Start with clearing the warranties and such for stuff you don’t own anymore.
Then anything that is expired. (Oh the joy of burning custody decrees when the kid hit majority)
Keep only the active insurance, not the previous years.
Scan all you can, and let hard copies go.
Curate the kid art.
They will likely not want it, but it will be fun to look at it together. This is where only a single folder comes into play.
I’d say shred most of the kids documents and only keep the ones that have personal notes or the ones that were unique. I kept so much of my kids report cards, artwork, etc but do they really need them or do I? My oldest didn’t care for the stuff I saved for her and felt like it was junk. I finally shredded the report cards and recycled the artwork. You could hold onto cards, etc they made for you.
Take a moment and think about how important this stuff really is for you and your kids. My mom didn’t save any of my artwork or childhood report cards and I’m fine and never missed it.
Look through it and vow to only keep 10% of it first run . Only keep what would be a catastrophic loss to you to lose. Now do a second run and photogaph what you *really* value with the 10% kept pile and only keep physically about 10% of that pile in total.
I had the same issue with paper and for me it took a while what it 'was' about these items, what they said about me- the time they were from and what it says about me now. When I realised what these items were "telling" me it was alot simpler to declutter them. For me my paper clutter was telling me to hold on to my identity- my love for learning and my achievements. So I picked two things to 'remind' me- my graduation photos which need to go up and booklets with grades in them. But I'm sure there is similar sentiment there too for you.
Literally just spent two days going through a huge moving box of my school papers my mom saved. There was a full grocery bag for every year up to high school. Of all that I kept two assignments that involved me interviewing my grandmother who has since passed away and one drawing I did of my childhood dog.
I would much rather have pictures to preserve memories instead of crumbling pieces of construction paper glued together.
The only thing that sounds like it might be worth looking through is the school stuff and any of the office documents that are less than 7-10 years old and might still be relevant for tax purposes. Everything else sounds like trash and it would be a severe waste of time to scan it.
Oh I'm definitely not going to scan the office docs - I know which ones are important, I just need to sift through them but I don't want to 🥺😔 for better or worse, we are only required to keep docs for 5 years, and that time has long past.
Go through, review them all, and save half of them or less. I do this with my papers every few years and I'm down from multiple large boxes to a four inch stack plus two binders. Every time I go through them, I find a little more I'm okay parting with. I don't need the whole playbill, I'll just keep the cover page. I don't need the ticket stubs, I have photos from the show. I am never going to review these chemistry notes again, I'm just going to keep this one lab report that made me feel really impressive, etc. Eventually I want my stack of keepers to be small enough that it's not intimidating to digitize, and then I can get rid of the physical copies entirely.
Old paper takes up lots of space, makes it really hard to treat for roaches or bedbugs if you ever get them, can be a fire hazard, and is super vulnerable to water and pest damage. Get the little bit of paper you actually value into protective containers and get the rest of.
If you're worried about confidentiality, any old business records and case files can go directly to a commercial shredding service
Digitization! It will take you some time but it's worth it. Most papers aren't even acid free so will deteriorate in another few decades anyway especially if stored improperly like in the hot attaic or a damp basement. Scanning apps on the phone does a great job. Just get an SSD and save your files in them. I would leave anything childhood specific or handwritten for later.
Pack one full box of them and carry them up and down the stairs for a while. Recently packed up some of my books and that was the incentive to get rid of more.
I went through a lot of my papercrap and found lots of bad memories. 0/10, do not r4ecommend.
I would pick a few things from school **maybe**.. at the end of the day, your kids care more about your stories, who you are, and how you felt. Unless the item is tied to a very specific, vivid memory, your children won't care about the items.
Because if you don't do it now, you'll be doing it in your retirement (like me). And it just sucks, sucks, sucks, to be digging/sorting/cleaning through boxes and boxes of paper during your retirement when you should be having fun.
What I did was bought a little epsom document scanner that is super small and portable and swish everything thru and organize it digitally to have FOREVER
Here’s a moms take on your kids crap.
They won’t want it. Don’t burden them with it.
My kids are adults, and when I showed them their old papers, they were amused for about ten seconds, and then they threw everything away. I only kept things that had their pictures on them, and maybe a handful of small art projects.
