Glorious!

The paperwork is finished. It is in order, filed, and the files have been purged allowing everything to fit in one filing cabinet. Anything that allowed me to go paperless I and anything I haven't needed since 2006 is in the bin to be shredded. (Don't worry, I kept the major stuff; I know better than to do away with past tax returns.)

Anyway, it is a load off and the air has cleared in the house. I'm still a bundle of nerves but that little kernel of chaos has been shaken out, ironed, de-knotted, and put away neatly with everything in it's place. I told Hubby that it's been a gremlin sitting behind that door for the past year, giggling at me everytime I walked past. He simply nodded and asked me what the next gremlin will be, he was sure I'm going to find one. I said probably cleaning the floors.

In the meantime, I am taking deep breaths of everything being fully cleaned out and nothing remaining. I can honestly tell you where everything is in the house. Well, except for that darn car satellite radio. Still can't find that thing after all this! Grits and gravel! But I finally have a system of dealing with the paperwork immediately and it should work as long as I keep up with it. (Isn't that the case with anything?) But really, I think this one will work. For one thing there is no crate for "to be filed." That gets me in so much trouble because it allows me to put it off. There is a crate for "to be shredded" and that is on top of the one filing cabinet we are down to where everything fits. As mail comes in they go in the "to be paid" space or immediately filed if they need to be kept. As receipts come in along with the paid bill statements they go in a bag for me to look over and throw away/shred when I pay bills and reconcile the check book at the beginning of every month (I dispose of it only if it clears). Whatever is left from that gets filed immediately. Whatever is tax deductible has it's own little file folder next to the "to be paid" space. I am so visual I have the "tbp" stack in a spot that is under my nose most of the day so I can't forget about it.

Hopefully this all works. I would like to put that timer on for 15 minute intervals of whatever projects I need to get finished rather than book keeping. You know, that's a great idea: 15 minutes of knitting the baby blanket, 15 minutes of that hat, 15 minutes of the quilt I'm planning. That just might move things along...

(By the way, found out who Venus D'Milo is. I also found out my Art History knowledge is lacking.)