Chores

They do add up, those chores do.

They are a constant in our lives. They never seem to get done and even when they are close to being done there isn't really much of a feeling of satisfaction about them because while we are doing them, more are piling up behind them. Washing, drying, cleaning. Paperwork of all sorts. Shopping, clearing, sorting, straightening, tossing, fluffing, pressing, putting things away... we sure do spend a lot of time on 'chores.'

We spent our weekend on storm clean-up again. We've taken 15 truck loads of tree debris to the dump site so far and still have more to go. It took us two loads in the truck to the county dump to get rid of our little shed which was crushed when one of the trees feel on it, and that we were, only a few months ago, so proud of putting up in the first place. It seemed like we spent the whole weekend doing chores.

And today I am sorting through a year's worth of papers to try to gather relevant tax documentation. Which got me thinking about chores in the first place.

My 'system' for keeping paperwork has been evolving over the years, and now boils down to simply tossing everything from paid bills to paystubs to insurance policies to bank statements to receipts, week after week, all year long, into a nice basket (which is, of course, the critical part - it has to be a NICE basket) in my closet. The system absolutely minimizes the 'chore' of the weekly paperwork grind but seems to come under some scrutiny at the end of the year when the basket is full and tax preparation looms. Oh well. It was good for me at the time.

I was inspired to adopt this system by Mark's cleaning system. Which starts with Mark's general 'work' system - which is to say that things are wherever they were when they last left his hand - wrenches, flashlights, computer disks, coffee cups, highlighter pens, the change from his pocket.. you get the drift. From there, he simply lets things pile up in his office until he can't get into the room any more, and then he spends several hours sorting it all out and making more orderly piles or throwing things away; whatever is needed.

The question is this: is there more or less time, hassle or effort involved to do it all at once than it is to do it a little at a time, as the need arises.

And the answer, as with most questions, is clearly: It depends. For me it mostly depends on my tolerance for messes, which is actually quite low. This is where the basket part comes in. Without it, I couldn't stand the paper mess for the year. But WITH it, I can leave the chore to a few hours once a year instead of dealing with it over and over and over.

I am not sorry for it at all.

It really is a very nice basket.