WWTBAM Bored

That's what I've been doing this afternoon. Part of getting the condo ready to go on the market is cleaning out the attic of useless junk to make room for stuff that legimately needs to be stored there to make the condo look nice for showing. I had a bad habit of keeping every piece of paper anyone ever sent me. This afternoon, I decided burning was a lot faster (and more fun!) than shredding, so I have been tending the fire for the last couple of hours. Right now I'm on utility bills from 1997. Seriously.

I have a mountain of receipts all over the floor from the past 8 years you can add to the inferno....

sunflower wrote:That's what I've been doing this afternoon. Part of getting the condo ready to go on the market is cleaning out the attic of useless junk to make room for stuff that legimately needs to be stored there to make the condo look nice for showing. I had a bad habit of keeping every piece of paper anyone ever sent me. This afternoon, I decided burning was a lot faster (and more fun!) than shredding, so I have been tending the fire for the last couple of hours. Right now I'm on utility bills from 1997. Seriously.

Lightweight! I have bills, not to mention most every other piece of correspondence of semi note I have ever received, going back to the early 80's when I first started getting bills...

tanstaafl2 wrote:

sunflower wrote:That's what I've been doing this afternoon. Part of getting the condo ready to go on the market is cleaning out the attic of useless junk to make room for stuff that legimately needs to be stored there to make the condo look nice for showing. I had a bad habit of keeping every piece of paper anyone ever sent me. This afternoon, I decided burning was a lot faster (and more fun!) than shredding, so I have been tending the fire for the last couple of hours. Right now I'm on utility bills from 1997. Seriously.

Lightweight! I have bills, not to mention most every other piece of correspondence of semi note I have ever received, going back to the early 80's when I first started getting bills...

You're both amateurs. I got my first checking account at age 16 and I still have all the cancelled checks (yes, Clem, they had invented paper by then....), even the temporary ones that I used before my check order arrived.

Sisyphean Fan wrote:

tanstaafl2 wrote:

sunflower wrote:That's what I've been doing this afternoon. Part of getting the condo ready to go on the market is cleaning out the attic of useless junk to make room for stuff that legimately needs to be stored there to make the condo look nice for showing. I had a bad habit of keeping every piece of paper anyone ever sent me. This afternoon, I decided burning was a lot faster (and more fun!) than shredding, so I have been tending the fire for the last couple of hours. Right now I'm on utility bills from 1997. Seriously.

Lightweight! I have bills, not to mention most every other piece of correspondence of semi note I have ever received, going back to the early 80's when I first started getting bills...

You're both amateurs. I got my first checking account at age 16 and I still have all the cancelled checks (yes, Clem, they had invented paper by then....), even the temporary ones that I used before my check order arrived.

I have a box full of old school assigments dating back to my junior high days......

Who's up next on Top That!....?

lb13

sunflower wrote: This afternoon, I decided burning was a lot faster (and more fun!) than shredding, so I have been tending the fire for the last couple of hours.

Ahhh, another nice relocation idea, Coatesville,PA.

littlebeast13 wrote:

Sisyphean Fan wrote:

tanstaafl2 wrote: Lightweight! I have bills, not to mention most every other piece of correspondence of semi note I have ever received, going back to the early 80's when I first started getting bills...

You're both amateurs. I got my first checking account at age 16 and I still have all the cancelled checks (yes, Clem, they had invented paper by then....), even the temporary ones that I used before my check order arrived.

I have a box full of old school assigments dating back to my junior high days......

Who's up next on Top That!....?

lb13

Those are keepsakes, they don't count. But if that's the way you want to play....

I have the vital statistics clipping from the newspaper announcing how proud my parents were on the occasion of my birth (back when vital stats were quaint little statements instead of 'just the facts, ma'am').

Next!

littlebeast13 wrote:

Sisyphean Fan wrote:

tanstaafl2 wrote: Lightweight! I have bills, not to mention most every other piece of correspondence of semi note I have ever received, going back to the early 80's when I first started getting bills...

You're both amateurs. I got my first checking account at age 16 and I still have all the cancelled checks (yes, Clem, they had invented paper by then....), even the temporary ones that I used before my check order arrived.

I have a box full of old school assigments dating back to my junior high days......

