When I told a good friend of mine that I was starting my own home-based business, she offered this sage advice: Invest in a good shredder.

At the time, I didn’t understand what she meant. A year later, drowning in a sea of paper, I completely understand.

I’m a nut for filing stuff – my most-used appliance is a label maker. I’ve kept every piece of paper that I’ve printed out for articles, invoicing, finances, etc. It’s all beautifully organized in plastic boxes piled high in my office.

I should have shredded the stuff when I had the chance.

Recently, I had to go through my parents’ house and get rid of all the paperwork they amassed over the years. Credit card statements dating back to the early ‘80s, medical invoices from the ‘90s and car oil change receipts from more than a decade ago. I filled bags and bags and bags with ripped up papers.

Like me, my dad was a small business owner at one point in his life and he couldn’t stand to part with anything that might be valuable to the history of the business.  My mother was meticulous about filing, making sure that everything was in proper order. Even though their collected documents went through three floods, they kept hold of them, letting it all dry out into moldy messes.

I cursed their rat-pack nature the whole time I was at the house throwing things out. Then I returned home and realized that the only difference between my parents and I is that they had 50 years extra to pile up the papers.

When I look at the things I’m saving, it’s unbelievable – especially in this era of digital records. I have duplicates (digital and print-outs) of everything – from notes for stories to the published articles to receipts for things I purchased online. If I keep going like this, I’m going to need a semi truck to move to my next home.

But a part of me has been stymied by the idea that the digital records might not be accessible in the future - different formats will come and go and I’ll lose my “history.” That paper is the only way to truly record your life experiences. That’s a great fear. I’ll have to get rid of that fear if I’m to avoid drowning in my own filing system.

So I recently purchased a shredder - not top of the line like my friend suggested, but it’s good enough. One day soon, I’ll sit down with my mountains of perfectly filed papers and a good bottle of Chardonnay, and I’ll shred the unnecessary papers I’ve accumulated. I’ll also keep my fingers crossed that CDs will be able to be read 50 years down the road or that back-up hard drives will still be able to be accessed.