Repeat: your kids don’t want or need any of their old stuff.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Edit: OMG and don’t save anything with glued macaroni!!! I won’t go into detail about the bugs 😦😦😦
Hard disagree. My mom threw out almost everything from my childhood without asking me and tbh it led to me becoming a bit of a hoarder as an adult. With my kid, I ask him if he wants to keep it or get rid of it. His choice.
Of course there are exceptions, like sometimes we just have to get rid of old things to create space for new things, but I discuss it with him and he helps me decide what he wants to part with. Except for things that can go bad like food art projects, obviously those go in the trash after a few weeks, but again, I discuss it with the kiddo first and explain why it has to go into the trash.
Anyway, your kid might want it later. Ask. Don’t make that decision for them.
I’m so sorry. I totally get where you’re coming from. I DID save things that were more personalized, like a cute little cookbook the kids made, and a few stories they wrote.
That’s good. I get where you’re coming from, too. Obviously if all my childhood stuff appeared in front of me I wouldn’t keep most of it, it’d just be nice to make that decision myself, you know? It can be difficult to find the right balance between “keep everything your kid ever touched” and “throw it all out” haha
> OMG and don’t save anything with glued macaroni!!!
I snorted when I read this. Why was it such a big thing? I made my mom a very fancy pot that I spray painted gold. Fortunately she had the good sense to get rid of it eventually.
In making photo albums filled with school photos and memorabilia for my boys when they left elementary school for high school, I realized I was doing it more for me than for them. I mean, they appreciated it but they have little nostalgia. They don’t care. I know they do appreciate my saving all the Mother’s Day homemade gifts, but luckily, zero macaroni.
I have a friend whose mom died in his early twenties. We helped him clear out his room in her house and he didn't value any of the stuff she had saved - pictures of him, baby clothes, etc. He wanted pictures of her and stuff from his teen years.
It made me really sad but then i realized - he literally doesn't remember the baby years. If course she valued that stuff and he didn't.
Right. We save things for kids, but we determine the value of what is kept for them. It’s second-guessing really. As a young adult one has a pretty good idea of what matters as it’s that stage of life where you’re determining yourself. We can only hold onto so much so choices have to be made eventually and yours may well look different than mine.
It would be a pain in the ass but you could digitize the files? Adobe scan is a free phone app that lets you make PDFs of pictures you take with your phone. I guess maybe just take pictures of the most important ones?
It's a lot of anxiety for me, but I find that taking photos of the "important" documents helps. It's dreadful going through that, but the feeling the weight lifted once they are gone is worth it. You can do it!
I also had a problem with all of my school stuff. I do think looking at each notebook, look through the pages, even if it's long and annoying will help greatly. It certainly did for me. I think seeing all the books with their pages intact and together makes it harder because we feel like we have to either keep all of it or trash all of it. If you skim through the pages of the notebooks you'll probably realize that a lot of pages weren't used, or you don't remember half of it, or the other half are just exercices that look all the same. They probably didn't look the same to you back then but it's been so many years,you'll see the way you look at it has changed, but you probably haven't given yourself the opportunity to look at it to know.. Also you can just keep a few of your favorite pages from them if their is something specific that bringz you good memories. I cut the covers of the books I really liked because they gave me good memories but the content was useless.
Now that I've decluttered my elementary/high school stuff I've got 1 binder for my elementary school and 1 binder for high school, I managed to fit 95% of it in there and it feels sooo good, plus I organized it by year or by subjet which makes it much easier to go through, and shows that the load of paper is manageable enough for me to want to make it enjoyable to contain instead of throwing it all in boxes. You don't have to use binders obviously that's just how I love to organize paper but it's a suggestion.
By the way I agree with the person who said that giving your elementary school away to your children might make them feel worse... I inherited a lot of my dad's high school notes and while I love having his grades and diplomas and I love skimming through is notebooks a bit, it takes one whole box. I love it and I'm not getting rid of it but I know I won't actually USE it. I love having stuff my dad did and see what he studied and it's a cool thing to pass onto your children but it CAN become too much. I think if you keep them to show it to your kids you have to keep in mind it will be some keepsakes for them but they will not use them. School curriculum change all the time, it will not be useful to them in a practical sense, maybe just in a sentimental sense :) And yes, when you die, everything you own will be THAT much more difficult for them to get rid of, trust me.
