Emptying the nest

A twisted tale of MIA cardboard boxes

Shelley

We all do it.

What?

We store papers and sh*t in cardboard boxes.  Yes.we.do.

Wanna know how I know it is so?

Sure…

Cuz’ I’m a reformed cardboardlovinboxaholic (yes, that’s a word, and I have proof that I was one at least in this one spot, right here…)

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Really?

Yep.  For 2.5 years, I stored the papers from previous years, 4 previous years to be exact.  Neatly in these boxes, and they became a staple in my office.

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A lovely decoration that I walked around, and stopped noticing.

Why didn’t you just toss them?

I stored them here because I didn’t want them anymore, but before a proper burial or disposal, I also wanted to review each piece of paper and shred it after making a scan of it.

Wait…so you didn’t really want the stuff?  And you really didn’t need the stuff?  But you wanted to go through it to find stuff that you might want, so you could scan it and replaced the physical papers you didn’t really want with a bit of stored data on your hard drive?

Yep…doesn’t everyone do that?

Um…no…not everyone does that?

Okay, well, I did and the thought of doing so gave me the freedom to let go of the physical papers.

And then our banking institution sent us a card in the mail notifying us of the upcoming free shred away day.  Each bank account owner could shred 2 whole cardboard boxes full of papers.  No questions asked.  FOR FREE!  Yay me!

That deadline gave me the power to splurge on the big purge.  I listened to the audible version of FINISH by Jon Acuff, narrated by the author himself.

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It was the perfect book to listen to, there was no way I could not finish the task at hand.  (I loved listening to it so much, I bought the paperback version…you know for the next round of me getting something finished that has stalled).

I had a deadline to meet and a pile to defeat.  I was determined (finally…!).

4 days later the shred away day came, and Mr. helped me load the cardboard boxes into the car.  I begged him to join me for moral support.  A congratulatory hug wasn’t enough I said.

Look, honey – this.is.a.big.deal…look at the space now, isn’t it amazing?  I need you to ride along.

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We drove to the bank, stayed in the car the whole way through the waiting line, the staff unloaded and dumped the boxes into the huge shred bins, put the boxes back in our car, shut the door and waved us goodbye.  6 years of storage gone in a total of 30 minutes including drive time from home to the bank and back home.

Huh…I didn’t expect to bring the boxes back, but whatever…guess I can use them to store something else, right?  A cardboardlovinboxaholic doesn’t reform in one day, don’t ya know?

And you know what, I haven’t missed the damn boxes or the contents at all!

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And with this glorious spot for yoga stretches and Copper having multiple obstacle free spots to lay on, I’m pretty damn jovial about the whole getting rid of papers deal!

Twister anyone?

Post Inspiration – Linda Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Card and Word of the Day – Jovial.

PS – Have you read or listened to Finish?  What’s the project that you’ve had sitting around for years that you’ve finally completed?  Did you feel relief, sadness, hope, or freedom, or…?  Do you remember the game, when was the last time you played Twister?  

 

Published by Shelley

Letting my quirk out one post at a time.

29 thoughts on “A twisted tale of MIA cardboard boxes”

  1. 1. Take a trip to Toronto as soon as possible
    2. Teach my partner how to do this
    Thanks. 🙃💟😜

    I had an actual, physical mental breakdown because of his boxes a few years ago. Now I don’t ask anymore, I just chuck and shred. Sometimes, I may keep a box for the guinea pigs but at least then they serve a purpose, right?😉

    1. LOL – I’ve been looking for a travel spot! Way to take charge of the debris us paperclutterholics leave behind. I seriously don’t miss the contents, I don’t know why it took so long to get rid of them. The guinea pig boxes are adorable – way to repurpose and make a living creature happy in the process!

    1. Yeah, it took me a LONG time, but I did it! Freedom from the past was the strength I needed. 🙂 Thank you for stopping by to share your thoughts!

    1. Thank you for sharing your inspiration, John! Plus getting rid of clutter leaves time for one to venture out and find great photo ops!

  4. I have a lot of stuff in boxes in my offices and plenty more “banker’s boxes” waiting to be folded up so I can pack away more crap.

    How is Audible, by the way? How many audiobooks do you get every month? Just curious.

    1. LOL – you sound well prepared, John! Audible works well, I’ve only done the one book so far – I’m still a sucker for holding an actual book. I have a Kindle that has stretched my comfort zone some. But my daughter loves Audible, she’s always listening to books and she loves her account with them. You might like it since you love to listen to music.

  7. Awesome. Guess what I have in my garage??? Yep boxes of documents, taped shut from the move from Alabama to the mid-west…6 years ago, and they were probably 6 yrs old when I packed them. LOL See you are not the only one.

    1. LOL – thank goodness, I’m not alone!! Let me know when you write about your parting of the ways with the boxes ;-)!

  8. Free shredding day! My great motivator several years ago for finally dealing with 30+ years of tax returns – not in boxes – but in an old filing cabinet in the basement. Plus bank statements, receipts, etc. It was also held at a local bank parking lot – sponsored by AARP I think. And, yes, I went through them all “just in case” but kept very little. I stayed and watched it go through the actual shredder in the truck. Very satisfying. We actually did this a few years in a row. Good for you getting this done…it’s not easy.
    I have not heard of the book Finish, but I used to play Twister – Way back when.

    1. Yes, aren’t free shredding days the best thing ever? When I moved my mom into assisted living, I had to go through her papers (35 grocery shopping bags) of it on the first 3 months of sorting. I called the shred away company and they came and picked up the whole bunch at one time, gave me a certificate of disposal and boom, it was all gone. That was very satisfying. I’m going to keep on top of it now. My tax advisor suggests keeping 3 years + a current year at a max. The rest is good to go. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

  9. You are not alone. I wish I had access to the lovely bank offer to shred for me. My small little office shredder is working overtime these days. I have emptied it 4 times since I started this mess. I hope to finish eventually.

    1. Thank you! Yes, my office shredder would’ve bit the dust if I had shredded all the stuff. We’re fortunate, the bank does this for us 2 times per year. A little bit of shredding each day keeps the piles away, right? 😉

  10. Yay for shredding! I’m not organized enough for boxes, but I do have a file cabinet that is bursting at the seems and big envelopes in a cabinet somewhere. I wrapped the contents of my dad’s box in bundles of brown paper bags with duct tape and put them in the trash. Some of his went back ten years! Motivates me to purge more of my own stuff.

    1. Oh, yes, it is definitely motivating when you’re having to go through your parent’s papers on top of having your own to sort through. Staying out of getting behind is a battle to fight, that’s for sure! Thank you for sharing your thoughts – I wish you well as you continue on with the sorting at your parent’s house.

    1. Yes, it is. They actually do sell and donate the shredded materials for animal bedding. I don’t know what chooks are…but I’m guessing they’d like the shredded material. 😉

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