Who's up next on Top That!....?

lb13

I still have my fourth grade Colorado History project. The front cover has pictures of a columbine, blue spruce, and bighorn sheep on it. The inside has handwritten copies of the state song, motto (Nothing Without Providence), my report on Colorado's history, plus a typed letter (in reply to the one I wrote to him in my fourth-grade handwriting [[[shudder]]]) from someone at the Chamber of Commerce in Fan's fair city telling me how wonderful it is there and to come visit.

Sisyphean Fan wrote: Those are keepsakes, they don't count. But if that's the way you want to play....

According to this rule, my Colorado History project doesn't count either.

Oops!

Sisyphean Fan wrote:

littlebeast13 wrote:

Sisyphean Fan wrote: You're both amateurs. I got my first checking account at age 16 and I still have all the cancelled checks (yes, Clem, they had invented paper by then....), even the temporary ones that I used before my check order arrived.

I have a box full of old school assigments dating back to my junior high days......

Who's up next on Top That!....?

lb13

Those are keepsakes, they don't count. But if that's the way you want to play....

I have the vital statistics clipping from the newspaper announcing how proud my parents were on the occasion of my birth (back when vital stats were quaint little statements instead of 'just the facts, ma'am').

Next!

I'd hardly say it's keepsakes as it is just packratism. I used to dump the contents of my Trapper Keeper in the box after every semester, so it's just all kinds of garbage...

I also have a Purex box full of all sorts of odd things I'v ebeen collecting for the past two decades.... most of it just oridinary crap I found laying outside somewhere.... if I listed the contents of that box, you'd think I really AM nuts.....

lb13

littlebeast13 wrote:
I also have a Purex box full of all sorts of odd things I'v ebeen collecting for the past two decades.... most of it just oridinary crap I found laying outside somewhere.... if I listed the contents of that box, you'd think I really AM nuts.....

lb13

Don't worry, we already think that.

Takes one to know one . . .

When I lived in a cramped studio apt, I didn't have room for old bills and bank statements, so I bought a scanner and scanned them into my computer. Some was lost when my Windows 98 machine crashed in 2000, but most was backed up. I still have folders of statement and bill images, some from the 90s as well. Now I save the PDF statements online because with some of my bills and accounts, only six months worth is kept online and I would have to pay to retrieve anything older.

Like Fan, I have canceled checks from my first checking account, though only a medium-sized envelope-full, which makes me an amateur as well.

I kept a box of high school stuff including books and assignments until fairly recently, because those were the good old days, and the days after high school were not as good (read: Circular File for that stuff) I took a whole bunch of digital pictures of my H.S. stuff before throwing them out. Oh, and I had to shred stuff with my social security number on them, apparently both my H.S. and college used it a lot in the late 80s and early 90s, before ID theft was a major issue.

Sisyphean Fan wrote:

tanstaafl2 wrote:

sunflower wrote:That's what I've been doing this afternoon. Part of getting the condo ready to go on the market is cleaning out the attic of useless junk to make room for stuff that legimately needs to be stored there to make the condo look nice for showing. I had a bad habit of keeping every piece of paper anyone ever sent me. This afternoon, I decided burning was a lot faster (and more fun!) than shredding, so I have been tending the fire for the last couple of hours. Right now I'm on utility bills from 1997. Seriously.

Lightweight! I have bills, not to mention most every other piece of correspondence of semi note I have ever received, going back to the early 80's when I first started getting bills...

You're both amateurs. I got my first checking account at age 16 and I still have all the cancelled checks (yes, Clem, they had invented paper by then....), even the temporary ones that I used before my check order arrived.

I stapled the cancelled checks to the corresponding statements. I have every bill I've ever paid since college. Every lease I've ever signed. Every piece of documentation about all my cars - including the temporary license plates they give you when you are waiting for new plates. I've been burning for hours, and gone through I don't know maybe 10 boxes of stuff so far today.

I still have the papyrus scroll from my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grand mother's birth annoucement. She was Moses's older sister.

Sorry, I was channeling BobJuch for a second.

Well, my Mom's house burned down to the ground in minutes while I was away at college.

Nope, nothing pre-Penn State remains.

Some fires are not planned bill bonfires.

I still have my savings account book (Downey Savings) from 1962.

