Death by Hanging (Files)

70 days till closing.

Currently, we have 2400 sq ft and 13 years accumulation of stuff to sort through and pack. That would be the belongings of 9 people ranging in age from 1 to 40. That's 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 6 closets, 2 dens, 1 kitchen, 1 dining room, 2 attic spaces, and a garage full of things.

To date, the only things I've managed to pack are the items in 1 bookcase, the DVD collection, and the cookbooks, because those tasks are virtual no-brainers. There are very few sentimental conflicts when it comes to media.

The next task I've chosen to tackle is the filing cabinet. Death by hanging files (pun. and a poor one at that.). The only reason I'm choosing that next is because it's the next most easily accessible project. It doesn't require me to scale stairs or haul heavy items out of the way. Paper is easy. Theoretically.

Hell no, it's not. We have tax papers dating from 2007 (even though the digital forms are just a few clicks away), instruction manuals and warranty documents for items we don't even own anymore, floppy discs (!), software CD-ROMs for operating systems that have been obsolete for a good decade, tourism brochures, old homeschooling files that have no transmittable value whatsoever, outdated shot records, documents for accounts cancelled years ago....

Why have we kept them for so long? The short answer is, I've never -- in all the years I've said I would -- purged and organized those files. But now that we're moving, I'm forced to it by the repulsion I feel when I think of allowing so much junk like that through the hallowed doors of our new, unsullied home.

The file cabinet has four drawers. If I can complete one drawer a day over the next four days, I believe I'll make it out the other side with all my hair still rooted in my head.