Is it really worth it? Probably so.

Yesterday, we met with the mortgage broker and got the refinancing started. The paperwork took longer than we anticipated. I'd asked the broker before we went for our meeting what all I paperwork I needed to keep from the original home loan or from when we had refinanced before. Bless her heart. She told me to bring it along, and she would go through it with me, so I could know what could be tossed. She also told me what should or shouldn't be kept after we close this loan as well, so I know what can go straight into the shredables when we finish with everything. I'm so thankful she took the time to help.

I've always struggled with what to throw away as far as paperwork goes. It's hard to differentiate between what should be kept and what I should toss. That's why I had 28 of bags of shredables in such a short period of time once I started sorting through things months ago, even though I haven't added to the count for several months. The bag count is up to 30 at this point after having worked on paperwork last week and this weekend a bit, but I expect I'll add a good 50 bags to the total before I'm finished with my journey.

I don't have a problem with certain types of paperwork. I can get rid of newspapers easily most of the time. I have a crate I keep them in until I drop them off to be recycled. However, when The Hubster tried to drop them off today, he found the drop boxes are just gone. Because I don't have a place to store them, and because I don't want to keep the papers for fear of not getting rid of them later, they'll be going in the trash this time. I'm not willing to take the risk.

But I digress.

I made a purposeful decision that I knew was going to make me horrible uncomfortable last week. I was right. I was very uncomfortable when the decision was confirmed yesterday at the broker's.

We will have to have an appraisal of our house in order to refinance. I knew last week when I talked to the broker the first time to find out more information. I knew that someone would need to come into our house to determine it's value. And while I was conscious of that fact, I wasn't worried or concerned. At least not at that point. I knew the discomfort would come, but I also knew that I wasn't going to hide from it. I need to face my fears in order to get past this hoarding issue I have.

Yesterday, the fear hit when we were talking with the broker. Heart palpitations. Sweaty palms. Stomach in a knot. You get the drift. And while I knew that an appraiser would be coming in the house and would take pictures outside, it didn't dawn on me that they would be taking pictures inside. But they will. They will be taking plenty of pictures, and there will be a lot of people who see the pictures. I'm not really looking forward to that, but I will deal with it. I have to. If things get really bad, and I don't feel I can handle the stress while the appraiser is here, I'll just leave for awhile. I'm hoping not to do that. I think it will help me more in the long run to stay here and deal with the stress rather than to run away.

It won't be pleasant.

It probably won't be easy.

But I think it's necessary.

It's not like we actually got rich.

There is nothing like a nice hot shower after 2 days of working outside in dust and grime. Nothing quite like it. And the water was just so much hotter than I remember it being just yesterday. Ahhh. So refreshing!

We still have some work that needs to be done, because things weren't up to code. So between the repairs and the cost of the permit, we had to add an additional $300 onto the cost. It didn't help that installation was almost $300. I really hate that we couldn't have done it ourselves and saved a few hundred bucks, but we weren't comfortable working with the natural gas. At least we have hot water again. I'm not complaining!

Another thing I'm not complaining about? There were a few boxes of paperwork that had been out on the porch. I had to sort through them quickly to blow the dust out of them with the air hose and put them in a plastic tote to keep the bugs out, but I found something interesting when I was going through them. I found the receipt to the shower surround that we had to sell on Craigslist, because we couldn't find the receipt.

It wasn't just a store receipt, because the surround we'd gotten had been on clearance. They had to look up the number for us to get the price, because it was no longer in the system way back when we bought it even. So I was thrilled yesterday when I saw the receipt said we paid $105 and change for it. We sold it for $110. It was really nice to not have lost any money on it even though we'd had it for 8 years.

I still have the cash from it, too. I really should put it in the bank, so nothing happens to it. It's just nice to know we have the Found Money Fund in cash. You know. Just in case. You never know when something is going to come up. I'm trying really hard to save up for a piece of antique furniture, so we have something to show for our efforts when all is said and done. Time will tell how big our fund gets and what we'll end up buying. It's fun to know the money is there and waiting for us.

Know what else is waiting for me?

My bed.

:::sigh:::

It was the wrong receipt.

Let me back up a bit...

Hubby and I wedged the shower surround into the car only to realize that he wouldn't be able to wedge himself between the seat and the steering wheel. That doesn't even take into account that he had no room for his feet. So we opened the back end of the station wagon that doesn't seem much bigger than a Mini Cooper, and pulled the box back out about 6 inches. He pulled the seats back to where he'd have room to crawl in the front seat to drive and tied the back end of the car shut with twine.

