Filing Cabinet Purge

Those of you who have or had a spouse in the military know that the military tends to lose documentation. So one has to have multiple copies of EVERYTHING: orders,medical records,etc. It's really quite ridiculous.One does not dare throw anything out. You never know when they might call and say,"We need  this yesterday." Going through med boards or VA disability, one needs as much info on hand as possible.

Because of this,we had two plastic file organizers and a strong box for military and VA records,as well as household documents,birth certificates,etc. I got sick of having items in three places,so early last year we bought a two drawer file cabinet.

It was to the point where you could barely open the first drawer,it was so full. There were hundreds of papers in our poor used and abused file cabinet.

Now that we are pretty much set,there is no need to hang on to 15 copies of his orders to Ramadi.Or his orders to Fort Gordon. Or 100 pages of his VA paperwork that is actually duplications ( all 135 pages of it!) I got rid of some folders. I saved important medical paperwork-his TBI screen,etc. All his  Fort Gordon/Fort Drum med board paperwork is in one folder instead of being in four separate folders,for example. I got 3/4 of the  the first drawer done,and wound up with a pile of papers about 8" tall,which was quite heavy. I still have the rest of the top drawer and the whole bottom drawer to do - papers from Rick's 1980's Airborne days to do and our personal/home papers as well.

What to do with all that paper? Throw it out? No way,Jose'! We are using it for fire starter in the wood stove. I also use Zach's old homework as well. No waste. And it helps keep us warm!

What do you do to keep documentation neat? Anyone else have the need to purge?