Thursday, June 5, 2014

Boxes of Life: Lightening the Load

By: Ann Burnside Love

It’s summer, time to shed layers of clothing … and other belongings as well.

Whether you’re beginning to think about moving to a senior retirement community, or you’re moving soon, or if you took entirely too much to your new retirement residence — planning to think about it afterwards, as many people do — here are suggestions for handling all those boxes which contain chapters of your life.


• First, financial records: If you, or someone helping you, can Google “How long should I keep financial records?” you will find lots of current information from the IRS and other sources. Taxes and receipts of all kinds are covered, as are items both business and personal. The closest shredder will dispose of them appropriately and rapidly.

• Select a few photos from your favorite trips to keep, along with your most memorable photos of family friends and events to take with you. If you or yours are computer savvy, store photos online so you can look at them whenever you like. My daughter did a disc as the most marvelous Christmas gift for me and her brothers before I moved. Last Christmas the family gave me an electronic photo frame where a new photo comes up every few seconds, to which all branches had contributed photos. A superb “This is Your Life!” So now I’m receiving new photos sent directly to my frame by email. (This is how I’m watching my first “Great” in another state grow from preemie to four months with big smiles and constant protection from their enormous dog.)

• Every year I’ve started a new manila folder labeled “Correspondence & Keepsakes” which gets stuffed with letters and notes plus programs for school performances and graduations for my own kids and grandchildren, to keepsakes of my own events and friends. Though I haven’t given up all these yet, this is definitely an area where judicial pitching is in order. Again, visions in memory can serve, and if I can’t remember details of all this anymore, then it’s time to unclutter my mind as well as my boxes.

• Clothes come next. Do I really expect to wear my favorite jackets, skirts and slacks from my days with Love & Company now stored in under-the-bed boxes, or the very few formal clothes I’ve saved? Or my special event dresses for weddings or business awards ceremonies, including my favorite teal gown? Since I haven’t bought any clothes except from favorite catalogs in years, do I still need to look at all those other catalogues that arrive too regularly? Do I really need to buy anything at all? No.

• How many Christmas ornaments do I really need to keep in my storage locker in my residence’s basement, along with way too many miscellaneous boxes I’ve put there “to think about later?”

It’s amazing how much of our lives we’ve saved in boxes. Clear out at least half, and you’ll feel infinitely happier and relieved. Take my word for it! Carry on!



Ann's blog appears here every Thursday. Comments are welcome!

1 comment:

  1. Ann, delighted to find your blog via directions in today's column in the FNP. The blog is a great idea, and you're the person to carry it off! I'm beginning the paper-sorting, photo-scanning, clothes-tossing process. As you know, it can become a full-time job. I look forward to reading your blog to keep myself motivated. I hope that by the time we move into the Lodge in 2016 we'll be traveling light! Thanks, Ann! Pat Lufkin

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