Been in same situation. Time for a wake-up call to get organized. I would just sit down & slowly go thru everything. Get a file system going. getting organized is vital. Saves a lot of time in long run.
Its very easy to let things pile up (at least for me). I have been in that shape more than once. BWA is correct....you have to just go thur things one at a time....slowly and put everything in the place it belongs. I am getting ready to put my house on he market so I have to do the same thing.....one room at a time.
Between my wife and I when it comes to important papers to have we have one place for them. Once we see that they are important it immediately goes there without question. We use a fire-proof lock box for those papers like that, because as well have seen out here too often a fire can strike when everything is tender box dry.
Sometimes we let things pile up too and then have to sort things out. I have a plethora of empty file folders that my mother gave me once and that helps us. You just have to take each item as you run across it and put it away to get the job done. Boring, but important.
We also have a fireproof lockbox for important and hard-to-replace items. It sits by my husband's bed so he can grab it quickly if we ever have a fire break out at night. If one breaks out during the day, we just have to hope the box is really fireproof.
When my father was dying of cancer, he went through every piece of paper in the house and made easy-to-find files and put them in a fireproof 4-drawer file cabinet so my mother and I could find things easily. It was really hard the day I had to go over there and let him show me where everything was. (Made me tear up a little to remember how careful he was to make sure Mom's life would be as easy as possible after he went home to be with the Lord.)
When I met my SO he had too much of everything..Recently widowed. Sold a lot of stuff. Then duriong the winter months, while stuck inside I helped him to go thru paperwork. Life is soo much eeasier knowing where things are. Eliminating that last minute panic..
OMG....I want to get oranized also. I have papers and "stuff' I am not sure quite what to do with. How long do you keep receipts and stuff like that; for example, utility payments, etc? And what really makes me feel stooopid is, for example; I bought a really nice pair of diamond stud earrings a few weeks ago, but I did not put them in my ears until yesterday...and when I took them out of their box, they fell out of their settings! And guess what !? I DID NOT have my receipt! I did not think I would need it at the time. Thank goodness, the earrings were NOT real expensive, but its an example of how I don't seem to be able to prioritize stuff.
P/S Has anyone ever watched that program on A&E called "Hoarders" ? I just absolutely cring, but I cannot take my eyes off of that show. Do some folks REALLY live like that? Obviously...
i use to hang onto bills payed,canceeled checks and tax documents for a long long time,even product books for all apppliances and tools too,untill i finally went thru all that stuff a few years ago and found stuff i havent owned in ten years.bought a file cabinet and folders for real important papers or real real important in the safety deposit box.
yes i am a horder too,its hard for me to get rid of stuff by the look of my big shed full of tools,equipment and parts for odds and ends.
