shredded

i've spent time the last several days (well, the ones where i've actually been home) going through piles - literally - of paper. some from school...but most of it, i'm embarrassed to admit is just junk mail that i never bothered to toss out when it came. i have years worth of junk mail taking up precious space in my bedroom and it's driving me crazy. thankfully, several years ago, my parents came to visit me when i was still living in california. my mom helped me go through a bunch of stuff and get rid of it. the problem for me is that i get attached to things. why? who knows. and the other problem is that i someone convinced myself it was easier to throw it into a box or a bin instead of recycling or shredding it. well...i'm done with that. i've been planning - for over a year now - to go through what's left of my paper past and clear it all out. when i moved into this house last year, i had done a bit of down-sizing...but then i got busy...and lazy ;)...and all of my good intentions didn't mean squat because i still had all these boxes of papers. ugh. let me be clear. i am a neat freak to the core and if anyone ever visits, they will find my bedroom, closet and bathroom squeaky clean. the bedroom just has "organized piles" of papers. well, i've definitely had enough. i've had all summer to work on this project (well, most of it anyway) and it's nearly the end of august. the furniture is going into storage on thursday and i'm moving out on monday. the time is now. the neat-freak inside is breathing a sigh of relief and probably squealing with glee as each pile disappears and one more box is emptied. how lovely it will be when all i take to my storage until are boxes of books/dvds/cds and household items instead of another year's worth of paper. i've built momentum...i just hope it holds all the way through. i work all day tomorrow, all day saturday, and all day sunday. that gives me 3 - count them, THREE days to shred and recycle as much as possible and get the rest of my things out of the house. i'm ready. let's see what happens :)