Follow the Money

--> I loaded up my little car with all the financial relics of my life from 1974 to 1999 and drove the crumbling boxes over to the parking lot at Catonsville UMC on Saturday and dumped a mountain of paper into a large trash bin that would be poured into a truck where I presume they had the shredder.

Gone are pay stubs, receipts, insurance reports, bank statements, cancelled checks, and stacks of financial forms. Gone too is the proof that, during the 70's and into the 80's, I lived on less than Mother Teresa, bought my first house for $13,000, (it was a handyman's special – too bad we weren't handy,) was an early adopter of both the TI 86 and Commodore 64 computers, purchased every He-Man action figure and Castle Grayskull, bought wrapping paper for every PTA Fundraiser between 1987 and 1999, and paid out tons of tuition to music teachers, gymnastics instructors, driving schools, and tutors for any subject that ended in "ology." Of course, no one has ever asked me to prove any of those things, particularly in the last 12 years.

Happily, I have gained a large hole on a shelf in my attic. I'm hoping to enlarge that hole by daring to rid myself of documents from this century. There will be another shredding event at Green Valley Marketplace, 7280 Montgomery Road in Elkridge on Oct. 27 from 1-4 p.m. If you missed the one on Saturday, this is another chance to get rid of those pesky old boxes.

A Woman with a Lot of Baggage

We've been away at the beach so my cleaning was limited to the glove compartment of the car and my travel make-up bag. Small wonder that I have not mastered the art of traveling light. I had enough dried out, not-so-moist towelettes to clean up after a preschooler's birthday party.
As I was putting away the suitcases I decided to tackle the luggage section of the attic. Good news...If I ever have to move all of my worldly possessions, I apparently have enough luggage to pack it all up. Nine large suitcases, four overnight bags, a half-dozen gym bags and dozens of canvas totes. I also found 13 passport cases. The extra 11 could come in handy if I ever go into the spy business and need to assume multiple identities, but I set aside that possibility and threw the extras in the donate pile.
Also taking up valuable real estate in the attic is our tax returns for the 70's, 80's and 90's. I saw in the Catonsville Times that there will be a shredding event at Catonsville United Methodist Church on Sept. 15 from 10 am to 1 pm. I'm hoping I can get Tom to part with these relics of our financial pasts.