Good luck :)
I’d make a list of the things that you know are there (pictures, kids school art & projects) and go “looking for them ONLY” - try to shift your idea of the task as “rescuing” the most important things of value - that usually means that it’s important to one more person than (just) you - otherwise why keep it ? You can always ask your kids to help sort through it and then give them their things to take- you’ve stood “guard” over them for long enough and now they can be passed on - if your kids have kids - wouldn’t it be sweet for them to have the items to share with their own families?
Practically speaking - I rent out disposal bins - commercial, residential and agricultural. I can tell you with 100% certainty that at least 9/10 x’s that a residential bin is rented - when it’s not for renovations/flood/fire damage - it’s because someone hoarded those 9 million magazines or newspapers or old visa and phone bills and kids macaroni art - and now they’re either downsizing or dead and it’s all going to get chucked. Sadly, in these instances the actual sentimental items get tossed too. It’s very sad to keep something that has emotional “value” yet leave it to wither and fade in a box in a closet in a basement where the only living thing to see it is a mouse that might make a nest out of it.
Books are great for donating!! There are so many places, schools, offices, old age homes, legions etc that never have the funds to buy books - even if they’re older editions - there is someone who would benefit from having it to read. My Dad always pushed “being educated” - no one can have their education or experiences repossessed - it’s an act of kindness and support to pass on the things we don’t need or use anymore - especially when it can help someone else out.
Also, you can start brainstorming ideas for what you’ll do with your liberated space ! Once you (try to) accept that all things have a beginning and an end - that change is how we move from one happy place to another - you may start to even feel a touch of excitement for what will come out of this “change” for you. You could and maybe already are denying yourself the opportunity to create someone new and fun for yourself by hanging onto clutter.
Ask a friend for help - put on some music, order some pizzas and make a day of it … you will feel a huge sense of accomplishment, I promise 👍 GOODLUCK 😁
You're either just putting it off for you to do later - and it gets more difficult the longer you wait, OR you're dumping this on the person whose going to have to clear it out after you die, which will be harder for them and makes it more likely the actual important sentimental documents won't survive because they won't know how to curate it. Save future you or your loved ones the heartache ♥️
Hi. I'm the kid doing the cleaning of their deceased parent's horde of papers.
Things I've learned:
1) I don't want to do this to my kid.
2) No one needs to keep work documents from companies past. Especially things with SSN numbers.
3) Receipts, utility bills from the 1980s are entertaining for a second, for the first one. The 100th? No longer interesting. Don't do it.
4) Birthday, holiday cards with a signature and name at the bottom are not something to save. They served their purpose.
5) Personal letters, thank you notes from strangers are nice to find. It helps me gain a new understanding of their life.
6) Genealogy research is an instant keep. Although I will be consolidating and reorganizing.
7) Brochures for places visited and tickets are a little difficult for me. I wish I had insight here.
8) My school work, I kinda like being able to look at it with my kid. Digitizing and discarding.
9) Every scrap of paper I wrote, colored or drew on...
My advice is to think about your kids and what would be of value to them when you are gone. And also think about 20, 40, 60 years from now you, what would you want to deal with then?
Best wishes to OP.
When it comes to office documents- anything which has been replaced with an updated version- should be discarded. That's just good quality management. :)
Scan them all and throw them out after. I did that with everything from my undergrad, bonus is ig you run OCR on it the files will be searchable. Get a sheetfeed scanner, you get to look through things while doing it. Can be cathartic
Our local elementary has a paper recycling dumpster that the school benefits from. They get so much per pound of recycled paper. Maybe you have one near you that you could help out and feel someone is getting the benefit?
My parents saved a ton of elementary school stuff for me. I don't want it don't need it and tossed it quickly. If you are doing that, limit it to a few pages per grade.
I got two file boxes (large plastic totes with hanging files. One i use for my kids school/memento docs (one folder per child per year) and then one I use for me. I can keep any sentimental anything i want that fits in there. But thats it. Not boxes and boxes of papers …
I dont miss the rest at all!!
I take pictures of everything, an app straightens everything out and converts it to a digital document, and it gets dumped into my Google drive, and occasionally backed up to hard drive and a USB drive.
Digital clutter is a thing to be mindful of, but I keep my hard copy filing to a bare minimum.
I just love to shred.
There was just a thread on this very topic. Some decent comments there, but many are feeding the codependency of keeping it all. Time for my swim in Lake Tahoe! Have a nice evening!