Sisyphean Fan wrote:

tanstaafl2 wrote:

sunflower wrote:That's what I've been doing this afternoon. Part of getting the condo ready to go on the market is cleaning out the attic of useless junk to make room for stuff that legimately needs to be stored there to make the condo look nice for showing. I had a bad habit of keeping every piece of paper anyone ever sent me. This afternoon, I decided burning was a lot faster (and more fun!) than shredding, so I have been tending the fire for the last couple of hours. Right now I'm on utility bills from 1997. Seriously.

Lightweight! I have bills, not to mention most every other piece of correspondence of semi note I have ever received, going back to the early 80's when I first started getting bills...

You're both amateurs. I got my first checking account at age 16 and I still have all the cancelled checks (yes, Clem, they had invented paper by then....), even the temporary ones that I used before my check order arrived.

I've been trying to become less of a pack rat. Among other things, I still have the past 30 years worth of Austin phone books. Both white and yellow pages.

TheConfessor wrote:

Sisyphean Fan wrote:

tanstaafl2 wrote: Lightweight! I have bills, not to mention most every other piece of correspondence of semi note I have ever received, going back to the early 80's when I first started getting bills...

You're both amateurs. I got my first checking account at age 16 and I still have all the cancelled checks (yes, Clem, they had invented paper by then....), even the temporary ones that I used before my check order arrived.

I've been trying to become less of a pack rat. Among other things, I still have the past 30 years worth of Austin phone books. Both white and yellow pages.

Try e-Bay. Maybe someone will want them for museum or an art project. Or maybe they want to become an instant pack rat.

ulysses5019 wrote:

TheConfessor wrote:

Sisyphean Fan wrote: You're both amateurs. I got my first checking account at age 16 and I still have all the cancelled checks (yes, Clem, they had invented paper by then....), even the temporary ones that I used before my check order arrived.

I've been trying to become less of a pack rat. Among other things, I still have the past 30 years worth of Austin phone books. Both white and yellow pages.

Try e-Bay. Maybe someone will want them for museum or an art project. Or maybe they want to become an instant pack rat.

I would want to be sure that they were going to a good home.

TheConfessor wrote:

ulysses5019 wrote:

TheConfessor wrote: I've been trying to become less of a pack rat. Among other things, I still have the past 30 years worth of Austin phone books. Both white and yellow pages.

Try e-Bay. Maybe someone will want them for museum or an art project. Or maybe they want to become an instant pack rat.

I would want to be sure that they were going to a good home.

And they've been in a good home up to now?

TheConfessor wrote: I've been trying to become less of a pack rat.

Aha! The inspiration for Uly's newest avatar!

My m-i-l really suffers from hoarding. I mean really.

She sold the family homestead a few years back and finally got rid of the phonebooks she had saved since they moved in in 1967. She has started saving the ones in Florida. When Sting told her she could throw them away, she said she doesn't because sometimes you can't find number in the new book and they will be in the old book.

I'm like "Does the old number work?"

Usually not, she says.

peacock2121 wrote:My m-i-l really suffers from hoarding. I mean really.

She sold the family homestead a few years back and finally got rid of the phonebooks she had saved since they moved in in 1967. She has started saving the ones in Florida. When Sting told her she could throw them away, she said she doesn't because sometimes you can't find number in the new book and they will be in the old book.

I'm like "Does the old number work?"

Usually not, she says.

Does she recognize herself when she sees those hoarding shows or is she all "I have a reason to keep stuff but now, those people, they've got a problem!

My biggest problem is not really being a packrat, but being a fast freak out cleaner. So say for example, my mother is coming over. The night before, do I take time to carefully clean? No. I pile mail, junk mail, whatever is laying around into a bag or box then jam it in a closet. Then who wants to ever go through that box, it's a mess! Then that happens a few times and then the closet is a mess. Then I need to get into the closet so it all goes in the attic. And then the cycle starts over. Some of it was legitimately organized, some of it was ridiculous. I figure if I haven't used or needed the stuff in years, it's history. I keep sentimental stuff - I'm not even factoring that in here. I have big rubbermaid containers with high school and college photo albums and year books, boxes of photos and negatives, old cards and letters, etc. That stuff I'll always keep, but the Domino's menu from 2001 that managed to get in a box, that doesn't need to be kept.

MarleysGh0st wrote:

TheConfessor wrote: I've been trying to become less of a pack rat.

Aha! The inspiration for Uly's newest avatar!

Scary Marley, exactly what I thought when I read that post!



It is like an Easter Egg Hunt.