At the beginning of the month I was thinking that February would be a good month to start those resolutions that I didn't make at the new year. I figured that since February is the shortest month, it would be easier to maintain those promises I make to myself. It's only 29 days...surely I can maintain self control for 29 days.
Apparently not! I never got around to exercising regularly, drinking more water, avoiding salt, and eating more vegetables. And now February is almost over and I've only got time for a quick resolution. It's too late to drop 10 pounds or become physically fit. So, I decided to take the few days left in February and organize my life.
I started my organizational frenzy with our mail basket. The original idea of the mail basket was a temporary resting place for the mail when it was brought into the house. It has become, however, a long-term storage area for any bit of paper that doesn't make it to the trash. I actually found bank statements from 2010! Unopened!
The spouse says, "We really should review those statements to make sure we're not being embezzled." Note the use of the pronoun "we."
I decided that if the spouse hadn't reviewed a bank statement in the forty years that we've been married, he probably wasn't going to start now just because I had the urge to get organized.
I actually do review our accounts regularly, but now I do it online. I almost never write checks, everything is done electronically or with a debit card. Most of our bills are paid automatically. Why do I still have all this paper clutter?
I have now gone through all the paper in the basket and have a huge pile of bank statements from the past three years to shred. This morning I visited our two credit unions to get passwords for online access to those accounts. I'm in the process of switching all our statements to paperless. Now I'll just have electronic clutter!
I'm going to spend the February bonus day preparing for the electronic onslaught. I'm collecting all the web addresses, passwords, and account numbers in a big notebook just in case I'm hit by a truck and the spouse has to start reviewing statements online.
Posts
