Spring Cleaning
I knew the day would come...
It was inevitable.
And I dreaded it.
For no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shove ONE MORE piece of paper into my office file cabinet.
Oh, I tried the old "pull up a huge sheaf, slide in a new page and push it all back into place", but that trick no longer worked... the bitch stubbornly refused to close anymore.
So I had to bite the bullet and Spring Clean.
At work.
Crap.
But once I started with a hot cuppa joe at hand, I became a whirlwind of F5 magnitude.
Papers flew into the recycle bin.
My garbage soon overflowed with demolished disks and manuals of long-obsolete software.
Paper clips were de-clipped, re-boxed and sent back to the supply room.
Whole projects were chucked.
Crisp new folders were recruited into action.
Coherant labels were printed.
What little survived the storm was re-sorted chronologically, filed in the proper folder (for a refreshing change) and placed back into logical order in the now-pristine cabinet.
After two days, I reduced three vertical drawers bulging at the seams to less than a single one of nice, neat files.
"But Maureen..." co-workers foolishly enquired, clearly jealous of my complete Mastery Of Office Organization (or "MOOO" for short).
"Aren't you afraid you tossed something important?"
Yes, I am am shaking in my boots at the prospect of swift dismissal if we are ever in need of:
- Dozens of certificates and licences for Windows 95:
- Thirteen year old computer quotes like this one for a 486 with 8 MB RAM costing a mere $2,000:
- Hundreds of "Y2K" reports I was assigned to complete not only from MY department, but many others in the hospital too. Yes, I am surely risking severe retribution if it were discovered this critical data is now lost to the world:
That's just a small sampling of the junk I literally filled this entire blue bin with. A recycling container that is intended to serve the whole floor for a week, I must confess.
But it felt good. After all the time, effort, strong coffee and paper cuts, it was worth it.
And just think. In 13 years or so, I'll have to do it all over again.
Wanna know more?
Click the "About Me" tab above.
Wanna read more?
Click below for the Archives.
Subscribe in a Reader
MY ART BLOG:
Popular Posts
-
So..... what have YOU been up to lately? Oh me? Well let's see. Since I last wrote, I have been uber-busy. Yesiree... busy, busy, busy... -
I was reading my Yahoo mail the other day and came across an email that really made my day. "I just love your blog!" Aw, shucks, t... -
I had a sneaking suspicion it would happen sooner or later, but today I realised it without a doubt it's true. Hubby and I have become...
18 People would rather be commenting:
Well done Maureen. Now if you could just drop by my place and lend a hand. I make a real nice cup of coffee. Seriously! What do you say?
Good job! Doesn't it feel good after it's all done and organized? I'm really needing to do the same thing with my cubicle since I will be changing jobs/departments really soon. And we won't even MENTION our home filing cabinet. :-S
Yay! Good for you and your MOOO. I need to do this for our own home office. Do we really need the Telus bill from four years ago? The Fido bill from five? I'm not even with Fido anymore!
Oh Maureen...........this is the kind of project that I just absolutely dread, and yet, when it's finished, it's such a great feeling of accomplishment!
I believe you have spurred me on to do some similar things at our store.
I hope I stay motivated!!!
Have a great weekend!
Linda
Nicely done!!
I so need to do that.
A coworker of mine had their last day yesterday and brought over a thank you card to show me from 2003thanking him for the wedding gift. It was from me. He laughed and said he can't believe the stuff he's finding!!
I bet it felt very good to do that. I am all for having a good toss out, I love tossing things out.
You deserve a hot chocolate and half a package of chocolate chip cookies for that! I'll come eat the other half.
Gotta love a good purge!
Or dumping as the case may be.
When you get a chance, I have an entire office for you to take a look at.
Maureen -- You do know I would have killed to shred all your paper for you, right?
Remember my affliction?
Oh that computer quote is classic! You should not have recycled it. You should have donated it to the Smithsonian.
OMG, I just saw myself so well in all that you trashed. You'd be right at home here, LOL.
Favorite line: "the bitch stubbornly refused to close anymore." I have spent numerous minutes working with a bitch that won't give. I hate having to give in, but loved the imagery.
I seriously need to do this to my file cabinets at home. I have tax returns from 1994 in there and class schedules from college. I seriously doubt I will need those things anytime in the near future
I had the major life change about 8 years ago, when I disowned everything in my home. I went through it and anything that I hadn't used in 3 months or KNEW I was going to use in 1 month got tossed....everything. How many of the things that I threw away did I end up needing later on....about 1%. For those, I just went out and bought new ones. It was one of the best things I ever did...like flushing out your arteries.
Wow, that was one expensive fancy computer.
Blog Bloke: Sure! Starbucks??? ;)
Heather: Yeah, it feels good. And no, I'm not even thinking about my file cabinet in the basement...
Lady Banana: Me too. Me too.
Huckdoll: Really! I have gas bills from 20 years ago... and another house! (but that's at home and another whole story)....
Linda: Aw, thanks. Hope I got you motivated. Wish my motivation extended to my house now...
Ann(ie): Har! Yeah, the things we find when we look really hard. (Or when we're looking for something else and get sidetracked).
Sweet Irene: Anytime you can come to Canada I'll be sure to have the hot chocolate and cookies at the ready!!!!
Ed: So true (purge that is).
Momo Fali: Ha! It took me long enough to do my OWN!!!
Kathy: Believe it or not, I THOUGHT of you when I was loading up that recycle bin!!! How could I forget your love of the shredder???
You would have had a field day.
BusyDad: Well, at least I kept a scan of it!!! I couldn't resist...
Aimeslee: I'm so sorry to hear that! ;)
Cardiogirl: Well, you gotta call it the way you see it... :D
Vegas Princess: Yeah, my home cabinet is much worse, believe it or not.
Lotus07: Ah, an angioplasty for the paperwork. Quite fitting, since I work in Cardiac Sciences (Cardiology) at the hospital.
Creative-Type Dad: I know, eh? That was a riot to see.
good for you...so is your house next??? LOL
Post a Comment