Lair Davis

Adios, Possessions

The TV is gone. Can I survive for 14 days without television? You bet I can! I’m enjoying the sound of silence already.

When you are in the process of condensing your life’s stuff, what do you do with all those files — all those recipes — all those photos and sketches and brochures, and bits and scraps of what for some reason has become known to you as important pieces of paper? What about those income tax records? All that “official” stuff that we think we should hang onto whether we really need to or not?

The answer is elementary, my dear Watson. Buy a scanner, and get to work. Scan all that stuff into your computer and onto CDs, buy a few of those cute little padded carrying cases, and voila!

Four file drawers, three boxes of photographs and the goddess only knows what else fits magically and safely onto a few discs that fill up about five CD carrying cases.

This WAS a major chore, all that scanning, don’t get me wrong! I have spent hours on end slaving over that scanner, but what a wonderful tool it is!

Now, Arlene has paid me bucks for it, and now that the job is done, it will find a new home at her place. Did I ever get my money’s worth out of that contraption! I’m surprised it still works like a charm, but it
does.

Talk about clutter removal systems!

My advice is that you buy a scanner now and start reducing your paperwork whilst you may. You never know when you might want to pack it up and join me in Costa Rica! (You could do quite a bit worse than giving in to any such “whim,” believe me!)