One of my post-retirement self-assigned tasks is to go through all of our tools and combine like types and figure out how to store them so we know; 1) what we have, and 2) where they are. The wet, now dry – at least for the time being if it ever/never stops raining – basement, has expanded the basement sorting well beyond tools. So the tools themselves will have to wait their turn.
Yesterday I decided it was time to sort and file all of the paperwork received in conjunction with acquiring Medicare, in all of its parts. After pulling out all of the brochures provided to help, confuse, overwhelm, and explain the alphabet soup of Medicare choices, it was not a large amount of paper.
And while I was looking at our filing system to decide which file box they should join (medical or finance) I started looking at some of the other paperwork we had. Sorting through this was almost a fun activity, in a liberating way. Old work reviews, medical plans that we’re no longer part of, explanation of benefits from a decade or more ago are all headed for shredding or recycling. I did stop at the EOBs for 2018, the year of Carl’s half million dollar medical expenses. I just wasn’t quite ready to send it on its way.
There are guidelines for how long to save certain records, and I probably exceed the suggestions for some things. On one hand I still have the gas/travel records for my 1980 Honda Civic that lasted 20 years and 280,000 miles. It contains records of my trips crossing the country back and forth, first by myself, then with boyfriend/husband in tow, and finally with kids. But on the other shoulder is the voice reminding me of going through my father-in-law’s files after he passed, and not wishing that on our kids.
Raincharm's Weblog 
January 8, 2026 at 3:06 pm |
It took me a long time to throw out Patt’s cancer paperwork. I also still have my daughters’ bills for their births at Good Sam. I very much need to go through my filing cabinet. It’s getting TOO full and I know there’s stuff in there that doesn’t pertain to my life any more.
January 8, 2026 at 3:19 pm |
It’s a bit weird how I feel about some stuff that is really only still around because I can’t let go of what it represented at the time.
January 8, 2026 at 7:11 pm |
A major perk of death is that you don’t have to clean up after yourself. If you can’t muster the courage to deal with your three storage units, leave the contents to your heirs. Mention in the will that there’s something valuable in one of them.
January 8, 2026 at 9:15 pm |
We had three storage units. Now we just have the basement, garage, attic, …, we’ll basically the entire house.