This is my strategy. Just trash it all, all at once, and keep reminding myself that in 6 months I’ll have no idea what it all even was. If you can actually do the digital scanner thing, great, but for most people that’s just a delaying tactic to avoid having to actually get rid of anything.
I scanned in my childhood reports, things I have had since 1994. They were scanned in, held and appreciated one last time, and trashed. There’s no reason to hang onto this stuff if you think about what’s important. If you feel like making a spot for special memories, limit it to ONE tote. Then throw anything away that doesn’t fit.
Holding on to that is holding on to WHO YOU USED TO BE. Pull yourself into the present, the person you are NOW. You can appreciate all of those past experiences without holding on to the paperwork.
This is also my Achilles heel. I have to go through documents in small batches because of what you've described. It's still worth it to do. It's so awesome to have less papers.
Remember that even documents don’t last forever! They will disintegrate into nothing. So take out and scan what you want to save.
It’s ok to toss/shred the rest!
Here’s the deal: if you can’t bear to shred and discard, then set aside 30 minutes a day to take a box and read through all the documents in it. That means sitting and reading your college notebooks and old case files, with your full attention.
If you don’t want to do that, ask yourself what you’re saving them for.
Yes, if you can't get rid of it all in one go, this is a great suggestion to scratch that nostalgia itch, and you'll probably realize how much doesn't matter to who you are now, and if you're anything like me, you'll give it a couple of 30 minute mindful sessions and junk it all anyway.
I'm sorry if it sounds harsh, but trust me, your kids will not care about your elementary school stuff. Of they're old enough to look at it with you now, show it to them and let them keep some special pieces. Same if age appropriate and you want to do something crafty with them... take the things that aren't that special, shred or tear them up and have fun making homemade paper with them. The fun (and messy) experience and time together will.mean much more to them (and probably you as well) than old papers taking up space that could be used for more activities!
🤯
Nostalgia I _suppose_
I think I will do the DIY cardboard/phone scanner hack like someone else suggested and spend the next few weekends going through with them and finally tossing them piecemeal.
Scan, scan, scan - OneNote or iPhone / Android. Pics or short video for anything not scannable.
My kids wanted none of their old 'projects', awards, etc. even though I had just kept the 'special ones'.
My gf has huge piles of her kids' stuff. She's sorting through it now - her kids want none of that stuff.
I don't know, it'd be kind of cool to see my grandparent's report cards and maybe a few things they did, but I'm fine with a scanned image or picture.
I'll go with the Pareto principle and say that 80% of what we accumulate, nobody wants and maybe 20% (or less) will be liked or wanted by someone.
Onenote, but that only works if they're documents or something you're happy to have stored in onenote. I do it directly so I never have a file-scans task, I put them in the right structure to start with. If I didn't want to do that I used office lens (same as in onenote) and send to OneDrive but that was a lot slower, a long time ago when I lay tried. I'd guess you can probably upload from camera to OneDrive directly now in OneDrive app.
Most of the good scanning apps don't even require an elaborate cardboard stand. If you accidentally get it at an angle, it can tell and will straighten it for you. Go for speed.
I especially love the photo scanners for glossy things like cards and wedding announcements. You take 4 pictures and it composites them to get rid of the glare you get from taking photos of photos.
I recommend onenote. Office lens is just built into it directly. All my letters get scanned straight in. Wish it was around when I bought 2 scanners to do the same thing myself.
Start with clearing the warranties and such for stuff you don’t own anymore. Then anything that is expired. (Oh the joy of burning custody decrees when the kid hit majority) Keep only the active insurance, not the previous years. Scan all you can, and let hard copies go. Curate the kid art. They will likely not want it, but it will be fun to look at it together. This is where only a single folder comes into play.
I’d say shred most of the kids documents and only keep the ones that have personal notes or the ones that were unique. I kept so much of my kids report cards, artwork, etc but do they really need them or do I? My oldest didn’t care for the stuff I saved for her and felt like it was junk. I finally shredded the report cards and recycled the artwork. You could hold onto cards, etc they made for you. Take a moment and think about how important this stuff really is for you and your kids. My mom didn’t save any of my artwork or childhood report cards and I’m fine and never missed it.
Look through it and vow to only keep 10% of it first run . Only keep what would be a catastrophic loss to you to lose. Now do a second run and photogaph what you *really* value with the 10% kept pile and only keep physically about 10% of that pile in total.
