This Shredder's On Fire

Less than a month until moving day. We are doing the obligatory cleaning and sorting that comes with a move, and cannot believe how much junk can be accumulated, even in this short amount of time living here in Florida. I can't be blamed for two reasons a) my mother and b) my father.

My mother, in the very nicest meaning of the word, is, in an effort to find a word that doesn't sound negative, a 'keeper'. She holds on to EVERYTHING! If you want to borrow my brown loafers from high school - just ask, they are still in my closet in my old room, aka shrine. This could be considered a faux pas, but for the most part, everything is so organized that if she decides she needs something, she most likely can find it and put it to good use. For example, A has enjoyed playing with some awesome old Fisher Price toys on our visits to Ohio! My mother has the cleanest house I know, so if she wants a few extra stacks of stuff here or there, so be it!

My second reason that I feel I am not to blame for this accumulation of items is my father - the perpetual deal finder and bulk item purchaser. He is also a keeper to boot. My dad is an old school black Friday shopper; he went to Meijer when I was in high school and bought about 6 boxes of alarm clocks and cordless phones for practically nothing because he knew he'd be dolling out the high school graduation presents in the coming years. Well done dad. My dad is also the king of Sam's Club and Cost Co. If there are some hugh beefy steaks to be purchases for a family dinner, or a shortage of Clorox bleach, you know who to send out for the task. And no one will go hungry (for days), or need disinfecting (for years).

In conclusion, this need to accumulate and stock up is hereditary, and I have no chance of being a house with a light load. This leads me to my project of the evening - shredding. I have successfully shredded 5 shopping bags full* of documentation from my married life. Mortgage statements (from our home we owned in Kentucky, a year's worth of utility bills from said home, old credit card bills, itineraries from a 2005 trip to Europe, and resumes from my 2006 job search are amoung the items to go. Why do I have any of these items, which have no relevancy to my life now, still in my house? For this one, becaues I've seen his office, I blame dad.

*shreddings were dumped into the recycling bin. At least my past hoarding can provide paper for future hoarding.