random thoughts – Day 1,829 – (Thursday) – shredded

After a supper of homemade vegetable soup enhanced with a can of diced tomatoes with green chilis and topped with shredded cheddar, I settled in for a chore involving different shredding. The kitchen trash basket was brought to the living room and the paper shredder head set over the top of it. A pile of paperwork from a decorative bin on the counter was brought over.

Shredding.

There was sorting and reviewing of the heap of papers which turned out to be mostly gas and electric bills plus various statements and inserts. Before I bought a file cabinet for the little home office, paid bills had the payment date noted on them and were tucked into the bin on the counter in case the payment ever needed to be verified quickly. Most were dated from 2019 to 2022, but some were from as early as 2017. 

The historical nature of bills is fascinating. Well, to me. I got to see how low my cable/internet, gas, electric, and cell phone charges used to be. For ages, I have had this idea that the details of rates and usage and random notes and thoughts on various sheets of paper might be helpful for a novel that I will likely never write. 

Every few years or if company is coming, whichever comes first, I sit down with the shredder and get rid of the paper piles. Yes, I know about electronic bills, but no thanks. I don't mind the act of reviewing bills, making notes on the paper bill, and paying them online. And yes, there are shred days hosted by credit unions and banks (including the one I have worked for just shy of nine years) but I am either unavailable on the designated day or I forget about it until it’s over.

The shredder box in which the apparatus lives 99% of the time, says “light use.” The instructions note ten sheets, which I initially thought meant ten sheets at a time, but it usually overheats and declares a recess after about ten passes of one or two sheets. It also has a tendency to accordion pleat some of the strips inside and jam itself up. Then there is a period of picking the compacted bits out with a toothpick. 

Shredded.

By the time I stopped, 80% of the original pile was in shreds in the trash bag and the rest was sorted and set aside to go into the file cabinet where more recent files live. There are two benefits to the seldom done task. First, a mountain of paper disappears with next to zero physical exertion. And yes, I recognize that there wouldn't be a pile if I tossed the stuff right away, but that has never gone well the few times I did so. Second, it’s meditative. Feed in a sheet or two, listen to the whir of the shredding mechanism. Repeat.  Periodically, push the collected shreds down to compact them, end when the pile is gone or the trash basket is full, whichever comes first. 

Sometimes, I think the shreds would be great for papier mâché, but I haven’t done that for decades and I really don’t need to start any more hobbies that will likely be abandoned right around the time I finally accumulate all the materials and supplies and start to get good at it.

This is turning out to be the week to shed some stuff. Wednesday had an Epilepsy Foundation pickup of a box of books, a bag of clothes, and a box of housewares. Tonight, a stack of papers was turned into shreds for the trash. I hope the momentum continues.