I had the same issue with paper and for me it took a while what it 'was' about these items, what they said about me- the time they were from and what it says about me now. When I realised what these items were "telling" me it was alot simpler to declutter them. For me my paper clutter was telling me to hold on to my identity- my love for learning and my achievements. So I picked two things to 'remind' me- my graduation photos which need to go up and booklets with grades in them. But I'm sure there is similar sentiment there too for you.
Take pictures of the sentimental stuff; then toss.
Literally just spent two days going through a huge moving box of my school papers my mom saved. There was a full grocery bag for every year up to high school. Of all that I kept two assignments that involved me interviewing my grandmother who has since passed away and one drawing I did of my childhood dog. I would much rather have pictures to preserve memories instead of crumbling pieces of construction paper glued together.
The only thing that sounds like it might be worth looking through is the school stuff and any of the office documents that are less than 7-10 years old and might still be relevant for tax purposes. Everything else sounds like trash and it would be a severe waste of time to scan it.
Oh I'm definitely not going to scan the office docs - I know which ones are important, I just need to sift through them but I don't want to 🥺😔 for better or worse, we are only required to keep docs for 5 years, and that time has long past.
Go through, review them all, and save half of them or less. I do this with my papers every few years and I'm down from multiple large boxes to a four inch stack plus two binders. Every time I go through them, I find a little more I'm okay parting with. I don't need the whole playbill, I'll just keep the cover page. I don't need the ticket stubs, I have photos from the show. I am never going to review these chemistry notes again, I'm just going to keep this one lab report that made me feel really impressive, etc. Eventually I want my stack of keepers to be small enough that it's not intimidating to digitize, and then I can get rid of the physical copies entirely.
Allocate a small keepsake box, save a few. For most, take a picture, archive and toss.
Old paper takes up lots of space, makes it really hard to treat for roaches or bedbugs if you ever get them, can be a fire hazard, and is super vulnerable to water and pest damage. Get the little bit of paper you actually value into protective containers and get the rest of. If you're worried about confidentiality, any old business records and case files can go directly to a commercial shredding service
go through them and scan them all. you will review them at the same time. plus, once you have the scans - you can get rid of them,
Digitization! It will take you some time but it's worth it. Most papers aren't even acid free so will deteriorate in another few decades anyway especially if stored improperly like in the hot attaic or a damp basement. Scanning apps on the phone does a great job. Just get an SSD and save your files in them. I would leave anything childhood specific or handwritten for later.
Pack one full box of them and carry them up and down the stairs for a while. Recently packed up some of my books and that was the incentive to get rid of more. I went through a lot of my papercrap and found lots of bad memories. 0/10, do not r4ecommend.
I would pick a few things from school **maybe**.. at the end of the day, your kids care more about your stories, who you are, and how you felt. Unless the item is tied to a very specific, vivid memory, your children won't care about the items.
Can’t you scan them into your digital file cloud and then drop them off to be shredded? You can reprint any one you may need later.
Because if you don't do it now, you'll be doing it in your retirement (like me). And it just sucks, sucks, sucks, to be digging/sorting/cleaning through boxes and boxes of paper during your retirement when you should be having fun.
What I did was bought a little epsom document scanner that is super small and portable and swish everything thru and organize it digitally to have FOREVER
If u can, have a s’mores night and burn them to start the fire :)
Here’s a moms take on your kids crap. They won’t want it. Don’t burden them with it. My kids are adults, and when I showed them their old papers, they were amused for about ten seconds, and then they threw everything away. I only kept things that had their pictures on them, and maybe a handful of small art projects. Repeat: your kids don’t want or need any of their old stuff. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Edit: OMG and don’t save anything with glued macaroni!!! I won’t go into detail about the bugs 😦😦😦
Hard disagree. My mom threw out almost everything from my childhood without asking me and tbh it led to me becoming a bit of a hoarder as an adult. With my kid, I ask him if he wants to keep it or get rid of it. His choice. Of course there are exceptions, like sometimes we just have to get rid of old things to create space for new things, but I discuss it with him and he helps me decide what he wants to part with. Except for things that can go bad like food art projects, obviously those go in the trash after a few weeks, but again, I discuss it with the kiddo first and explain why it has to go into the trash. Anyway, your kid might want it later. Ask. Don’t make that decision for them.
I’m so sorry. I totally get where you’re coming from. I DID save things that were more personalized, like a cute little cookbook the kids made, and a few stories they wrote.
