Contain Yourself!

Spending time today thinking about the great ads The Container Store used to run, back in their heyday. I remember when they were THE cool place for organizational supplies. They resisted buyout efforts that would have let them expand nationwide, so today they have hundreds of imitators (Stacks and Stacks, Target, Storage Decor, etc.) but only 34 stores nationwide.

All this corporate coulda-woulda-shoulda is a direct result of an unplanned, massive Memorial Weekend Project -- organizing a home filing system. I'm absolutely horrible in this respect. I have bills tucked in every drawer and on every shelf, birth certificates in my car truck (really) and in the bottom of my makeup caddy. I'm a mess.

Thank gods for automated online bill pay and direct deposit. It's the only thing that keeps me from overdue fees and other unpleasant surprises.

Anyway, I bought some hanging file folders, some file folders, and some tape for my label maker, and I'm slowly canvassing my house room by room, looking for stacks of paper that need attention. I'm rounding up all my employment contracts, everything related to my mortgage, and even a check for $149.00 that I received in March but haven't deposited yet.

I have two filing cabinets at Mom's that I still need to move, too. I'm not sure how long to keep some of this stuff. Like my car loan paperwork. I paid the car off last month, so do I need to keep all the paperwork still? And I paid off my laptop months ago, too. How long should I keep all that stuff? Do I need the car insurance stuff for the current year, or for all the years I've been dealing with this company?

All this paper-tiger work has generated Yet Another List, a list of unpleasant things I really need to take care of. For instance, I don't have a safe deposit box, or a will, or an IRA. Of course some of this will have to wait until Fall as I'm on (less than) half-pay in the summer. At least I'm taking steps in the right direction.

Who knows, maybe one day soon I'll even renew my car registration, which expired in December last year. Yeah, I'm dreaming BIG.