@Bird In Hand the struggle is real! I relate to what you are saying. I don't have kid stuff, but hold many sentimental items from Dad who passed on about 10 years ago. I
know I won't forget my Dad if I toss these things, but that isn't why I'm holding on to them, so it doesn't help release them.
@jooniFLORisploo good going getting that packaging perfectly prepared for it's next life phase. (sorry, ran out of alliteration juice)
@Mezzie way to go
declining! That is so helpful to me when I remember to do it. I've gotten some funny looks and some folks have wondered, "Are you sure?" Did you get any push back?
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tl;dr - Did the thing. Not as bad as I thought. Recycled some papers & packaging; even more is going to shredder tomorrow.
My goal is to be paperless/digital outside of sentimental papers and currently-being-used papers, like the notes I write to myself or bills to be paid. No papers should hang around more than 2 weeks. If they do, they need to be scanned or stored with the other sentimental papers.
Yesterday I was stressed out by something that happened Monday evening, so it was not a good time to work on the paper pile. Today I was feeling better & even a little guilty for skipping a day. Plus, I brought work from the day job home. It's my MO* to always leave one thing un-done and that thing is the ickiest task. Today the work spillover was ickiest, and sorting papers seemed almost not icky in comparison!
So I set the timer for 15 minutes & got to work. Quickly sorted out the filing supplies from the other paper, showing I have about 3 boxes of paper. This is down from 7 boxes several years ago, so I feel good about that. Good to keep in mind how far I've come. The work I've already done tell me the bulk of what remains is just trash waiting to be tossed. Why do I feel compelled to look through it all?
Decided to attack "the box" first. This box holds the oldest papers and also the ones that are hardest for me to deal with, hence why they are still there. Happily, I immediately found several files that I can pass on to Mr. X, so that was some good momentum. Then there were several that I could easily deal with. Turns out the box is a mixed bag (har har). Some of the papers are hard, but I found old contracts with gyms I no longer belong to, bills for the land line (including long distance charges!), vet bills on cats who are long deceased, etc. I saw dates in the 2007-2012 range. Got a good chunk into the recycle bin and am taking a 2"/5cm stack to work tomorrow to shred. Wee!
Also, found the packaging to my tablet. Broke it down and it too got recycled. Recent discussion here helped with that (thanks, you know who you are); I had that, plus KonMari's wisdom in mind as I was figuring out what to do with the packaging. All this took maybe 20 minutes, so setting the timer for 15 was a good strategy (as was bringing home work).
Hopefully today's good experience will carry over to momentum/motivation for tomorrow.
*Not a conscious choice, but that's how it usually ends up being. Sometimes I can use this to get the 2nd most icky thing done, but not always.