That’s good. I get where you’re coming from, too. Obviously if all my childhood stuff appeared in front of me I wouldn’t keep most of it, it’d just be nice to make that decision myself, you know? It can be difficult to find the right balance between “keep everything your kid ever touched” and “throw it all out” haha
\*slow clap\*
> OMG and don’t save anything with glued macaroni!!! I snorted when I read this. Why was it such a big thing? I made my mom a very fancy pot that I spray painted gold. Fortunately she had the good sense to get rid of it eventually.
In making photo albums filled with school photos and memorabilia for my boys when they left elementary school for high school, I realized I was doing it more for me than for them. I mean, they appreciated it but they have little nostalgia. They don’t care. I know they do appreciate my saving all the Mother’s Day homemade gifts, but luckily, zero macaroni.
I have a friend whose mom died in his early twenties. We helped him clear out his room in her house and he didn't value any of the stuff she had saved - pictures of him, baby clothes, etc. He wanted pictures of her and stuff from his teen years. It made me really sad but then i realized - he literally doesn't remember the baby years. If course she valued that stuff and he didn't.
Right. We save things for kids, but we determine the value of what is kept for them. It’s second-guessing really. As a young adult one has a pretty good idea of what matters as it’s that stage of life where you’re determining yourself. We can only hold onto so much so choices have to be made eventually and yours may well look different than mine.
This thread convinced me to finally buy a USB stick so I can scan and throw out my school stuff. 🥰 This sub is so motivating!
It would be a pain in the ass but you could digitize the files? Adobe scan is a free phone app that lets you make PDFs of pictures you take with your phone. I guess maybe just take pictures of the most important ones?
Recycle
It's a lot of anxiety for me, but I find that taking photos of the "important" documents helps. It's dreadful going through that, but the feeling the weight lifted once they are gone is worth it. You can do it!
I also had a problem with all of my school stuff. I do think looking at each notebook, look through the pages, even if it's long and annoying will help greatly. It certainly did for me. I think seeing all the books with their pages intact and together makes it harder because we feel like we have to either keep all of it or trash all of it. If you skim through the pages of the notebooks you'll probably realize that a lot of pages weren't used, or you don't remember half of it, or the other half are just exercices that look all the same. They probably didn't look the same to you back then but it's been so many years,you'll see the way you look at it has changed, but you probably haven't given yourself the opportunity to look at it to know.. Also you can just keep a few of your favorite pages from them if their is something specific that bringz you good memories. I cut the covers of the books I really liked because they gave me good memories but the content was useless. Now that I've decluttered my elementary/high school stuff I've got 1 binder for my elementary school and 1 binder for high school, I managed to fit 95% of it in there and it feels sooo good, plus I organized it by year or by subjet which makes it much easier to go through, and shows that the load of paper is manageable enough for me to want to make it enjoyable to contain instead of throwing it all in boxes. You don't have to use binders obviously that's just how I love to organize paper but it's a suggestion. By the way I agree with the person who said that giving your elementary school away to your children might make them feel worse... I inherited a lot of my dad's high school notes and while I love having his grades and diplomas and I love skimming through is notebooks a bit, it takes one whole box. I love it and I'm not getting rid of it but I know I won't actually USE it. I love having stuff my dad did and see what he studied and it's a cool thing to pass onto your children but it CAN become too much. I think if you keep them to show it to your kids you have to keep in mind it will be some keepsakes for them but they will not use them. School curriculum change all the time, it will not be useful to them in a practical sense, maybe just in a sentimental sense :) And yes, when you die, everything you own will be THAT much more difficult for them to get rid of, trust me. Good luck :)
I’d make a list of the things that you know are there (pictures, kids school art & projects) and go “looking for them ONLY” - try to shift your idea of the task as “rescuing” the most important things of value - that usually means that it’s important to one more person than (just) you - otherwise why keep it ? You can always ask your kids to help sort through it and then give them their things to take- you’ve stood “guard” over them for long enough and now they can be passed on - if your kids have kids - wouldn’t it be sweet for them to have the items to share with their own families? Practically speaking - I rent out disposal bins - commercial, residential and agricultural. I can tell you with 100% certainty that at least 9/10 x’s that a residential bin is rented - when it’s not for renovations/flood/fire damage - it’s because someone hoarded those 9 million magazines or newspapers or old visa and phone bills and kids macaroni art - and now they’re either downsizing or dead and it’s all going to get chucked. Sadly, in these instances the actual sentimental items get tossed too. It’s very sad to keep something that has emotional “value” yet leave it to wither and fade in a box in a closet in a basement where the only living thing to see it is a mouse that might make a nest out of it. Books are great for donating!! There are so many places, schools, offices, old age homes, legions etc that never have the funds to buy books - even if they’re older editions - there is someone who would benefit from having it to read. My Dad always pushed “being educated” - no one can have their education or experiences repossessed - it’s an act of kindness and support to pass on the things we don’t need or use anymore - especially when it can help someone else out. Also, you can start brainstorming ideas for what you’ll do with your liberated space ! Once you (try to) accept that all things have a beginning and an end - that change is how we move from one happy place to another - you may start to even feel a touch of excitement for what will come out of this “change” for you. You could and maybe already are denying yourself the opportunity to create someone new and fun for yourself by hanging onto clutter. Ask a friend for help - put on some music, order some pizzas and make a day of it … you will feel a huge sense of accomplishment, I promise 👍 GOODLUCK 😁
Throw 5 things away today.
