Day 31: The {31} Purge: File Cabinets

Day 31 of The {31} Purge and it's the final day...hooray!  What a ride this has been...it's been worse than a roller-coaster, with all the ups and downs and I have to tell ya...like the real rides...I'm so damn glad to be done with it!

The final wall to be tackled in our storage unit was the "file cabinet" wall where we have five, two-drawer and two, four-drawer file cabinets left along with three, six-cube wire organizers that store all of my extraneous scrapbooking supplies.

Inside, these file cabinets drawers are loaded with clip art; card-stock; tole-painting books; memorabilia; bills and every other piece of paper that has come into our homes for the last 16 years!

At one point there were eight of these two-drawer file cabinets in our Mint Hill home.  Six of them were in our combined office upstairs and then two more were downstairs in the front office.  In the photo below you can see how we had the work-stations and file cabinets set up where they fit perfectly under the sloped ceilings in our bonus room over the garage.

Hubby's work area was on one side of the room...the side with the window...since he has always had the luxury of working from home.  On the opposite side of the room, I had the coordinating work area where I processed all of our bills and used our home computer.  While downstairs...in my "other" office {as DH always emphasized ;} I had two more of these file cabinets set up to hold my art supplies.

You can see the file cabinets...way in the back...covered in fabric with the tall lamps sitting on top of them...they are now in my studio here at the Love Shack...details here ;}

Then the two, four-drawer file cabinets were "left" in the garage from the time when we first moved into that house...where "someday" I was going to clean them out...I had good intentions...lol

Three years ago, when we first downsized into our apartment in Charlotte, we were able to use four of the two-drawer cabinets in the apartment and the rest simply went into our storage unit there.  The following year, when we downsized...again to the Love Shack...we originally did not plan on using any of these file cabinets inside the house.  So my youngest son, Tim, took one of the two-drawer files for his home and the rest of the ten cabinets were moved to our current storage unit.  Where they have sat for over two years {with the exception of the two that I did pull to create my desk with ;}

Now...since the wall that these file cabinets are going onto in the new storage unit is 5-feet shorter...we could not continue to operate under our standard procedures.   That is...to simply move over the file cabinets...hence...I was forced to deal with them ;{

So I was able to purged all of this from the file cabinets...it's a good start!

1. One drawer of travel documents (it was a "dream drawer" full of maps and tourist paraphanelia that were out-dated and simply no longer wanted).
2. One drawer of manuals to household equipment and furniture (more than half of it was for stuff we no longer even own) the rest are no longer need because ALL of the manuals are available on-line now.
3. One drawer of instructional books on how-to paint ceramics (needed to go with all the bisque I had already purged...oh-well ;)
4. One drawer of work documents that DH no longer needed.
5. One drawer of clip-art from magazines that I had previously purged (don't ask ;)
6. One drawer of empty hanging file folders (left-over from all the stuff we already purged ;)

That was enough paper purged to EMPTY out of one of the four-drawer and one of the two-drawer file cabinets...both of which are going to a friend who really needs them...woo hoo!  I was also able to knock down one of the wire-cube organizers so that I can re-assemble it in the attic here at the Love Shack...were it will hold bulky household supplies like laundry detergent, toilet paper and paper towels.  Since there is only one closet in the entire Love Shack, I have to place a lot of items up-stairs in the attic area where I still have quick access to them.   I know that this does not actually count as a purged item, but it is up-cycling one at it's best ;} 

Originally, this wire organizer sat on-top of the two, two-drawer file cabinets that I used to make my new desk out of.  Since then it has sat on the floor in the storage unit where it had become a catch-all for stuff that we just didn't want to deal with ;}

Stuff like...the two brown cassette tape drawer-organizers...that were FULL of old music cassettes.  That I was hanging onto because, believe it or not, my 2004 Chevy Impala does not have a CD player it in.  BUT the truth of the matter is...that I never play them and we truly had forgotten about them being in storage...so off to the recycle bin they went ;}

Can you say iPod and iPhone...heck even CD's are becoming obsolete now!  Really makes you think twice about purchasing techy stuff ;}

How about you...what "blast from the past" items are you hanging onto that really no longer serve you?

Tomorrow I'll be posting a slide-show to give everyone a re-cap of the transformation of my storage units as well as my final thoughts on The {31} Purge.

Fondly, Roberta

Comments

[Pro Carpet Cleaning Hampshire]

Filing cabinets are perhaps the ugliest thing one can have in the house - I should know, I have three! You've inspired me to go and do some purging. Thanks. :)

[Elias Madden]

You certainly kept a lot of stuff in your storage unit, considering you needed 31 days to purge all of the things inside. And it is good thing that it’s spacious and organized inside. That certainly kept you from any problems while purging your things.  

[Erik Littles]

It’s a good thing you have a storage unit. That’s definitely going to be useful for storing all your stuff, which you do have quite a lot of. I like how you were able to file all your important documents in that corner over there. Everything looks so neat and orderly! And the cabinets definitely help a lot in saving space in there!

[Diana]

I love organizing my space, too. Isn't it funny how right after you give or throw something away, you find a use for it. (but you didn't even remember you had the object anyway). I so need to do this!

[June Houck]

You rock, Roberta! DH & I purged those cassette tapes a few years ago…I actually purged something before you? Maybe there is hope for me after all :) You are my organization diva. I am in awe of your skills. Functional and beautiful. Your file cabinet desk is absolutely inspired. Hooray for you completing the purge. My purge stalled…my dad needed a triple bypass (ended up being a quadruple). The surgery went well, but he had awful reactions to various pain meds. He ended up needing to be in the hospital 2x as long. He asked me to stay with him. It was difficult to see him in so much pain, but he is much better now. As of Saturday, he didn't even need an OTC tylenol for his discomfort :)

I'm glad to be home, and I hope to get back on track with my purge by the end of the week!

Not sure if you are interested, but Denine (owner of Shop Pumpkin Spice) is going to have a DT call announced on Saturday for 2012 :)

[Denyse@Crazy Beautiful Life]

Cleaning file cabinets are the worst...I would have saved it for last too...I'm proud of you for finally purging your storage unit and downsizing...You go girl!!1

[Deb]

LOl....I have two and a half containers of cassettes also...I'm hanging on for a while longer since I do occassionally still play them on my 4-in-1 player: CD, cassette, LP and radio.... Talk about blast from the past....LP's! Don't ask! I think I'll go get my MJ Thriller album out now. LOL