He proceeded to the hardware store where we bought the surround while I stayed home with the girls. Not that there would have been any room for us anyway. After lugging the shower surround into Home Depot and waiting in line at the returns, everything looked great. They took the receipt, then scanned the box. And wouldn't you know it, but it wasn't the right receipt. The shower thing listed on the receipt was a shower door we bought close to the same time. And while the shower door was still in the system, and we could get $149 plus tax out of it, if we wanted to return it we could. In fact, it's still sits uninstalled behind our bedroom door, but we actually are going to get it installed eventually. But the shower surround itself was no longer in the system, so even if we found the receipt we cannot return it to HD. :::sigh:::

So hubby brought it back home, stuck it in the garage, and went back out to run the other couple of errands that he'd planned on running after he'd returned the surround. Before he left, I took pictures of the picture on the box and stuck it up on Craigslist for sale after researching anything that was even close to what we had for comparison.

Someone has already emailed about it asking that we call her in the morning. We will. We're thrilled that someone is already interested. I'm hoping to be doing another Woot Woot Dance tomorrow or at least within the next week or two. I am glad I listed it immediately instead of putting it off. I have a tendency to procrastinate when I have a lot on my mind.

Looking around the study today (the room I've been working in most often since I started de-hoarding), and I realized I've gotten rid of at least half of what was in here. I'm very pleased with that. I will do what I can to finish it as quickly as possible, but we still have to finish the basement and unload the storage pod on the driveway. It may take awhile.

If I can at least finish up what's currently in here before unloading the pod, we'll be able to neatly stack the boxes of paperwork that will be coming in. Plus the filing cabinet will be neat and ready to receive those papers that I feel necessary to keep. That will make sorting the paperwork that's in the pod and in the garage ever so much quicker and easier. And I've learned my lesson.

I'll be wearing my mask.

Did you hear the glue?

The bad news is that I haven't come across the notebook yet. But I can't see moving a bunch of paperwork to look for it and not actually sorting the paperwork.

The good news is that I've been sorting through 18 years of paperwork and getting rid of stuff. That's worth a "Woot! Woot!" all on it's own. Add to the fact that I also found the receipt for a shower surround that we bought in February 2002 and never installed, because it wouldn't fit around the window in the shower, and I'm doing great! I called the store we bought it from, and because it's still in the system as being for sale (albeit at a clearance price), we can return it for a full refund of the $149 plus tax that we paid for it 8 years ago! It will go in with the rest of the found money. Woot! Woot!

I am in a silly, goofy, happy mood today. I've been dancing around Woot! Woot!ing for awhile now. You know the dance...with your hands in the air doing circles with your vertically outstretched arms. Yep. I'm in a great mood today.

I've been diligently purging paperwork from the last 18 years, and I can't believe I'm actually getting rid of this stuff I hung onto for all those years! A lot of it was medical receipts or insurance claims on doctors visits for the girls. But I realized I don't really need to know each time they had an ear ache or a stomach bug. I am hanging onto the important paperwork having to do with surgeries, though. Out of a box full of paperwork, I saved less than a dozen papers. I'm pretty proud of myself. Woot! Woot!

I have to admit I about died laughing when I looked at one particular receipt from the doctor's office dated in October of 2000. The receipts from this particular pediatrician's office always listed a reason that the child was being seen. The only thing I can think of is that whomever filled out the 'reason' box on the paperwork was listening to me on the phone and someone in the office at the same time. The reason she listed that our youngest daughter needed to be seen: "GLUE HEARD".

Huh?!?!?!?!?!

I have NO idea what that was supposed to mean, and I know that I would not have said I heard glue in our daughter. This appointment was long past the days of her severe breathing issues where she was hospitalized repeatedly for asthma and pneumonia. I don't know. Maybe I'd said that it looked like she had glue draining from her ears, since she's had such a horrible time with ear infections. She's actually on her 8th set of tubes for her little ears! I have no idea. But it was sure fun trying to figure it out.

I debated keeping the piece of paper, because I find it hysterical. But realistically, I'll likely never look at it again. Plus, I wrote about it. If I want to laugh about it at some later date, I've got this post to look at.

Also found out a very good friend's daughter had a baby girl today! That was awesome goodness! Worth a Woot! Woot! for sure!

Yep. Today's been a great day!

Say it with me now...

Woot! Woot!