So far I've gotten rid of most of our older records meaning about seventeen 30 gallon trash bags of shredded material. I've also donated several wallets, etc. to my sister for her fundraising project regarding feral cats. Now we are in a challenging phase. It is a choice of need versus want. I have a few cartons of debris that I have collected from various jobs and personal items that I have either forgotten about or don't use anymore. I'm giving myself the weekend off; then on Monday will tackle the need vs. want phase. For example, I have a filing cabinet full of Civil War soldier's personnel records. I wrote several papers a few years back and needed them for reference. I don't really need them anymore, but I want the space they take up. I am debating on whether or not I should donate them to the local historical society because they are all Rockland County men. I don't want to just shred them because the projects were near to my heart and they also cost quite a bit of money over the years. We are also giving a lot of our paper backs to the library as free loaners to make more room.
There are also a lot of trinkets from my offices where I've worked over the last 3 decades. Most involve nice memories, but again, they take up space and will not mean anything to anyone after I'm gone. I've already shredded a lot of my certificates for Safety Manager, Fire Safety Director, OSHA Seminars and the like. The only thing that I haven't destroyed is my NYFD Certificate for Refrigeration Machine Operator. I've had that since 1980. That piece of paper was a real stepping stone to my career in the Building Operations field.
I'll be doing some pondering over this weekend on what to dump. I've already made the decision that I want no more presents for Christmas, birthdays, etc. That will just clutter the house. I think I'll just ask people to donate money to the Friends of the Hunley in my name for future gifts. At least it will do some good. www.hunley.org
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2 comments:
Hi Bill,
Great Blogsite! Clive Cussler and I have been friends for more than twenty years. He invited me to go with him to Charleston, SC for the funeral of the Hunley crew. I got to actually hold many of the artifacts from the sub, including the gold coin. We also spent some time at the Mariners Museum and were able to go inside the turret after the tank it was soaking was drained for our tour. I have played taps at hundreds of funerals over the past 45 years. I also collect historic military bugles. I last played taps for a V.N. vet friend of mine on what most people thought was a toy bugle. I explained, after the funeral, that the bugle I used was last played in public to assemble the CSA troops for the fall of Richmond in 1865.
Shredding really does teach us some lessons and it is not just the obvious as sorting things out. As unbelievable as it may seem, it does help us to realize our present priorities. It was thoughtful to want to donate the Civil War soldier's personnel records to a historical society, by the way. Did you pursue the plan? Ruby@Williams Data Management
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