Consolidating Crap

It has been one year since I quit teaching.  When I quit I left ALL my stuff there for the incoming teacher in case she needed it (she was new), so the students had some consistency, and because I was incredibly pregnant and didn't have the brain power to deal with it.  Those reasons were all fine and dandy until school ended and I had to go and get it ALL.  It was a bit complicated because there was mine, what I'd inherited, and what I could inherit.  I headed over there with the intention of sorting and then bringing home only the necessary items.  Yeah right.  I had a 3 month old infant.  I went over there and just loaded up my car and drove it all home.  Every last bit.  Multiple car loads.  I guess I did throw some stuff away.  The things that were obviously garbage got trashed, but the rest didn't get another thought.  Home it all came and the stashing and hiding began.  I really hate clutter (I feel like I might get swallowed by it)  and so I stuffed it all in boxes and shoved it into the basement. Out of sight, out of mind....or so I thought - at least until the holidays were over.

The other day I walked into the storage area of the basement and was sure that I would indeed get swallowed by the clutter that was starting to overtake it.  Somehow, that crap had found its way out of it's hiding places and into the open.  It seemed to be multiplying and in a bad, bad way.  It was time to take action.  I started going through the boxes because I literally couldn't remember what was in them.  It turned out that most of them were files.  An entire file cabinet worth to be exact.  I forgot that I had brought all this inherited material home.  The thing about paper is that is becoming more steadily obsolete.  Anything you need or want you can find on the internet.   It had to go.  The stuff was out dated and some of it were actually dittos, old copies that were purple or blue and were run off by hand.  Seriously.  It was quite a task and one that seemed would never end.  When I finally got to the end I had two piles.

 This recycle/garbage pile. There are 5 large boxes worth of crap here.

And the save pile.  I was able to fit it all in one file drawer.  I took pictures for posterity's sake and because I will always need to be reminded of how good it feels to consolidate crap.