or set a timer and ONLY work for 8 minutes? If you can do that every day then you'll make slow but steady progress!
Diane
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Post by bobolink on May 7, 2013 18:20:02 GMT -5
Another idea - how about taking one box at a time into another room and work on it there? I would feel overwhelmed too if I was trying to work right next to the great pile o' boxes.
I also suggest a simplified sorting system - just have piles/trays/whatever for KEEP, TOSS, SHRED, and URGENT. I have trouble classifying at the same time as making decisions about what to toss. It means going through the KEEP pile a second time, but I find that easier than trying to do it all at once.
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Post by nekomom on May 13, 2013 22:23:08 GMT -5
Diane and bobolink - Thank you very much for your help. I will combine the advice received from both of you.
I arrived home from being away helping my grandmother and discovered that our little dog, an older Maltese, has started to use the bathroom on the floor of the room with the papers even though my husband was home to let her out. ugh, perhaps she doesn't like that I started to go away on overnight trips or that she needs to be let out more often now that she is up in age??? Anyways, that is where I will start first. It's awful seeing papers ruined like that. I dislike the smell of dog pee. It was frustrating to realize that it's my fault that papers got ruined by my leaving them on the floor in the first place.
Once that mess is dealt with I will clear the paper from 1 small area of the floor at a time. I will start at the entry way of the room. It is difficult to even get into the room. I am stepping on papers as soon as I step into the room. I will set a timer for just a few minutes and will fill one small box with paper and then bring it to the kitchen to work on it there. I will sort into keep, toss, shred, and urgent at least to begin with.
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Post by dtesposito on May 14, 2013 20:59:59 GMT -5
Oh, your poor dog--maybe she was anxious or sad that you were gone. Or maybe it's her way of helping you to get started on your project!   Diane |
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