Planet Mad

One of my biggest failings is that I can be shockingly lax about paperwork. If I know that it's important, or if I receive it on a day when I'm feeling feckful, I have no problems dealing with life's day-to-day bureaucracy. On a bad day, however, I will look at the envelopes that have arrived in my pigeon hole, work out who sent each one, and then chuck them on a pile, unopened, to await a day when I feel more organised. Understandably, this has lead to some real disasters - cheques nestling in unopened envelopes, bills unpaid for months on end - and I decided that today was the day to do something about it.

A few weeks ago I bought a great drawer unit from a certain Swedish furniture store: it looks just like the drawers we had in junior school, and now cuddles up to my new bookcase in the recently re-arranged hallway. The drawers are just the right size to take A4 paper, which is ideal because I normally file everything in one huge box, and then in sprawling piles on the floor when the boxes are full, so I can never find anything when I need it. For the first time ever, I have become excited about filing.

It's taken me about 5 hours to get through all of my junk. Believe me - there was a lot of it! Everywhere I looked, there was another pile of envelopes, letters, catalogues, magazines; each surface had its own paperwork community. I've even sifted through the paperwork that I'd already filed - I'm never quite sure what to keep and what to throw, so I had a fine collection of phone bills, itemised, dating back to 1999. I waved goodbye to bank statements from my university years. I found 'change of address' cards from people who I know have since moved again. Although I'm knackered, it's been cathartic; I still have a mound of Guide paperwork to deal with, but the end is in sight. The only thing that concerns me is that I've still not found the invite to Phil and Linda's wedding, and I know I had it somewhere. Hey ho - back to the search!