Paper is done! Last week Aaron and I finished tackling the Paper category for the KonMari method and we got rid of so much paper. It feels so freeing to be rid of all that noise and the stress of having all these statements that felt necessary and unnecessary to keep. Thankfully we live in a day where most all our statements can come to us online, so getting paper statements is a thing of the past.
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In Part I of these posts on Paper, I was definitely feeling a bit overwhelmed since we were doing the category in piecemeal. We did part of it one night and the rest another, which is the same as with our books, but with paper it felt more daunting. With my books, I was excited to streamline my collection to just the books I felt a connection with, and I could donate the rest.
With paper, I knew that some of the papers could be burnt or had to be recycled. Anything with personal information on it had to be in the burn pile, while the rest could be recycled. Seeing the ever growing piles of burn/recycle papers was quite exciting!
As we went along, there were a ton of folders that we no longer needed. I can't tell you how many different kinds of filing folders we have, holy cow. We have all different colors, some with the little hooks for filing drawers, and some that were just plain folders. I used to work at the Container Store and had a ton from working there that now I feel like scratching my head and saying, "you spent money on these???" Yes, yes I did, HAPPY, SELF?!?
There were a few items that also were just, honestly, silly to be keeping at this point. I had folders from the hospital that I gave birth at on how to keep people from stealing your baby at the hospital, which I'm pretty sure at this point is not necessary to have since I have not been to the hospital since having her.
I also had all of these pregnancy packets about what to eat, what to avoid, what to do with yourself, etc. Since I have been there, done that, I definitely don't need to keep the packet especially with the internet just existing. I also heavily relied on the What to Expect When You're Expecting book, so that was what I was paying the most attention to, let's be real.
When all was said and done, we had an overflowing Cloud Island Diaper box full of paper to burn and about two recycling bins (the ones that fit under the sink) full of recyclable paper. It felt really good to get rid of so much and then our filing drawer looked absolutely marvelous after!
We really honed in on what files we actually needed to keep. For instance, I did not need to have a medical file and a file for my eyes (I'm blind as a bat), but could instead just put all medical papers into the same file since it was so much smaller. I kept my current prescription papers for my eyes and got rid of any previous ones because it's not like those are necessary for me now! My medical file has been significantly reduced, leaving me one tidy little folder of happy.
I have a yoga folder with my certificates in it and my final exams, since I did really well on them and am proud of that. I also did my yoga training for a year and keeping the exams brought me joy to see the culmination of my studying come together.
We have a folder for Lydia and certain paperwork that is necessary to keep for her, like some medical records, her birth card from the hospital, and a few other random things. Before I had a folder full of her appointment summaries and also another folder with the packets from her birth that I no longer need.
Even though there is still so much to go through in our house, since we have just started working through Komono, I can tell the house feels lighter. We already have certain areas of the house that are really coming together and it gives me such hope that once this process is complete, we will feel a huge difference in the house.
We have a small ranch and are lucky in the fact that we are doing this now in our starter home that is not very big. When we eventually move into a larger home, we will already have gone through all of our belongings to be sure that what we take with us in the next chapter will be what brings us joy.
By the time Aaron and I had been married for two years, I had moved three times. I moved into Aaron's apartment when we got married, then after nine months, we moved to New Hampshire to a not-so-great apartment, then nine months after that we moved into our home. During each of those moves, I tried to whittle down what I had, but now I know that I was going about it all wrong. Some of the things I was taking with me were because they might be useful, they were gifts, or I was indifferent to them and felt like there was no need to get rid of them.
Now I know that if something does not spark joy, there is no need to keep it. Give it away, sell it, donate it, but don't hold on to it. With these papers, I was dragging around old statements and pieces of paper that did not need to come with me. I still have things from college that I have been toting around that now seem so silly.
Up next, I will be going through our Komono and updating you on that process! So far we have gone through our DVDs (which was about 20, so not much to show on that one!) as well as our games (equally as small). Today (8/29/19) I am going through my craft supplies and figuring out what to keep and what to get rid of while Lydia naps!
Have you started the KonMari process? What do you think so far and what category are you on? Comment below!
xoxo
TBS