shredder

A couple years ago my dad bought me a paper shredder for Christmas. This seemed like an odd gift for a father to give to his 24-year-old daughter, but I've used it. Credit card offers I get in the mail go straight into the shredder. When I stumble across and electric bill from 2010 it goes in the shredder. Before I moved to Philadelphia I did some serious shredding. I have a weird tendency to hold onto things. A few years back I bought an accordion folder to try and organize my important documents. I organized it for health insurance stuff, income, taxes, student loans, etc. Lately though I've just been piling stuff up on my kitchen table and various other surfaces in my apartment. Here's what my kitchen table looked like a little earlier today:

And here it is, relatively tidy, after I looked at the above picture again and thought, "What the hell is all this paper doing here?!"

Most of it went in the trash (or the shredder). A few things went into the accordion folder, which I swear I'm going to organize someday soon. 

The problem is, I tend to be kind of sentimental. I still have the first "Certificate of Awesomeness" I received from my good friend Doc Thunder's karaoke night. I feel bad throwing away cards from family members (especially my grandparents-- it just feels heartless). I still have drawings and notes from former campers and students (some of these are from YEARS ago, but I just can't let go). I still have notebooks from college undergrad classes, and I have SO many notebooks and handouts and whathaveyous from grad school. This isn't normal. Am I a hoarder? Am I just too lazy to go through this crap and clean house? (Probably the latter.) Do other people just store this kind of crap at their parents' house, who eventually toss it all out for them?

Every once in a while I'll get a burst of energy and tidy up a small area of my living space, but usually within a month it's back to the same old mess. One of these days I promise, I promise YOU dear reader, that I am going to clean up and get organized and donate the mountains of clothes and books that I don't even remember owning and then feed all my old bills and pay stubs from 2004 to that damn shredder. (Seriously, I found a pay stub from 2004 when I was looking for medical documents a few weeks ago... why???)

Afterthoughts:

It's interesting (or at least I find it interesting) that in work situations and I extremely organized. Nothing bothers me more than a messy work station. If I'm working at a desk that desk better be neat and organized. The first thing I did when I got my job in human resources was organized that space (which was formerly occupied by a lovely but not-so-neat coworker). I moved around files so they made sense, I shredded the crap out of years-old resumes and job applications, and things ran smoothly. Is it because I was being paid to be organized in this situation? Do I care more about other people's shit than my own shit?