I Finally Threw My Filing Cabinet In The Dumpster (Yes, I Still Had a Filing Cabinet)
(On keeping things — or not)
Hello to all the new readers out there 👋
I’m Josh Spilker and this is a newsletter for online writing, creativity, and culture.
I just had a few slices to go, but this post isn’t as actionable as it usually is1. It’s a recap about me throwing out stuff and what that stuff means. It won’t take long, so let’s go:
We are cleaning out the house. We are moving later this summer (more details soon!) and can’t take half of the things we have now.
In this process, I finally threw my filing cabinet into the dumpster.
Because I’m an elder millennial, I straddled the adult years when so many of your important documents came via paper. Like in the mail.
Tax forms. Bank statements. Bills. Life insurance notices.
I don’t have a photo of the filing cabinet, but I did find these savings bonds in the filing cabinet:
I haven’t deposited them yet.
So many of life’s things we now have multiple copies of, but for a while, there was only one. And it may have all been up in flames in a moment’s notice. That’s why you needed a filing cabinet.
These sturdy metal drawers could certainly protect your best documents from anything, right?
There was even a lock on it, but no one except God knows where the key is.
I tried to give the filing cabinet to Goodwill, but they wouldn’t even take it.
The thing about a filing cabinet is that it’s meant to save.
It was rigid in its demands.
We had file folders with hanging folders, what am I doing?
Definitely, a product left from another time.
I came from a family of not-quite hoarders, but savers.
The power at my grandmother’s house was out for days on end, but she was very concerned not about her own personal well-being in the sweltering summer southern heat without air conditioning, but if the food from the fridge could be saved.
She grew up directly after the Great Depression, the land of opportunity had less back then.
So I’ve kept more than my fair share, it’s in my bones.
I live in a townhouse, meaning no huge backyard, no huge storage shed.
We’re moving somewhere even smaller and there will be less space for stuff.
A friend drove across town with me to pick up my new tennis racquet.
Next door was one of the large big-box office supply stores.
We went in and there were no filing cabinets. Not that I could see anyway.
There were computers. And lots of cords.
Nintendo Switches. VR headsets.
I found my way to the pens and legal pads (didn’t buy any this time) and then I picked out moving boxes. Which I did buy.
We tried to figure out why stores like this still existed. It was convenient yes. Getting something when you need it, even though we didn’t need anything right then.
To go to a store that has something you need and buy it instead of waiting for it to be shipped to you. It’s more economical this way honestly.
But once you’re done, you don’t need a filing cabinet.
I sold these bookshelves (bookcases?)
They stored all of our books, prominently displayed in our living room. Sometimes we would even read these books, but not often.
Usually, we borrowed books from the library and read those instead.
No, these were for display, to show that yes, we read and we had read these at a certain time.
We moved into our house more than 7 years ago, and lots of books had accumulated.
Much like the items in the filing cabinets, these books had moved to digital as well. Did we still need bookcases, these more studious filing cabinets?
I also sold a dresser, a shoe bench, a mattress set, and a charcoal chair.
It felt good to let these things go. They had served their time, their purpose, their place. I don’t think we liked them anymore to be honest, but we still needed them. Now we don’t, so the timing is right.
My parents live in the same town as my grandma, and during that same storm that would cause all the food to rot in my grandma’s fridge, a huge tree fell on my parent’s shed.
It was a nice shed, one with a foundation and a workroom and storage. Not really a shed at all, but a small house. But for more storage. Christmas things, pieces of plywood, bikes. The lawnmower and his four-wheeler was back there too.
It was destroyed. Or most of it was anyway. The stuff? We’re not sure about yet.
I go there this week for 4th of July, and I’ll let you know.
I love this quote from Richard Foster from the book, Freedom of Simplicity. I gave this book to all the groomsmen in my wedding, I haven’t re-read it in awhile, I already packed the book into one of the boxes I got from the big box store.
The quote goes like this:
“The goal of work is not to gain wealth and possessions, but to serve the common good and bring glory to God.”
If you have a literal or metaphorical filing cabinet, think about:
What am I doing with the filing cabinet?
What stuff have I filed away in my house?
What things am I keeping that I have, just to have?
Who or what are these things benefiting?
Feel free to reply with any thoughts on those.
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Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. Great book. Lots of thoughts on it coming soon!
Last Week
Last Things
“Thinking is the hardest work we can do, and among the most important.” — Richard Foster
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Keep going,
-Josh Spilker
See the “More Things” section for more actionable articles
I still have mine, but it's in my study closet. I have all my contracts in one drawer and notes etc. for two books I might write in the other drawers. I need file folders since MSU bought my literary papers and they collect files at least once a year. Even when something is online only, I print it off, for future grad students or researchers who can have my entire career at their disposal. I have recently swept through my library and pitched books that I had no intention of re-reading or that had no sentimental value, and we regularly check the entire house for anything we no longer need that the VOA would want.