Kon Mari Part Three: Paper!

We're still chugging along with on KonMari decluttering "event", which is part of the reason I haven't been posting much. We're at the stage where things get worse before they get better so it is a little overwhelming at times! Here are some photos from the night we did the paper category. We also did cookbooks that night, just because it worked out that way. Here is the before:

We piled up all the cookbooks, and Travis pulled everything out of our three drawer filing cabinet. Some people in the facebook group I'm in took DAYS to do this category. I think because we're in our 20's (well, until a few days ago!) and have a lot of stuff online, don't use credit cards, and haven't had any medical issues (knock on wood) we didn't have much to go through. All our files are in the green crate, along with mailing supplies/cards/notebooks.

It was pretty funny to go through these files. For some reason I've been filing every vet bill we've ever gotten by pet (we have five so that adds up!). Why do I need an invoice for Priscilla's ear infection medicine? I kept just the most recent rabies vaccination slips and the dog's microchip information.
I also had files of phone bills going back years, bank statements from an account I had before I got married (7 years ago) and of course the pile of manuals for appliances we don't have anymore. This category was easy for us.

I couldn't believe Travis didn't want to keep this X-ray of his teeth! But I have to respect his process. So I snapped a pic and then it got shredded.

There is all the paper we got rid of! Woah!

Our shredder sucks (we trashed it in another category actually) so Travis went the burn route. Even if our shredder didn't suck he would have done this. Building a fire is one of his favorite things to do.

After the first round here is what I was down to! About a quarter of the cookbooks I had before (I use most of these a lot, and some others are pretty new and by authors I reference a lot) a pile of files to organize and just a few blank cards to keep on hand. We ended up not needing the filing cabinet at all (bummer cuz it was cute and green) so we put it out at the end of our driveway and a guy in a truck picked it up within 30 minutes. In the same day I got rid of our bedside tables. Mine just held a pile of books that didn't move for over a year, and a bowl of receipts and trash. I haven't missed them yet!

After sorting here are all our important papers (minus our giant mortgage folder, I'm not sure what of that we need to keep, so I'm going to go through it later when I'm in the mood). One binder holds our last 7 years of tax refund info, the other has everything else.

I bought these binders a few years ago because I loved how they looked but never really had a use for them. I'm happy I get to use them now!
I'm still loving Kon Mari even though we've slowed down. The process really works!