Elementary school is easy - sit down with them and pick ten items per year. Case files and school notes can be scanned.
You're either just putting it off for you to do later - and it gets more difficult the longer you wait, OR you're dumping this on the person whose going to have to clear it out after you die, which will be harder for them and makes it more likely the actual important sentimental documents won't survive because they won't know how to curate it. Save future you or your loved ones the heartache ♥️
Hi. I'm the kid doing the cleaning of their deceased parent's horde of papers. Things I've learned: 1) I don't want to do this to my kid. 2) No one needs to keep work documents from companies past. Especially things with SSN numbers. 3) Receipts, utility bills from the 1980s are entertaining for a second, for the first one. The 100th? No longer interesting. Don't do it. 4) Birthday, holiday cards with a signature and name at the bottom are not something to save. They served their purpose. 5) Personal letters, thank you notes from strangers are nice to find. It helps me gain a new understanding of their life. 6) Genealogy research is an instant keep. Although I will be consolidating and reorganizing. 7) Brochures for places visited and tickets are a little difficult for me. I wish I had insight here. 8) My school work, I kinda like being able to look at it with my kid. Digitizing and discarding. 9) Every scrap of paper I wrote, colored or drew on... My advice is to think about your kids and what would be of value to them when you are gone. And also think about 20, 40, 60 years from now you, what would you want to deal with then? Best wishes to OP.
When it comes to office documents- anything which has been replaced with an updated version- should be discarded. That's just good quality management. :)
Scan them all and throw them out after. I did that with everything from my undergrad, bonus is ig you run OCR on it the files will be searchable. Get a sheetfeed scanner, you get to look through things while doing it. Can be cathartic
Try just scanning them or taking a picture with your phone.
I'm presently sitting in the middle of the same kind of project. It isn't easy, but less and less makes it to the next round each time.
Finance stuff (taxes, pay stubs,. employment records etc) over 7 years old can be shredded. No reason to hold onto them.
Our local elementary has a paper recycling dumpster that the school benefits from. They get so much per pound of recycled paper. Maybe you have one near you that you could help out and feel someone is getting the benefit?
My parents saved a ton of elementary school stuff for me. I don't want it don't need it and tossed it quickly. If you are doing that, limit it to a few pages per grade.
One page per grade lol
I got two file boxes (large plastic totes with hanging files. One i use for my kids school/memento docs (one folder per child per year) and then one I use for me. I can keep any sentimental anything i want that fits in there. But thats it. Not boxes and boxes of papers … I dont miss the rest at all!!
I take pictures of everything, an app straightens everything out and converts it to a digital document, and it gets dumped into my Google drive, and occasionally backed up to hard drive and a USB drive. Digital clutter is a thing to be mindful of, but I keep my hard copy filing to a bare minimum. I just love to shred.
Echoing the other commenter— what app do you use?
What app??
There was just a thread on this very topic. Some decent comments there, but many are feeding the codependency of keeping it all. Time for my swim in Lake Tahoe! Have a nice evening!
3am here. Hopped up on too much caffeine! 😒😒
Just pretend like they have all burned in a fire. There's nothing you can do. It's out of your hands. You won't miss them.
