saving each treasure

I was born a person who has very sentimental tendencies.

I probably have most Christmas card photos that have ever been sent to us.

I have nearly every newsletter my mom sent to us for many years.

I have piles and piles and piles of paper.

We won't even discuss the pages torn out of Country Living magazine.

That activity (usually done on a road trip) completely confuses dear hubby.

What do we do with all this paper stuff? I can almost understand keeping copies of tax data, but what do we do with the rest of it. I have a file cabinet. The kind that holds paper. But I don't want more than one of those. I really don't want to ever own or purchase another 3-ring binder in my life. 

So I am scanning. A lot. I am trying a bullet journal type of thing this year and scanning is on a task list every week. (Except the last week of February!) 

The family newsletters are all going to be in one file which I can then share with my siblings.

The rest of them are going in appropriate files on some online storage service, easily accessible when I need to see them. Very nicely hidden away when I don't need to be reminded of them.

The photos are included in yet another bullet point in my journal. I am trying to get caught up on years ... let me tell you years! ... of Shutterfly book making.

I emptied boxes in the laundry room awhile ago and was making good progress on the binders stored in there. One after another. Scan and pitch.

However, I am moving through one room after another. This past week I went through the closet (which I made an office type of closet) in my spare bedroom. And you wouldn't believe it. Tucked away in there were at least 4 more of those stinkin' binders!

This shelf is one that is sort of in my face every day of the week. I see the projects and am reminded that I have to spend yet another hour in front of the scanner. And slowly they disappear. One after another.

Unfortunately, I have many photos that are scattered throughout cd's, external hard drives, printed and loose in boxes. They are next years project. They were really dubbed the "Alaska Project" and they are still in the same boxes as they were in 2007. Go figure.

I recently had the discussion about Christmas cards with a group of ladies. Some pitch them, others save them, yet others have guilt over the whole thing. My hope is to someday have them all in files which I can then play on a screen and enjoy watching them flip by. One after another. Watch the changes in friends and their families throughout the years.

Maybe that can happen in 2020?