The Year of Living Minimally - Week Nine

Hurricanes. Fires. Floods. Tornadoes. We've had many natural disasters, and far too many people have been impacted. It's a heartbreaking situation.When you're ordered to evacuate, usually you have very little time to pack and flee. If your local emergency management official told you you had thirty minutes to leave your residence, what would you take? What could you leave behind? This isn't a post about disaster preparedness - you should familiarize yourself with it. This is about ridding yourself of the excess stuff around you. This week I'm tackling paper. Part one of I don't know how many parts.While cleaning out a closet last week, I found an accordion file from 1998. I've kept a file like that each year for the past 30 years - bills, receipts, cancelled checks. This one, from nearly 20 years ago, must have missed the shredder. I keep my records for seven years.Look at my cable bill! That included my phone, too, but not internet. In light of the massive Equifax data breach, I wonder why I worry about shredding old documents. I also cleaned out the refrigerator. Even though we don't live with the constant threat of hurricanes or tornadoes, we've lost power (more likely in a winter storm), and when you lose power for a prolonged period of time, you might lose what's in the fridge and freezer. My husband is the Condiment King. I cleaned out near-empty jars of salsa, bottles of ketchup and soy sauce. I know I've been all over the place with this project. I could have stuck to cabinets and drawers until everything was cleaned out, but I've jumped around - closets, paper, furniture. Bit by bit, week by week, decision by decision.