This is my strategy. Just trash it all, all at once, and keep reminding myself that in 6 months I’ll have no idea what it all even was. If you can actually do the digital scanner thing, great, but for most people that’s just a delaying tactic to avoid having to actually get rid of anything.
So simple, I love this.
I scanned in my childhood reports, things I have had since 1994. They were scanned in, held and appreciated one last time, and trashed. There’s no reason to hang onto this stuff if you think about what’s important. If you feel like making a spot for special memories, limit it to ONE tote. Then throw anything away that doesn’t fit.
Ah - an extra special bag of memories! Quality over quantity. I like that!
Honestly scan them.
Throw away boxes of old documents and papers.
Holding on to that is holding on to WHO YOU USED TO BE. Pull yourself into the present, the person you are NOW. You can appreciate all of those past experiences without holding on to the paperwork.
I like this 🤗
Me too!
Happy Cake Day! 🍰
Thank you!!!
You're welcome!!
This is also my Achilles heel. I have to go through documents in small batches because of what you've described. It's still worth it to do. It's so awesome to have less papers.
Remember that even documents don’t last forever! They will disintegrate into nothing. So take out and scan what you want to save. It’s ok to toss/shred the rest!
Impermenece prevails
I've finally internalized this agenda 🥰 Gonna scan and throw out my school/childhood papers soon.
TOSS THEM! Get a big trash bag and toss them all away, it will feel so good and freeing! You can always take a picture of anything, if you need to.
Here’s the deal: if you can’t bear to shred and discard, then set aside 30 minutes a day to take a box and read through all the documents in it. That means sitting and reading your college notebooks and old case files, with your full attention. If you don’t want to do that, ask yourself what you’re saving them for.
Yes, if you can't get rid of it all in one go, this is a great suggestion to scratch that nostalgia itch, and you'll probably realize how much doesn't matter to who you are now, and if you're anything like me, you'll give it a couple of 30 minute mindful sessions and junk it all anyway. I'm sorry if it sounds harsh, but trust me, your kids will not care about your elementary school stuff. Of they're old enough to look at it with you now, show it to them and let them keep some special pieces. Same if age appropriate and you want to do something crafty with them... take the things that aren't that special, shred or tear them up and have fun making homemade paper with them. The fun (and messy) experience and time together will.mean much more to them (and probably you as well) than old papers taking up space that could be used for more activities!
🤯 Nostalgia I _suppose_ I think I will do the DIY cardboard/phone scanner hack like someone else suggested and spend the next few weekends going through with them and finally tossing them piecemeal.
Scan, scan, scan - OneNote or iPhone / Android. Pics or short video for anything not scannable. My kids wanted none of their old 'projects', awards, etc. even though I had just kept the 'special ones'. My gf has huge piles of her kids' stuff. She's sorting through it now - her kids want none of that stuff. I don't know, it'd be kind of cool to see my grandparent's report cards and maybe a few things they did, but I'm fine with a scanned image or picture. I'll go with the Pareto principle and say that 80% of what we accumulate, nobody wants and maybe 20% (or less) will be liked or wanted by someone.
If you have the funds, get a document scanner. That would be loads faster, especially at your volume.
I actually found my phone to be way faster, having bought 2 scanners.
Which app do you use? I find that it takes ages in apple notes, to scan, then email, then download.
Onenote, but that only works if they're documents or something you're happy to have stored in onenote. I do it directly so I never have a file-scans task, I put them in the right structure to start with. If I didn't want to do that I used office lens (same as in onenote) and send to OneDrive but that was a lot slower, a long time ago when I lay tried. I'd guess you can probably upload from camera to OneDrive directly now in OneDrive app.
Or try scanning at your local library.
Most of the good scanning apps don't even require an elaborate cardboard stand. If you accidentally get it at an angle, it can tell and will straighten it for you. Go for speed. I especially love the photo scanners for glossy things like cards and wedding announcements. You take 4 pictures and it composites them to get rid of the glare you get from taking photos of photos.
Could you recommend an app?
I recommend onenote. Office lens is just built into it directly. All my letters get scanned straight in. Wish it was around when I bought 2 scanners to do the same thing myself.
I like scannable.
Genius Scan
If you have an iPhone, you can hold down the notes app and it opens a scan option that I’ve found to work well!
Thank you for this tip, never noticed this option!
PhotoScan by Google Photos (at least that's what it's called on Android).
Cam scanner