Naptime Filing

They say that when your child naps, you should nap too. I’ve attempted this, and sometimes it works. Max will sleep, I will sleep, and we’ll knock out a good hour or two. Other times, not so much. Max will sleep, but lightly, and he’ll open his eyes every 15 minutes to make sure I’m still watching him. And if I’m not there… much fussing and no napping, resulting in a very tired little boy, and a frustrated mommy.

Yesterday morning was one of those naps. But that was ok, because I had a project and I wasn’t too tired. I put him to sleep in the living room, grabbed my boxes of filing, and spread out on the floor. Boxes, you say? Yes, boxes of filing. Two boxes, down from three from when I started. (scary, right?)

I have a confession: I haven’t done any filing for almost three years. Yeah, I know. I kept out important papers that I would need for taxes, but everything else (and then some) got tossed in a box from the copy room at work, and when that one filled I just grabbed another. And another.

I started doing this when we moved back to my hometown. My husband and I moved in with my parents and we had no room for a filing system, and the “throw it in the box” method was born. And by the time we moved out a year and change later, we were busy with the new house. And then… well, it was just kind of scary to look at so I ignored the filing boxes, except to toss some more on top.

I had to take the cats in for checkups at a new vet and tried to find their records and it took me over half an hour. I admitted to myself that there was a problem. So, few weeks ago I decided to suck it up and just do it. A journey of a thousand pieces of paper starts with just one. It has taken weeks of here and there pecking away, but after yesterday’s two-hour marathon, I’m done! Well, virtually done. I have less than two inches of papers to file, and everything fits into one, nice and neat box with folders, labels, and tabs. Mostly neat.

Honestly, I used to be such an organized and tidy person. The move totally screwed that up – living out of boxes in someone else’s space is not a conducive environment for organization. Then we bought a fixer-upper and I didn’t want to unpack in a room that still has yet to be finished. Then I got pregnant.

Then I got over it. The house is going to take a while, I might as well unpack. Nesting urges helped a lot! So, ever so slowly the stacks of boxes are going away, and a home is emerging. Mostly during naptimes.