Shredding Files

As I try to do every year on Super Bowl day (though this year I didn’t watch the game or the commercials or the bla-bla talking heads) I shred last year’s documents to clean out the file cabinet.

I’m almost fanatic about saving files, recipes, documents and manuals. This also helps clean up for taxes and downsize inventory.

So this year I pull out my trusty shredder and bring out the bulging files. Instead of keeping two-year files, I only keep last years and then on Super Bowl day they bite the dust.

Still there were some folders that were thick with paper. They had titles of “Important Papers”, “Insurance”, “Health” and other vague references. After searching for the last television manuals that were found in a file named “Electronics” I decided to get rid of the waste I was keeping.

So many files like credit cards and bank records are kept online and updated everyday. If their servers go down we are all lost.

Also, like email, how far do you want to scroll back to see what happen three years ago?

Cut off the staples and slide into the slot. Whirrrrrr! Done.

Then I found some folders I’d forgotten about.

These were copies of my personnel files that I copied before I was removed. For a day I re-read emails and memos and announcements and proclamations for the last ten years I was there. There were employee reviews, pay scales, job descriptions and dismissals. It was interesting to look back at conversations in the threads but sad to remember the toxic atmosphere of management at that time. These did remind me of how retirement is so much better and less stressful.

Now there are 16 almost empty metal file cabinets.

Back to cooking chili.